Just north of the Air Force Museum is a place known as Huffman Prairie. After their first flight, the Wright Brothers needed a place where they could perfect the airplane. They decided to return to their home town of Dayton. In 1904, they decided to use this place.
It was serviced by the Interurban out of Dayton. That allowed them to bring parts and stuff from their bicycle shop in the town.
In 1917, the US Army purchased the land and it would become part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (although it was just Wright Field at the time).
A recreation of their storage shed.
And a recreation of the catapult they used to launch their planes. They made 150 flights from this field between 1904 and 1905 and these led to the Wright Flyer III which was considered the first practical airplane. In 1910, the Wright Company was located there along with the flying school. At the flying school, a number of pilots were trained including Hap Arnold.
It is still a part of the base but it is operated by the National Park Service so that people can visit it. Just behind the two buildings above, there is a firing range. There's not alot to see here but it is still pretty neat to walk the same grounds where so much work was done for aviation.
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