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Hello everyone:
I was doing some research about the old Air Tanker company Rosenbalm Aviation, and actually talked to Mr. Rosnebalms sister. She sent me this information:
Aviator Rosenbalm dies.
William E. "Bill" Rosenbalm Jr., longtime Medford aviation businessman and top executive of his firm, Rosenbalm Aviation, Inc., died Friday ( April 5, 1996) in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 62.
At his request, no service is planned. He was born November 3, 1933, in Medford, the son of William E. and Vera Rosenbalm. His father was a mechanic at the Medford Airport and his mother operated the restaurant. Young Rosenbalm was servicing planes while a pre-teenager and "was flying airplanes without a license" in his youth, says Ken "Bob" Owen, Eagle Point, former business partner. " He was a natural pilot, one of the best in the nation"
In 1948, Rosenbalm became a crop duster with Medford Air Service, owned by Tom Culbertson and Harold Conner. When business stagnated, he and Dick Foy, now of Erickson Air-Crane Co., spent two years crop dusting in Central and South America and in the southern U.S. Returning to Medford they bought out Culbertson and Conner, in 1958, Rosenbalm bought out Foy.
In Medford, Rosenbalm began using converted surplus military bombers for large-area spraying for forest insects. In the 1950s Rosenbalm was the first in Oregon to air-drop fire retardant on forest fires for the U.S. Forest Service. He also was the first to use helicopters for this work, as well as to spray fertilizer on forest, also for the Forest Service.
Along with aviation, Rosenbalm enjoyed racing motorcycles and hard-top automobiles.
He was actively involved in the early days of Mercy Flights, Inc., the non-profit air ambulance service. He moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1974. In Ypsilanti, Michigan, Rosenbalm acquired two small airlines, operating them as Rosenbalm Aviation for worldwide cargo. For awhile he was operating 28 DC-8s. He retired in 1988.
Pretty interesting..
Chris
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