WATA D ifference
Wisconsin Aviation Trades Association
Blackhawk Airways Founder & Hall of Famer, Dick Wixom September 29, 1929 - October 17, 2021
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(L/R) Richard “Dick” Wixom, Joan Wixom and Kevin Wixom with a Beech 18 in the background at Blackhawk Airways, Janesville, Wisconsin. Dave Weiman Photo
ames Richard “Dick” Wixom, 92, died of heart failure on October 17, 2021, in the care of Agrace Hospice in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Wixom grew up on a dairy farm and worked in Janesville, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Joan, were married 60 years before her passing in 2012. In the 1950s while farming, Dick Wixom knew he wanted to pursue an aviation career, so he enrolled at Janesville Vocational School (now Blackhawk Technical College), where he earned his Airframe and Powerplant Certificate with 52 DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 MIDWEST FLYER MAGAZINE
Inspector Authorization. During this time, he became a flight instructor at Hodge Aero at what is now Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville, and purchased his first aircraft, a Taylorcraft, which he kept on his farm. In 1958, Wixom finally left the farm to become a corporate pilot for Parker Pen until they closed their flight department. In 1965, he became the chief pilot at Midwest Aviation, and by 1970, he started his own charter airline, Blackhawk Airways. Blackhawk Airways flew General Motors
