Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright and his brother, Wilbur, made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane.

Raymond and Herbert Strunk were school kids that year, but the idea of flying was in their blood.

They were sons of Arnold Strunk (1857-1938) and Lisette Entrup Strunk (1859-1927).

Ray and Herb read about the flights in the newspapers, and by 1906, the two started building a glider in their large, two-story red barn in the back of the family’s home.

Raymond Carrollous Charles Strunk was born on June 25, 1887. His brother, Herbert Julian, was born on April 8, 1891.

The first glider had a bamboo frame (fish poles) and was covered with light muslin stitched or tacked to the frame. The framework of subsequent models was made of hand-sawed light pine.

The first glider had skis, and when it took off from the bluffs north of the Minnesota River, it skidded down the bluffs.

The glider sometimes skied down the bluffs, and sometimes, during the summer, it was towed by a rope connected to Dr. H.O. Smith’s red Rambler touring car.

Young children from Shakopee and the surrounding area were thrilled as they watched the glider and they felt that Ray and Herb were heroes to the young fans.

Between 1906 through 1908, Ray and Herb built several gliders, some with wheels. One brother would ride on each flight, while the other one would tag along, along with many youths from Shakopee. “These crafts would rise to a height of 40 or 50 feet and then soar and float for about 600 feet before gliding to a jolting landing on a frozen lake or prairie.”

According to Julius Coller II in the book The Shakopee Story in 1960, the glider “bounced off the bluff and frozen lakes to soar in the air for several minutes, like a bird, in contraptions that resembled an over-sized box kite rather than a plane.”

After each flight, Herb and Ray would carry the glider back up the bluff, and then they would try once again. Usually, each glider lasted about five flights. Then the two brothers would salvage what was left from the glider and carted the rest of the demolished glider home for kindling wood.

According to Ray, the work took a lot of enthusiasm and no brains whatsoever! But this did take vision and daring, and Herb and Ray Strunk had it!

Raymond married Mary Scherkenbach on June 28, 1911. Raymond’s brother, Herbert, was the best man.

Raymond Carrollous Charles Strunk died in Minneapolis on September 26, 1957. His brother, Herbert Julius Strunk, died 11 years earlier, on August 18, 1946, in New York.

For young people of Shakopee, the two young men from Shakopee taught the children that the Strunk brothers worked together to finally fly!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Now, with Raymond and Herbert, it was a glider, and the two brothers took to the sky in 1906.

Bibliography

Coller, Julius A. II. The Shakopee Story. Shakopee Heritage Society, 2009.