Vectren Dayton Air Show managers weren't saying ahead of time what they would announce at today's press conference, but the setting gave a pretty good hint: Right in front of the new F-22A exhibit in the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

The announcement, of course, was that the Air Force's Raptor demo team will fly at the 2008 air show on July 19-20 at Dayton International Airport.

Well, OK, I knew what was on the agenda because I'm on the air show's board of trustees. Still, it was a pretty cool way to announce it. And I'm jazzed that Major Paul "Max" Moga will be demonstrating the big fighter's surprising maneuverability: I've yet to see the demo live, but the videos on the Internet — like the one below — are astonishing. How does it do that?

We're calling it a "homecoming" because the Raptor has its roots in the Dayton area at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Two major research organizations there had a lot to do with shaping the airplane you will see this summer. The Foreign Technology Division (now the National Air and Space Intelligence Center) analyzed the new-generation fighter and missile technologies the Soviet Union was developing in the 1970s and '80s, and the Flight Dynamics Laboragtory (now the Air Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory developed the new technologies U.S. fighters would need to defeat them. F-22 acquisition continues under the Aeronautical Systems Center, also based at Wright-Patterson, a unit of Air Force Material Command. ASC’s 478th Aeronautical Systems Wing remains responsible for design, production, deployment, modernization and sustainment of the aircraft.

Also booked for this year's show: Civilian Performer Sean D. Tucker, flying his one-of-a-kind Oracle Challenger II biplane. Sean has won every major award in the air show industry; this summer he'll be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of The Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh and Neil Armstrong. Sean will also be on the cover of The Dayton air Show: A Celebration in Photographs, by Ty Greenlees and me.

Joining Sean for its first Dayton appearance be the newly formed Collaborators Formation Aerobatic Team. Introduced to the air show circuit in 2007, The Collaborators is a four-ship team that combines the grace and beauty of tight formation flying with hard-charging aerobatics. Sean flies Lead, with his son Eric on left wing; Ben Freelove, on right wing, and Bill Stein, a former Red Baron Squadron pilot, in slot. Stein, an accomplished formation aerobatic pilot, serves as the team’s formation instructor and will also perform a solo routine.


Want more? Here's what else the air show announced:

• Misty Blues All-Woman Skydiving Team
•AeroShell Aerobatic Team
•Les Schockley's NeXplore Shockwave, a Peterbilt truck powered by three blame-belching jet engines.

Now, strap in and watch the Raptor video:

Tags: Dayton Air Show, F-22A Raptor, Sean D. Tucker

Wee and the Wright Brothers is the story of a clever mouse who lives in the Wright brothers’ West Dayton bicycle shop and reports on their airplane-building activities for his family’s newspaper, The Mouse News. When Wilbur and Orville build their powered Flyer and set off for North Carolina's Outer Banks to test it, Wee stows away in the Flyer’s crate. He eventually sneaks aboard the airplane itself to experience the world’s first powered flight.

Henry Holt and Co. published Wee and the Wright Brothers in 2004. I have to admit it isn’t easy to find these days in Dayton-area bookstores, although the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historial Park stocks it in the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center’s gift shop. But now it’s available somewhere I never expected — Taiwan. Publisher Taiwan Emma licensed a Chinese-language version of the book. It’s out in hardcover, with a parent’s guide and an audio CD.

I don’t speak or read Chinese, so I’m not sure exactly how the book is being marketed or used in Taiwan. (I wasn’t sure Wee was really on the CD, which includes several books, until I heard the sputter of the Flyer’s engine and recognized the cadence of the text as it counted the twelve seconds of Orville’s — and Wee’s — first flight.) If you read Chinese, you might learn more by going to this page and scrolling down to the section about my book: http://www.taiwanemma.com.tw/e55.html

It’s gratifying to see one of my books published in a foreign language, but it’s more gratifying to know that I’ve helped spread the word about Dayton’s aviation heritage to another part of the world — especially one where Ohio and the Dayton region have significant economic and cultural ties.

This Chinese-language edition isn’t marketed in the USA, and it isn’t available online. I can place large orders if there is sufficient interest. Of course, it’s best paired with the English-language version! Contact me if you’re interested.

Tags: Wee And the Wright Brothers, aviation heritage, Wright Brothers