| Huffman Flying Field
After the Wright Brothers successful flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 Wilbur and Orville returned to their home in Dayton, Ohio and decided they needed a flying field closer to home. They chose a rough pasture on Torrence Huffman's farm and there they solved the complex problems of controlling a machine in powered flight; how to turn, bank, launch and land. This was the field where the world's first pilots learned to fly. They rode an inter-urban electric trolley car to the field with tools, parts and supplies in hand and at the end of the day they rode the trolley back home. In 1904 and 1905 they made more than 100 test flights and perfected the world's first practical airplane - the Wright Flyer III. They built a small hanger and work shop and a catapult to help launch their planes. The hanger was so small the wings had to be removed before it could be stored inside. The Wrights built the world's first airport, Huffman Prairie Flying Field, and in 1910 established the Wright School of Aviation, the world's first permanent flight school, teaching many pilots, both private and military, who would shape the future of aviation. In taking these lessons.....I do so of my own volition and hereby assume whatever risk of personal injury..... Students signed the above statement and paid $25 per lesson with flights lasting approximately 15 minutes. The company brochure said "Pupils usually learn to fly in two or three hours of actual practice in the air." Later a student pilot could pay $750 and receive training of at least seven hours. In all, 119 young pilots learned to fly at the Wright School of Aviation. In 1910 the Wright team suffered seven crashes with the loss of two lives. Of the first nine Wright exhibition pilots five were killed in the first 2 1/2 years of flying. Today, Huffman Prairie Flying Field (later
Wright Field) is part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Lieutenant Frank
Stuart Patterson, a test pilot, lost his life in an airplane crash at Wilbur
Wright Field in 1918. Over the years Wright-Patterson AFB has changed missions
and today it is one of the largest bases in the US Air Force, over 8,000
acres. It employees about 22,000 people making it the fifth largest employer
in Ohio and the largest employer in a single place.
National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the USAF is located on Wright-Patterson AFB and it is the world's largest military aviation museum. More than 400 aerospace vehicles and thousands of displays and historic items are housed in climate controlled buildings and it is impossible to see everything and read every display in a single day. Best of all, the museum is free unless you chose to view an IMAX movie. The galleries are laid out by eras such as the Early Years, World War II, Modern Flight, Missile and Space, the Presidential Gallery, and many others. There is too much to list, but one thing caught our attention and that was the quick evolution of aircraft due to World War I. Our first exhibit was the 1909 Wright Military Flyer, an airplane the Wright Brothers sold to the military and used to train pilots. The next exhibit was a 1917 airplane used in World War I, the Sopwith Camel. (I think Snoopy, the cartoon dog, flew this airplane.) The Wright Bros airplane looked primitive
and had a 30.6 horsepower engine, a maximum speed of 30 mph and would stay
aloft up to one hour. The Sopwith Camel, just eight years later boasted
a 130 horsepower rotary engine, had a maximum speed of 130 mph, a range
of 300 miles, a ceiling of 19,000 feet and carried two .303 caliber machine
guns. On display was the B-29 Bockscar, the actual plane that dropped the
Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan to end World War II in the Pacific.
Linda's father asked us to see if they had a P-38 because it was his favorite
WWII plane. We found one and sent him a picture. I suppose most of the
advances in aircraft over the years have been due to military needs.
You Can Never Go Home Again Linda was born in Dayton and lived there 15 years. Her father, John Click, built a small house when he was discharged from the Navy shortly after World War II. Linda lived in that house 13 years and then they bought a larger house and lived there 2 years before leaving Dayton and moving to Franklin, Ohio. Linda remembered the addresses of those houses and using our Garmin GPS we found them. We met the young man who now lives in the first house. She also remembered the address of her Grandmother Jones' house and it was still standing too. Then we drove to Linda first school, Charles L. Loos Elementary School. Linda enjoyed seeing those houses and school
again after not being in Dayton many years. She got to relive her youth
again and I enjoyed seeing those places too. I have always heard the saying
"you can never go home again" so I asked Linda if she would like to move
back to Dayton. She replied "No way."
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