3/17 Su – St Patrick’s Day! Early afternoon took back roads (1.5hrs), drove by debris from a tornado that hit Logan County a few days earlier, to Wapakoneta OH and the Armstrong Air & Space Museum (just off I-75). It is a site in the National Aviation Heritage Area, as well as a site on the Aviation Trail. I had been here in August 2019, see the end of the Blog entry for that month. However, I was too late to tour the museum. Today, we did that –
There have been 26 astronauts from Ohio, making it the fourth-largest producer of astronauts in the U.S.
Neil Armstrong was a Navy Fighter Pilot during the Korean War.
Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962 and made his first spaceflight in 1966 as command pilot of Gemini VIII. On this mission, they made the world’s first docking with another satellite in orbit. This is the Gemini VIII space capsule –
The 36-story Saturn Rocket was used to put Apollo 8 and all following moon missions into lunar orbit.
On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Apollo 11 Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin became the first people to land on the Moon! The next day they spent two and a half hours outside the Lunar Module Eagle, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia. The Plan –
When stepping onto the Moon, Armstrong said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Lunar “Rock”
Neil Armstrong’s boyhood home in Wapakoneta OH is a half mile from the museum.
3/18 M – Drove to downtown Dayton OH and Sinclair Community College to visit the National UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) Training and Certification Center, which is a site on the Aviation Trail.
Sinclair has extensive UAS “Drone” facilities to enable advanced training and support of applied research activities.
They also have manned aviation programs to support the growing UAS industry.
One example is the LIFT prototype vehicle for individual vertical takeoff flight. Electric Vertical Take-Off Ride Sharing Aerial Vehicles (Taxis) will be built by Joby Aviation in a production facility at the Dayton Airport. Joby received Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate, which allows Joby to operate a commercial air taxi service, in 2022. It has partnerships with the USAF, Uber, and Delta.
Building 18, is the only UAS Indoor Flying Pavilion in the country. It has 3,200 sq ft of flying space and is 40 ft high.
I returned to Sinclair CC on April 17, 2024, for a tour of the Flying Pavilion with Tech Sam.
The World’s First Custom Built UAS Indoor Flying Pavilion
Sam also gave me a demonstration of the wind tunnel used for testing drone components.
We finished with a tour of the laboratory/teaching facilities.
3/23 Sa – picked up John at 8am and headed for the ‘Wright “B” Flyer’ located at the Dayton Wright Brothers Airport in Miamisburg OH, just south of Dayton. It is a historic site in the National Aviation Heritage Area and is also on the Aviation Trail.
The Wright “B” Flyer, on the left, is a look-alike of the world’s first mass-produced airplanes (1910-1911) made in the Wright Company factory in Dayton OH. The “Flyer” on the right is one that is used for scenic flights. The Wright “B” Flyer is also flyable, but insurance costs are a barrier to using it for that purpose at this time.
This float is used in parades to promote the ‘Wright ”B” Flyer’ and the National Aviation Heritage Area.
Model – note the Aviation Trail sign.
An hours’ drive took us to Batavia OH, on the east side of Cincinnati, and the Tri-State Warbird Museum, which is another site on the Aviation Trail.
Their mission is to preserve the aircraft of World War II. It has nine significant WW II aircraft and plans to add more. John at entrance with mural of Curtis P-40M Kittyhawk III.
P-40s were important fighters during the early stages of WW II.
The museum is well-funded and staffed, immaculate, and all planes are flyable and used in air shows around the country. Note the yellow North American AT-6D Texan in the center of Hangar #1.
Fock-Wulf FW 190 F8/R1, was one of Germany’s two main fighters during WW II.
North American P-51 Mustang, they served in every combat zone during WW II.
General Motors TBM-3 Avenger Navy torpedo bomber, note the foldable wings to reduce the space needed for storage on aircraft carriers –
Hangar #2 has a B-25 Mitchell, the plane that was used in the famous “Doolittle Raid” on Tokyo (April 18, 1942), four months after Pearl Harbor. Sixteen B-25Bs took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the Pacific Ocean (which they were not designed to do), and bombed Tokyo providing a large boost in American morale.
Our last stop was the Middletown OH Regional Airport, the location of Butler County Warbirds Inc., my 17th and final Aviation Trail site.
They have a 1943 Fairchild PT-19, this was the primary trainer for the Army Air Corps during World War II. The plane is used for scenic flights.
There is a WW II Era Airport Beacon located next to the hangar.
Inside of Hangar –
Door surrounded by sandbags leads to displays of World War II items and memorabilia.
Home at 4pm
4/17/2024 – After doing a second tour of the UAS facilities at Sinclair CC, I drove to the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport (SGH). In 2006 the Ohio Air National Guard base lost its F-16 training mission there but was assigned an intelligence mission flying MQ-1 Predator drones. The Predators are flown remotely and controlled from SGH.
Starting in 2019, a National, State, Local, Air Force, and Industry effort led to the establishment of the National Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Center for Excellence at the airport.
Lobby – has the Kittyhawk electric plane owned by Larry Page co-founder of Google.
SGH – “An Innovative Aerospace Technology Hub”
Hangar currently houses experimental aircraft owned by private industry companies such as Joby. They also have a flight simulator housed in a semi-trailer truck.
A “Sky Vision Bus” provides radar to control unmanned aircraft in a designated 225-square-mile airspace above the airport.
Joby Flight Simulator –
“Entities Using the Airfield for Testing & Flights include: BETA; Joby; Kittyhawk; LIFT Aircraft; Air Force Research Labs; OH Dept. of Transportation; Ohio UAS Center; SelectTech GeoSpatial; local & state universities, multiple UAS companies & start-ups; multiple eVTOL companies & start-ups; equipment manufacturers & suppliers related to UAS & eVTOL markets.” A vertical take-off and landing platform has been constructed for the experimental aircraft as well as an electric charging station.
This is currently one of only two aircraft electric charging stations in Ohio.
SGH Terminal –
First there were piston aircraft, then there was jet propulsion, and now an electric aircraft phase has begun. 2002 Ohio State Quarter –
The Martin's Blog 