Anton Brotz brought the world of aviation to Sheboygan in 1923 with daredevil stunts, landing field

SHEBOYGAN – The Sheboygan Press announced on May 12, 1923, that the city had a landing field.

According to Press clippings provided by the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center , the landing field was directly south of Moose Park on a plot of 31 acres and was built and operated by Anton Brotz of Kohler.

At first, the field was capable of handling a few planes and repairs, two of which were owned by Brotz.

One of Brotz's airplanes was a Curtiss JN that featured a Curtiss motor listed as an OX-5 V8 with 90 horsepower, which was capable of thrusting the plane through the air at better than 70 mph.

The other plane was a Standard Curtiss that was said to fly above 75 mph and land between 35 to 40 mph.

Brotz didn't operate the airport as a commercial venture as his aviation efforts were considered sport for him, despite the fact he would charge passengers for flights with the express purpose of helping defray the cost of his operations.

Known as a natural-born mechanic, technician and engineer, Brotz even built his own car in 1902.

Brotz offered rides on his planes to view the Sheboygan area nearly from the start of his airport. By October 1923, more than 300 paying passengers got the thrill of seeing Sheboygan from one of Brotz's airplanes.

Nearly every advancement with airplanes was detailed in the Sheboygan Press pages during that era. For example, the first night flight happened at end of May at the new airport in 1923. Former Army aviator Werner Bunge took up two passengers, Marvin Graasse and W. Wendel. They took flight after 8 p.m. to view the lights of Sheboygan and Kohler. The flight was favorably reviewed by the passengers, the paper said.

Landing at night was probably a white-knuckle affair for the pilot. The press reported: "A smudge fire made of gasoline-soaked rags was placed at the point decided upon for a landing. Just ahead of this were placed two automobiles with their headlights pointing together in the form of an arrowhead. The cars were about 150 feet apart and lighted up the space between where the plane was to alight in an ideal way. No trouble in coming to earth was experienced at all."

In mid-September 1925, Dare Devil Joe Smith came to Sheboygan to walk blindfolded over the wings of a Curtis airplane piloted by Anton Brotz Jr. between 150 and 200 feet above the aviation field at the Sheboygan airport, the Press reported. As a sequel to his wing walking, Smith hung himself by his knees from the inner tube of a tire while in flight.

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That stunt created so much interest that Smith said the next day he would fly over The Sheboygan Press building sharply at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, 1925. Smith, at the time, claimed he was the only person in the state of Wisconsin to perform his style of stunts.

A lightning storm struck the airplane hangar early Friday, destroying the hangar and the planes that were going to be used for the event. Brotz did not have insurance on the planes or the hangar because of the cost of insurance policies at the time.

The next hangar, built in 1926, was of all steel construction to prevent the possible fire hazards a wooden one would pose, according to Brotz at the time. That airport eventually gave way to a newer airport in the village of Kohler in the 1930s, which operated until the 1950s.

Brotz helped develop the Kohler airport in 1927 and advised Walter Kohler to purchase a Ryan "Brougham" aircraft that was named "Village of Kohler." That plane would allow Kohler to make 104 flights across Wisconsin in 80 days, covering 7,280 miles, and helped elect Kohler as "The Flying Governor" in 1928, according to the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame website.

Brotz was chief research engineer at Kohler for many years, started investigating gliders at the same time the Wright Brothers were doing their research in flight. He was always keenly interested in flight. He died in 1945.

His son, Anton Brotz Jr., was also active in aviation. He would become one of the main designers for the B25 bomber and the P51 Mustang when he was working for North American Aviation in Los Angeles. Brotz Jr. later would become an industrial designer and engineer at the Vollrath Company in Sheboygan. He died in 1983.

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The Sheboygan Memorial Airport was approved for construction in the 1950s and opened in 1959, but was not dedicated until July 1962. It remains in operation today with many upgrades, including a Customs and Board Protection User Fee Facility that will allow international flights to arrive in Sheboygan County.

Gary C. Klein can be reached at 920-453-5149 or gklein@gannett.com . Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @leicaman99 .

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Anton Brotz brought the world of aviation to Sheboygan in 1923 with daredevil stunts, landing field