On the wall of Hap’s Air Service, 2508 Airport Drive, hangs a that chronicles the life of the man whose name the business bears. As with the beginnings of many family-owned businesses, it’s a story of passion for the craft — in this case, a passion for flight.

Hartley “Hap” Westbrook could be considered an all-American. Born and raised in eastern Iowa, he was picked to wrestle in the Olympics at the outset of World War II, but chose instead to serve his country and pursue his love of flying.And fly he did — B-22 bombers, until he was shot down over the North Sea.

His wife received his Purple Heart, presumably posthumously.But that wasn’t the end of Hap.Rescued by a Norwegian boat, he spent the next two years in a German POW camp. While there, he helped in what history has dubbed “The Great Escape,”by distributing dirt from the tunneling efforts in the prison yard. Finally,he was liberated by General Patton in April of 1945.

After the war, “all he wanted to do was fly,” said his daughter, Diana Holden. So in 1947, he put the family in business in Guthrie Center. Hap gave flight lessons and, among other things, had an airborne paper route.The rural roads were so bad, Diana said, that Hap was paid to deliver via plane. He would fly over and toss the paper as close to the front door as hecould.Most of the time, he managed pretty well.“He was a precision bomber pilot,” Diana said.

When Hap was called to serve as a flight instructor during the Korean War, his wife Jane took the reins of the business. And the kids helped too.“We all grew up at the airport,” Diana said.The business, which has been in Ames since 1975, is now operated by Dianaand her husband, Robert, who serves as the company’s director of maintenance.

As the Fixed Base Operator, or FBO, for Ames Municipal Airport, Hap’s is contracted to manage many aspects of the airport on behalf of the city,including fuel sales and rental of city-owned hangars.The company also offers charter service.“If you needed to go anywhere in the continental United States, at any time of the day or night, we could take you,” Diana said.Then there’s flight school.Diana’s daughter Christa, who manages much of the flight school, said Hap’s pilots may give as many as 10 lessons in a day.Lessons are given at an individual’s own pace until he or she reaches the 40 hours of flying time required for a private license.There are no special requirements, so almost anyone can become a pilot.“It’s not difficult at all. They can walk right in,” Christa said.Many do. Brad Smith, senior in aerospace engineering, got his pilot’s license through his hometown airport at the age of 17. Now,as president of the Flying Cyclones, Iowa State’s aviation club, Smith flies out of Hap’s on aregular basis.

He also has a hand in organizing the club’s annual fly-in, an event that brings as many as 80 planes to the Ames airport for food, fun and pilot networking. It’s a tightly-knit community, built around the shared passion of flight.“Every pilot’s always trying to find an excuse to go fly,” Smith said.