Bruning, founded in 1887 as a railroad town and named for German immigrant Frank Bruning, holds an outsized place in aviation history: it was the site of a WWII-era Army airfield and, in 1960, the launch point of Ed Yost's first free flight of a modern propane-fueled hot air balloon — an event widely credited with helping revive sport ballooning in the United States.

Despite its small size (285 residents in 2020), Bruning punches above its weight historically thanks to its aviation legacy, making it a notable stop in any account of Thayer County's 20th-century history.