12/1/2023 – Aviation National Heritage Area OH – The Aviation Trail, within the Aviation NHA, has 17 sites directly or indirectly related to the Wright Brothers. The Dayton Aviation National Historic Park (NHP) is part of the NHA and has been described earlier, see Blog for – April 2018. Today, friends Leaf and Jeff were visiting, and we decided to explore two sites in the NHA. The first was Wright State University, in nearby Fairborn OH, where the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library houses the Wright Brothers archives. Dunbar is a noted African American Poet who lived in Dayton. His house is a site in the Dayton Aviation NHP.
The archives are located on the 4th floor. The sculpture on the right is the Coupe Michelin Prize, 2000,000 francs won by Wilbur Wright for flying the longest nonstop flight of the year on 12/31/1908 in Le Mans France.
Some of the resources in the archives
Jeff and Leaf at one of several interesting displays –
A full-scale replica of the Wrights’ 1903 Flyer hangs in the library atrium.
Our next stop was the National Museum of the American Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 20-min from Springfield. It has four humongous hangars and is the largest military aviation museum in the world. It has >360 aerospace vehicles and missiles covering the history of flight, and it is free! It is a site I have visited numerous times with family and friends.
Statue honoring the 92nd Bomb Group that flew B-17s during World War II
Jacket worn by a B-17 crew member.
This is the gun that was used to fire the first shot from an airplane in 1910.
I had to put this early 1920s heavy bomber in the Blog – an MB-2 Martin Bomber with foldable wings.
Legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen who flew P-51 “Red Tail” Mustangs during World War II. Their story is told at the Tuskegee Airmen NHS in Alabama.
The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is located within the museum and is the only Congressionally Chartered aviation hall of fame in the U.S. It consists of a Heritage Hall and an Education Center. It is dedicated to honoring America’s aerospace pioneers. You can have your photo taken in a space suit –
The above is just a small sampling of the planes, missiles, and displays in the AF Museum.
12/2/2023 – after our guests left, I decided to re-visit three other sites in the Aviation NHA to add more photos to my collection. The first was the Huffman Prairie Flying Field at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I started at the Interpretive Center and Wright Brothers Memorial, which is part of the Wright-Dunbar NHP – see Blog for July 2013.
The Huffman Prairie Flying Field was where the Wright Brothers tested many of their aircraft and trained pilots – The First Airport –
1905 Hangar
Catapult
I walked around the pasture, marked by seven flag poles, which follow the flight path of the 1904-1905 flight trials.
This area, in Fairborn OH, went from a Flying Field to an Air Force Base
My next stop was at the Wright-Dunbar NHP Interpretive Center and Aviation Trail Visitor Center, in West Dayton.
There is a re-creation of the 1902 Glider that the Wright Brothers tested off the sand dunes in Kitty Hawk NC just inside the entrance.
One of the two original Wright Brothers Cycle Company buildings is located here – see Blog for April 2018. The other was moved to the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI, which is part of the MotorCities NHA.
My last stop of the day was at Carillon Historical Park near the University of Dayton; UD’s mascot – The Flyers! The Park (1950) has many buildings and displays that cover life and manufacturing in Dayton.
One is a re-creation (1972) of one of the two Wright Brothers Cycle Company buildings.
An adjacent building was designed, with the help of Orville Wright, to house the original 1905 Wright Flyer III, the world’s first practical airplane. He wanted the plane displayed below ground level so visitors could see how the controls operated.
There are many interesting Wright Brothers exhibits there.
Having documentation (stamps) that I had completed 8 of the 17 Aviation Trail sites, I was now able to receive a “Wilbear Wright” teddy bear!
The Deeds Carillon (1942), at the entrance to Carillon Historical Park, is decorated each year for Christmas.
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