|
Beginning May 29 through September
6, 2004, the staff of Dayton Aviation Heritage National
Historical Park will conduct scheduled walking tours
of Huffman Prairie Flying Field located in Area C of
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at 10:30 a.m., Mondays,
Tuesdays, and Thursdays through Saturdays. The tours
will provide an introduction to the place where Wilbur
and Orville Wright taught themselves to fly during 1904
and 1905. The tours will also introduce the broader
history of the flying field on the Air Force Base. The
tours begin Saturday, May 29 and run through Monday,
September 6. Normal flying field hours are Mondays,
Tuesdays, and Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 a.m. to
6 p.m. The flying field is located on an active Air
Force Base and is subject to closure due to contingencies.
Please call the Interpretive Center at (937) 425-0008
to confirm the flying field is open to the public. All
of the tours will begin from the parking area located
at the northeast end of the flying field.
Following their success at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville wanted to find a place closer to home. The location they chose for their work was a cow pasture on the east side of Dayton now called Huffman Prairie Flying Field. Here the brothers learned to control and maneuver their powered craft in the sky during the summer and fall of 1904 and 1905. The two would return to the site in 1910 to test various airplanes from their production facility, The Wright Company. They established an exhibition company and the Wright School of Aviation.
The tours are free of charge and are open to the public. Visitors should enter the base through Gate 16A off Ohio State Route 444 and follow the signs to the flying field. For more information, please contact Park Ranger, Ann Honious at (937) 225-7705.
|
