Welcome to the home page of EAA Chapter 317 located in Fargo, ND.
The history of our Chapter starts in June of 1969 when Charles Klessig of Fargo, ND started EAA Chapter 317. In the early 1940s, Charles was the airport manager at Hector Field, Fargo, ND. He left to join the Canadian Air Force prior to United States involvement in WWII. He became a Captain in 1942 and served as a pilot until the beginning of 1946. After the war, Charley returned to Fargo and established a full service flight school, and started our EAA Chapter.
Charley’s restoration of over a dozen airplanes led him to be involved in EAA. Seven of them are on display at the Aviation History Museum at Bonanzaville in West Fargo, ND, and a Curtis Wright Flyer hangs in the Hector Airport Terminal in Fargo, ND. His real pride and joy was a J1 Standard which he flew in many air shows and gave hundreds of free rides in. The J1 is currently displayed at the Experimental Aircraft Association Pioneer Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
We are a group of aviation enthusiasts, aircraft builders, and pilots who get together with like minded people to share ideas, exchange information, encourage safety, serve the local aviation community while having a lot of fun doing so. We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the Fargo Air Museum at 7:30 PM. Please feel free to attend as a guest, and get to know us.