By Timothy R. Gaffney
Birthplace of Aviation
Many people know the Wright brothers invented the airplane, but many don’t know where they invented it — in their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. Yes, they tested their gliders and the famous 1903 Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, but the process of invention took place in the West Dayton neighborhood where Wilbur and Orville lived and worked. After 1903, they continued their experiments close to home on Huffman Prairie in Greene County, built the world’s first factory dedicated to airplane production in Dayton, and taught many of America’s pioneer aviators in their flying school on Huffman Prairie.
Today, the Dayton area is rich in historical aviation sites that are open to the public, from the flying field where practical flight was born to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The area is not only home to a national park, but also the eight-county National Aviation Heritage Area, dotted with significant historical aviation sites. What’s more, Dayton International Airport, a host of general-aviation airports, and the intersection of I-70 and I-75 just north of the city make the area easy to reach.
Here are some of the area’s top sites.
•
Armstrong Air and Space Museum
Located just off I-75 in Wapakoneta north of Dayton, this facility honors hometown hero Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon. The two-level museum houses displays and artifacts of Apollo 11 commander Armstrong's life and career, including the Gemini and Apollo space suits he wore on his NASA missions, a moon rock, historical items from Soviet Yuri Gagarin, the first human to go into space, and the Gemini 8 spacecraft Armstrong flew along with David Scott in 1966 on the first space-docking mission.
http://www.aviationheritagearea.org/armstrong.htm
•
Aviation Trail and the Parachute Museum
Aviation Trail Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation formed in 1981 to identify, preserve, and promote the area’s aviation heritage. Aviation Trail’s Visitor Center and Museum are co-located with the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park’s Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center in West Dayton.
http://www.aviationheritagearea.org/aviationTrail.htm
• Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park
This National Park embraces four sites in different locations around the Dayton area. They include:
1. Wright Flyer III at Carillon Historical Park.
The 1905 Wright Flyer III was the culmination of the Wright brother’s flying experiments. They considered it the world’s first practical airplane, and it was the prototype for the first military flyer. The original Flyer was rebuilt under Orville’s supervision and is on display in the park’s John W. Berry Sr. Wright Brothers Aviation Center.
2. Huffman Prairie Flying Field and Interpretive Center.
After their flights at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers continued their experiments on Huffman Prairie in Greene County. The flying field has been preserved on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base but is accessible to the public. A nearby hill includes the Wright Brothers Memorial Park and the Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center.
3. Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center.
Located in the neighborhood where the Wright brothers lived and worked, the interpretive center tells the story of the Wright brothers’ life in Dayton. It’s co-located with the restored Wright Cycle Co., one of a series of bicycle shops the brothers operated, and the Aviation Trail Visitor Center and Museum.
4. Paul Laurence Dunbar State Memorial.
Famed black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar was a contemporary of the Wright brothers and lived in the neighborhood, now know as the Wright-Dunbar District. Much of the West Third Street streetscape they knew survives and is being restored.
http://www.nps.gov/daav/
• Grimes Flying Lab Foundation
Located on Urbana Municipal Airport northeast of Dayton, Grimes Field is the original home of Grimes Manufacturing, a company that pioneered aircraft lighting systems. The foundation has restored the Grimes Flying Lab, a modified Beech C-45H, as an educational tool and the centerpiece for a museum.
http://www.grimesflyinglab.org/
•
Hawthorn Hill
Aviation brought the Wright brothers wealth and the spotlight of world attention. Wilbur and Orville decided to leave 7 Hawthorn Street for a home suitable for receiving prominent visitors — and a more secluded place for their tight-knit family. Wilbur helped Orville design the house, but he died in 1912, before it was built. Orville and Katharine lived their with their father, the Bishop Milton Wright, until he died in 1917. Katharine married and moved out in 1926. Orville lived there until the end of his life in 1948.NCR Corp. acquired the home and preserved it until 2006, when it donated the estate to the Wright Family Foundation. The family opened Hawthorn Hill to limited public tours in 2007. Tours are conducted by the nonprofit Dayton History at Carillon Park.
http://www.daytonhistory.org/
•
National Museum of United States Air Force
Drawing approximately 1 million visitors per year, the museum boasts more than 400 air- and spacecraft in mammoth galleries. Featured exhibits include the presidential aircraft, the B-17 Memphis Belle (undergoing restoration), a B-2 Stealth bomber and, mostly recently, an F-22A Raptor. The museum also hosts the Dawn Patrol Rendezvous, a World War I fly-in and encampment, a giant scale radio control air show, and other events. The museum is located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/
•
National Aviation Hall of Fame
Co-located with the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, the hall of fame is a nonprofit group chartered by Congress to preserve the stories of America’s most important air and space pioneers. Its learning center supports educational exhibits and programs, but the organization is best known for its annual enshrinement ceremony, which draws the top names in aviation.
http://www.nationalaviation.org
•
WACO Museum and Airfield
The WACO Aircraft Company of Troy, north of Dayton, was the leading U.S. manufacturer of civilian aircraft from 1928 through 1935. The WACO Historical Society preserves the WACO story and the flavor of aviation’s Golden Age with Historic WACO Field, a turf airfield, and an on-airfield museum and learning center.
http://www.wacoairmuseum.org/
•
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
Founded in 1841, Woodland Cemetery is one of America’s five oldest rural or garden cemeteries and a unique cultural, botanical and educational resource in the heart of Dayton. It’s also the final resting place of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Visitors from around the world stop at the brothers’ graves to pay their respects.
http://www.woodlandcemetery.org/•
Wright "B" Flyer Inc.
This nonprofit, all-volunteer group built, flies and maintains a modern look-alike of the 1911 Wright “B” Flyer, the first airplane produced in numbers for the U.S. Army. The flying ambassador of Dayton’s aviation heritage, the “B” flew over the Rose Bowl and around the Statue of Liberty in 2003, the centennial anniversary of powered flight. The group also displays a non-flying Wright “B” Flyer replica on the Huffman Prairie Flying Field in conjunction with the National Park Service. This year, the group is building a new Wright “B” Look-alike designed to fit in a standard shipping container so it can be taken to aviation events around the world. The Wright “B” Flyer’s hangar at Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport, south of Dayton, doubles as a museum.
http://www.wright-b-flyer.org
