At nearly 85 years old, Bob Leaders is still at work every day at Leaders Clear Lake Airport with no plans of retiring. Leaders opened the airport in 1969 following a lifelong love of planes. “I always wanted to learn to fly when I was a little kid and I got the chance when I was in the service,” he said.

 

Based out of Fort Campbell, KY, Leaders was an army airborne paratrooper, and when the NCO’s started a flying club with excess money from their accounts, he went after his childhood dream and joined.

 

After leaving the service, Leaders attended Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology in Tulsa, OK on the GI bill and received his aircraft and power plant mechanic license. Originally from Minnesota, he returned to his home state and got a job at the St. Cloud Whitney Memorial Airport.

 

When the airport moved to its new location, Leaders took the opportunity to purchase a farm just outside of Clear Lake and start his own. He and his wife, Diane, raised their 10 children on the property.

 

“My dad was always here working and we were always out here on our trikes and bicycles playing around,” said son, Kurt. “Like most kids I always liked planes, and Dad would say, ‘If you sweep the floor we’ll have an airplane ride.’”

 

All 10 of Leaders’ children learned to fly, although only two, Kurt and Chase, received their pilot’s license. 

 

One day a group of people stopped by the airport and asked if they could look around and take pictures. Leaders didn’t think anything of it, assuming they were just shooting a video. It wasn’t until 2013 when he was mailed a copy of AOPA Pilot magazine featuring an article on the making of Disney’s newest animated film, Planes, that he discovered who they were.

 

Disney had sent people out to the Midwest scouting small airports to use as research for the movie’s setting. Leaders Clear Lake Airport had what they were looking for, and it became the inspiration for Propwash Junction, the airport Planes’ hero, Dusty Crophopper, hails from.

 

Disney’s people also liked the photo taken of a rusty old fuel truck at Leaders’ airport. Chug, Dusty Crophopper’s fuel truck friend, was designed after it.

 

“I think the old grumpy guy in the movie was modeled after Dad,” Chase Leaders added, smiling.

 

Although the Leaders didn’t receive recognition, the photos taken of their airport are shown at the end of the movie’s credits.

 

The Leaders Clear Lake Airport is classified private for public use and offers a north/south runway and a shorter east/west runway for windy days. Bob and Diane are still the owners; however, they’ve turned the business over to Kurt and Chase.

 

Today they mainly perform aircraft maintenance; people fly in from all over the country to have them work on their planes. They have over 30 airplanes of their own, and buy, sell and rent aircraft and offer flight instruction. They also donate airplane rides to help organizations raise money.

 

Because of the years he’s dedicated to the industry, Bob Leaders was nominated and inducted into the 2018 Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame. A banquet is being held in April where he’ll be presented the award.