The folks in North Carolina proclaim they’re ‘First in Flight.’ Meanwhile, the good people of Dayton counter they’re the bonafide Birthplace of Aviation. Who’s right (or should we say Wright?)
It depends. Orville and Wilbur made the first engine-powered heavier-than-air flight from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina December 17, 1903. But the groundwork for that flight, the germination of the Wright brother’s aeronautical genius belongs to Dayton.
There are no less than 14 places in Dayton where you can revel in things aeronautic, learn the fundamental lessons of flight. Among them:
- The Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretative Center. Learn about the place the Wrights fabricated the planet’s first practical flying machine. See the memorial to that game-changing effort.
- Behold the original 1905 Wright Flyer III, meticulously restored under the supervision of Orville himself at the John W. Berry, Sr. Wright Brothers Aviation Center at Carillon Historical Park. Immerse yourself in the era when heavier-than-air flight was a fantasy to some, and a dream to a chosen few.
- Leap beyond the Wrights, to what they helped inspire: manned space flight. See the Armstrong Air & Space Museum. Ohio native Neil Armstrong, of course, was the first human being to set foot on the Moon.
- Finish your airborne explorations at the National Museum of the Air Force. Glory in the grandeur and the sweep, the history of United States Air Force aviation. This is a three-hangar affair, and each is massive. Don’t plan on seeing everything in one quick fly by. A hangar a day is the best way to take it all in. From fragile fabric and wood flying machines, to the cutting-edge B-2 Stealth Bomber, they’re all here.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Images: Armchair Aviator)
