AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 63

prairie that the brothers truly mastered aircraft control-especially roll control, which
the Wrights accomplished with wing warping, although ailerons became pretty much
universal by the end of World War I. Today
white flags mark each of the seven corners
of the original field, and the brothers flew
endless circles around its perimeter.
The ground of Huffman Prairie is as
hallowed as Kill Devil Hill, and the two locations are inextricably linked-beneath the
monument near the Huffman Prairie visitor center, a short drive from the field itself,
is sand from Kill Devil Hill, and beneath
the Wright Brothers National Memorial on
Big Kill Devil Hill is soil from
Huffman Prairie. The Wrights
operated a flying school at
the prairie from 1910 to 1916;
among their students were
Henry "Hap" Arnold, who
commanded the U.S. Army
Air Forces in World War II,
and Canadian World War I ace
H. Roy Brown, credited with
shooting down the Red Baron.
A s p a r t o f Wr i g h tPatterson Air Force Base, the
site was closed to the public for decades.
It became part of the Dayton Aviation
Heritage National Historical Park in
1992. Less than a quarter mile away you
could encounter a closed road with a sign,
"Shotgun firing area-do not enter." The
base Rod and Gun Club is nearby and Pylon
Road is not far enough downrange, but
roads to the west and then northeast provide an alternate access route. The detour
is well worth it to see the site where flight
truly came into its own.
The Wright Brothers Aviation Center, in
Dayton's Carillon Historical Park, features

exhibits about the brothers' life and work-
and the 1905 Wright Flyer III, considered
their first truly practical airplane, which
Orville Wright helped to restore in the
1940s. The park's founder, Edward Andrew
Deeds, wanted a replica of the 1903 Flyer,
but Orville talked him out of it. He realized
the significance of the 1905 airplane.
In 1910 the Wright Company opened
the first airplane factory in the United
States, on West Third Street in Dayton. The
facility was acquired by General Motors
in 1919, and was modified to build steering wheels; later, it produced auto parts
as Delco and eventually Delphi. The plant

Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton. Tours
of Hawthorne Hill are offered twice a week
through Carillon Historical Park.
It's not surprising their inventing
occurred in Dayton. It was the Silicon
Valley of the 1890s. The city had become an
innovation hub and manufacturing center;
around the turn of the century, more patents
per capita were awarded in Dayton than
any other U.S. city. Charles F. Kettering, a
National Cash Register engineer, developed
the first electric cash register, and the electric starter for automobiles; he founded and
later sold Dayton Engineering Laboratories
Company-Delco. Weston Green introduced the popular Cheez-It snack
crackers in Dayton. The Type A
backpack parachute, controllable-pitch propeller, 100LL avgas,
and aircraft ejection seat also were
invented in Dayton.

Dayton had become an
innovation hub and
manufacturing center;
around the turn of the century,
more patents per capita were
awarded in Dayton than any
other U.S. city.
closed in 2008 during Delphi's bankruptcy.
Recently added to the park, the factory is
not yet open to the public.
The brothers planned to live out their
years in a house on Hawthorne Hill, south
of Dayton, but Wilbur died of typhoid
May 30, 1912, before construction began.
Orville lived to see astounding advances
in aviation technology, and died in the
house January 30, 1948. Both are buried
in the Wright family plot at Woodland

AFTER THE WRIGHTS

The Waco Historical Society in
Troy, 20 miles north of Dayton,
was founded in 1978. It honors
the factory and employees of
the Weaver Aircraft Company
of Ohio, headquartered in Troy; the prolific early aircraft manufacturer became
the Waco Aircraft Company in the late
1920s. There's a comprehensive collection
of Waco aircraft and the growing complex
includes a new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) center and
extensive summer camp programs. There's
an event facility and a grass runway; Waco
biplane flights are available.
Grimes Field in Urbana, Ohio, is a center of World War II-era preservation. The
Champaign Aviation Museum is restoring
its B-17 Flying Fortress, Champaign Lady,

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020

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