Captain Joseph Kimm, an 11-year resident at Emerald Heights in Redmond, celebrated his 100th birthday last Thursday after receiving word that he will be inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame.

He will be inducted on April 28, 2012 at a ceremony to be held at the Ramada Mall of America Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota.

“I was stunned to hear about the induction into the hall of fame,” Kimm said. “I retired in 1971 and after all these years away from flying I just couldn’t imagine it.”

Kimm was nominated for his 42-year service to Northwest Airlines — originally Northwest Airways (NWA) — and his contributions to aviation. He began as a steward for NWA in 1929 at the age of 17, learned to fly at age 18 and began serving as a copilot at age 19.

He continued to fly until he reluctantly retired in 1971 at age 60.

His stories paint a vibrant picture of the life and times of aviation through it’s early years to modern day. Kimm’s granddaughter, Kimm Viebrock, has been interviewing and video taping his stories for posterity.

Some of his adventures include:

• As a flight steward his job was to take care of passengers that included dealing with airsickness. He was provided a small broom and dustpan to clean up messes after a passenger suffered from air sickness. Finding these tools inadequate, Kimm purchased paper bags at the store and offered these when passengers fell ill. “I think these were the very first barf bags,” he said.

• On April 1932, serving as copilot on a flight from St. Paul to Chicago in a Ford Trimotor the left engine broke loose and became wedged in the landing gear struts. His pilot maneuvered the plane to allow the engine to fall into the Mississippi River. The engine missed the river and landed 200 feet from a farmer building a chicken coop. No one was injured during the emergency landing and “the passengers cheered when we landed safely,” Kimm said.

• On January 28, 1933, a flight from the Twin Cities to Seattle was called the “proof flight” in order to prove they could navigate the mountains and weather successfully. One of several passengers was Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane. “Amelia Earhart was a lovely person, quiet and accomplished,” Kimm said.

• During the fall of 1936 at a stop in Pembina, N.D. on his way from Winnipeg to Fargo, Kimm’s plane was equipped with special snow skis to maneuver the runway. In addition to snow Pembina had high winds that prevented him from turning the plane around on the runway. His station manager borrowed a team of horses from a local farmer and the plane was “driven” back to the ramp by the horses. “I had my brownie camera and snapped a photo of this event,” Kimm said.

Since his official retirement, Kimm has continued a busy life skiing, learning to scuba dive, delivering meals on wheels for 12 years and spending time with family.

Read more stories about Captain Joe Kimm and watch video at http://soaringmountain.com/earlyaviator.

For more information, visit the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame at www.aviationhalloffame.org and the Northwest Airlines History Center at www.nwahistory.org.