Friday, February 14. 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 11
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because of the poor farm economy. Godbersen
had turned his fondness for boats into the core of
his business.
Godbersen's construction and sales of model
airplane kits are another example of how he has
turned a hobby flying real airplanes into a
profit-making venture. Godbersen has piloted
twin engine Cessnas for about 30 years.
"I have 6,000 hours in flying multi-engine air
planes," he says with a tinge of pride. "I was the
sixth person in the United States to get his
pilot's license back after bypass surgery (eight
years ago)."
Godbersen still flies his Cessna but he is able
to maneuver more exotic craft from the ground
via radio control. In fact, he now manufactures
and sells the kits for those planes.
Byron Originals, part of Midwest Industries,
has received plans for fighter planes from com
panies like North American, Northrup and Gen
eral Dynamics. These diagrams are then scaled
down to one-fifth the actual size. Parts are made
and sold in kits that cost from $300 up to more
than $1,000.
Godbetseri says people from all classes buy
the planes. Some. even are sold internationally,
to the. son of Gamal Abdel Nasser, former Egyp
tian president, for example. .
But even those unable to afford Godbersen's
models can enjoy them. Last year, 50,000 people
swarmed into Ida Grove during Godbersen's five
day Fun Flight. .
Godbersen has set up a one-fifth-scale airport
and city behind his home. There, modelers
(those who own and operate their own crafts)
can maneuver planes down the runway and dem
onstrate their skills.
Of course, the airport is run by a miniature
mannequin in a one-fifth-scale control tower
near a one-fifth-scale hanger (shaped like a cas
tle). And, a scaled-down fire truck and a fuel
truck rush to help needy planes on the one-fifth-scale
runway.
Across the runway lies a one-fifth-scale oil
refinery and a similarly scaled town. Miniature
Lufkin oil pumps pretend to pull oil from the
ground while a miniature steam engine runs on a
track through a miniature tunnel. A miniature
boat travels down a miniature stream. Smoke
escapes from the chimney of a nearby miniature
house.
In the final event of the Fun Flight and
some say it's the best event the refinery and
town fall victim to an air strike. A sound system
buried in the landscape produces airplane
noises and live explosives are used in the fight.
During the show, the train's boiler explodes
and seven miniature tanks (each weighing 1 ton)
are blown up in what appears to be an air-to-ground
attack. Actually, Godbersen's employees
drive the tanks, set the explosives and then
abandon the vehicles.
Godbersen's employees are involved in most
of his projects. In fact, they help Godbersen
build his gadgets and his castles. They fit con
crete blocks together, coat them with plaster
and another castle is erected. They also build
elaborate figures to decorate the buildings.
For example, Godbersen says he spent years
looking for knights to guard his castles. Then, he
and his employees designed and built forms,
poured in concrete viola out came 1,000
pound medieval knights.
"They'll find them 2,000 years from now laying
on the ground somewhere, if anyone wants to
look," Godbersen says.
Godbersen credits his employees for turning
Ida Grove into a medieval village. They, 225
people from the surrounding area, helped
Godbersen design and build the structures that
make the town an Iowa legend.
"We've always developed our own people here
for the different jobs. You see, we build our own
buildings. We do our own-electrical (work). We.
do our own plumbing. We do our. own design
work. We build our own tools arid dies. We do our
own printing. We do. our own four-color pro
cessing. We do our own color separation. We
build our own furniture. If we rieedpicnic tables,,
we build them." .
Godbersen goes so far as to say his are the best
employees anywhere. Arid he treats them with
great respect, when he's not joking with them.
On trips through the factory, he addresses each
employee by name. He stops to measure angles
on a new-model boat trailer or to compare parts
with a diagram of a model plane. He works
closely with his employees and there seems to be
a mutual respect.
Godbersen's employees, as a group, show their
appreciation by sending him and LaJune on
Christmas vacations. They sent them to Europe
one year and once rented a yacht for them in the
San Juan Islands. Since Godbersen is a licensed
skipper, he piloted the boat.
Godbersen is equally respected by many of Ida
Grove's residents. Mel Neilson, owner of Mel's
Diner, lauds Godbersen for the number of resi
dents he employs and the business he brings to
the community through the Fun Flight. Most
customers don't sit around, discussing God
bersen over their meals, Neilsen says, but most
of them admire him.
There are a few who do not, though. Because of
tiffs with the Ida County Pioneer Record, God
bersen established the Ida County Courier. Steve
Merrill, owner of the Pioneer Record, declines to
talk about Godbersen.
Godbersen says some other residents think
Story by
Kema Soderberg
Photos by
David Creamer
Right: People say it is a $1 million
home. But, Godbersen says the
castle only cost about $300,000. He
and his employees designed and
built it.
Lower left: Concrete knights, weigh
ing in at 1,000 pounds, guard most
of Godbersen's castles.
Lower right: Godbersen's Cessna
plane stands center stage in his
castle-shaped hanger. A full-scale
biplane and hanging one-f ifth scale
models built by Byron Originals
give the room an aeronautical atmosphere.
he's too colorful. They say he has built this
Camelot-like hamlet to bolster his ego, even
though the Fun Flight he sponsors helped the
city win the Iowa Tourism Award last year.
"In my own mind, I don't have to go out and
tell anybody how great I am," Godbersen says.
"They can judge me for what I am. If I look good,
OK. If I don't, that's OK with me too. I just do
my own thing and frequently that will cause a lot
of people to dislike me."
Perhaps Godbersen's brother, Harold, is the
Ida Grove resident who dislikes Byron most. The
brothers started Midwest Industries together
and Byron bought Harold's shares in the 1960s.
Now Harold owns GOMACO, an Ida Grove
industry that manufacturers paving equipment
and employs as many local residents as Midwest
Industries.
Jim Jenkins, editor of the Courier, says there
has been bad blood between the brothers since
the 1940s. And the dispute has grown worse over
the years, he says. They usually argue with each
other privately, Jenkins says, but there is an
occasional public outburst. For example, they
recently argued publicly over a zoning request
made by Harold.
Jenkins cautions that it is impossible to judge
one brother against the other. That would be
unfair, he says. Both have brought money and
employment into Ida Grove.
"I guess it's a standard saying around here;
'It's too bad they can't work together " Jenkins
says.
Marva Bennigsdorf, county tax assessor, says
the brothers have been honest and helpful in
their dealings with her. The two men own Ida
County's biggest industries, she says. And, be
cause of the construction they do, the assessed
value of the county increases every year. Although
both men erect elaborate buildings, Bennigsdorf
says, the castles are far more noticeable.
And it's not the easiest job in the world being
tax assessor in Iowa's only Camelot, Bennigsdort
notes. It prompts a lot of good-natured kidding.
"Other county tax assessors give me a hard
time,' Bennigsdorf says. "The Iowa tax assessing
manual has no section that covers castles.'
This $tory was written in conjunction with the UNI,
Coi'se of Journalism's dapift-reporttaa class,
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