I have had the pleasure of walking through the Dakota Territory Air Museum. For a community the size of Minot it is certainly a hidden gem. My favorite parts of the museum are the replica of the Wright Brothers Wright Flyer, and the Legends Hangar that is filled full of “Warbirds”.
“It isn’t quite a Washington, DC air museum” according to one of the founders of the museum, Warren Pietsch “but you have to travel a long way to get a collection like this in a city the size of Minot.”
When Air & Space Forces Association Burt Field was offered a private tour of the museum, mainly because the museum doesn’t open until May 16th, he and his wife Lisa were very accepting. Burt had over 3,400 hours as a fighter pilot in F 16’s and F 22’s. He retired from the US Air Force as a Lt. General in 2015.
Field’s father was an F4 pilot and flew one of the last missions over Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
In 2024 Burt Field accepted the position of CEO of the Air & Space Forces Association. With a new appreciation of Minot and Minot Air Force Base, CEO Field soon discovered that both Larry Linrud and Warren Pietsch of the Dakota Territory Air Museum had a lot of passion for the museum and in particular the planes that make up an impressive inventory in 4 different hangars.
With only about two hours before Burt & Lisa had to catch their plane home, Warren Pietsch shared “well I usually give a quick tour of the museum so people can see it all, and then if they want to come back to a certain exhibit, we sure can.”
Two hours certainly got us through the many different exhibits at Dakota Territory Air Museum, with a lot of time being spent in the Legends Hangar.
As Warren Pietsch would say “the museum is filled with stories. Every plane here has a story. Every exhibit has a story. I guess that’s what makes a museum like this so special.”
It was well into the 2-hour tour that Warren talked about the WWII pilots that would greet him at different air shows where he would fly some of the planes. It may not have been their plane, but they flew one just like it.” And they would ask about sitting in the seat of the plane that Warren was exhibiting “and well why rebuild them if you can’t show them off?”
On one end of the hangar was a P47 Thunderbolt, Bonnie. This particular plane was an award winner at Osh Kosh “and so was that P 51 behind us, Lope’s Hope” says Warren. He looked at Burt Field and quickly offered, as time was becoming short, a chance for the Lt. Gen. to actually sit in the P 47…and soon Warren & Burt had scaled the wing of Bonnie and Burt was sitting snuggly in the cockpit. Talk about a photo opportunity? “I’m sure it’s probably one he won’t soon forget” said Warren in a follow up interview.
Later as I was having lunch with Burt & Lisa Field there was a sense of appreciation for Minot, the Minot Air Force Base and their missions, and certainly for the warm welcome they received at the Dakota Territory Air Museum.
