From left to right-Peter Cody, Eric Verdon-Roe (grandson of Alliot Verdon-Roe, founder of AVRO), Captain David Rowland (President, The Royal Aeronautical Society), Walt Hoy (Trustee, Wright "B" Flyer Inc.), Amanda Wright Lane (Great-grandneice of the Wright Brothers), Samuel Franklin John Cody. (Photo by Jessie Duckro)

The Dayton region’s aviation heritage is on display at the world’s largest air show as part of the Farnborough International Air Show's International Pioneers of Flight Pavilion today through July 20.

The National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) is participating in the 60th Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, at the invitation of the air show’s producers. The producers had met Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright, during NAHA’s participation in last year’s Paris Air Show in France.

“It is an absolute honor to have another country invite us and to recognize the importance of the Wright brothers. This may be a first – for multiple aviation pioneers to be celebrated together under one roof. People are walking away talking about it,” said Wright Lane.

The Pioneers of Flight Pavilion, with the help of living ancestors of great aviation pioneers, holds four accurate, full-scale replicas of early 20th century aircraft including the AVRO Biplane (1908), AVRO Triplane (1910), the Cody Flyer (1908), and the Wright "B" Flyer (1911). The original Wright "B" Flyer was designed to provide pilot training and reconnaissance for the US army Signal Corps and was used for that purpose from 1911 to 1914. The replica Wright "B" is being presented by volunteers from Wright "B" Flyer Inc., a NAHA partner, based in the Wright brother’s hometown, Dayton, Ohio. It is sponsored here by Makino, a global leader in metal cutting and manufacturing technology. Makino’s North American headquarters is located in Mason, Ohio, just south of Dayton.

Inspired by the success of the Wright brothers, Samuel Franklin Cody flew on October 16, 1908 on a field that would evolve to become the site of the FIA. This year’s participation by the Cody Flyer marks the 100th anniversary of the first flight in the United Kingdom. The AVRO company was founded in 1910 by Alliot Verdon Roe and was manufacturing airplanes in Great Britain at the same time the Wrights were building planes in Dayton.

On the show’s opening day, descendants of the three aviation pioneers — Samuel and Peter Cody, Eric Verdon-Roe and Amanda Wright Lane — gathered for the first time and met members of the international news media.

NAHA Chairman John Bosch, said FIA is an important venue for his organization. “Our presence here allows us to promote Dayton as the global center of aviation heritage and we hope, ultimately, that Farnborough visitors will become visitors to Dayton in the near future,” he said.

In addition to the Wright B Flyer 1911 replica, NAHA is presenting a simulator that allows visitors to virtually “fly” a Wright brother’s airplane over the Huffman Prairie Flying Field, the site near Dayton where the brothers perfected flight in 1904 and1905. Farnborough marks the first time this simulator, originally funded by the Wright Family Foundation in 2006, is being presented outside the United States.

FIA is the largest, most internationally attended aerospace event in the world and is a globally renowned showcase of aerospace equipment and technology. It provides a venue for the world’s civil and military aerospace suppliers and their customers to meet and finalize business transactions. More than $40 billion in orders were announced at the 2006 show.

The National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) is a private, not for profit corporation operating as the management entity of the Congressionally designated National Aviation Heritage Area, one of 40 national heritage areas in the United States. NAHA’s vision is for Dayton to become the recognized global center of aviation heritage and premier destination for aviation heritage tourism, sustaining the legacy of the Wright brothers. The National Aviation Heritage Area encompasses an eight county area (Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Warren, Champaign, Shelby, and Auglaize counties.)

Tags: aviation heritage, Wright Brothers, Wright "B" Flyer, Farnborough Air Show

In the early 1960s, my family drove to Port Clinton, Ohio, for a trip to Put-in-Bay (South Bass Island.) We flew on an airliner operated by a small, island-hopping carrier called Island Airways (later, Island Airlines.) It was my first airline flight. I've forgotten a lot about that trip — the exact year, even my age — but I remember those barn-door like wings, the naked radial engines, and the long roll down the grass airstrip as we lumbered into the air for what seemed like a wave-hopping flight to the island. The airplane was a Ford Tri-Motor, also known as the Tin Goose.

Even then, the chance to fly on a pioneer airliner was a rare treat and an experience that helped shape my interest in aviation heritage. The chance to fly on Henry Ford's dream of the future (video) is much rarer now, but still possible: The Experimental Aircraft Association operates a restored, 1929 Ford Tri-Motor, and its annual tour will bring it to the Dayton region for four days of flights from June 26 through June 29. The 1929 "Tin Goose" will be at Commander Aero, Wright Brothers Airport, on Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in Miami Twp. Rides in the 12-passenger plane will be available to the public for $50 per person. To order tickets, call the EAA at 1-800-843-3612 or book a flight online. The visit is supported by EAA Chapter 48 of Moraine. (Disclosure: I'm an EAA 48 member.)

I don't know what prompted my parents to take me on that Ford Tri-Motor flight more than four decades ago, but I'll always be glad they did. This is your chance to do the same for your children or grandchildren — or even yourself!



Aerobatics in a Ford Tri-Motor?

No, your Ford Tri-Motor flight won't include loops or spins, but if it did, here's how it would look.

More Ford Tri-Motor videos

Tags: Ford Tri-Motor, Island Airlines, Wright Brothers Airport, EAA

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

WACO Historical Society has been awarded an important grant that will help it continue its mission of preserving the legacy of WACO aircraft and educating the public about the region's important role in the "golden age of flight."

Here's the press release:

Duke Foundation Renews Support of WACO for 2 More Years

The Paul G. Duke Foundation has awarded The WACO Historical Society, Inc. a grant of $40,000.00 to be used to provide operating support and the employment of the Executive Director of The WACO Historical Society for 2008 and 2009.

WACO President Dick AmRhein stated "The WACO Historical Society is grateful for the continued support from the Duke Foundation in an effort to move WACO to the next level of development."

Executive Director Karen Purke stated, "I am pleased that the Duke Foundation has reviewed Waco's progress in the past 2 years with favor and has chosen to renew their commitment in support of The WACO Historical Society's mission to "Preserve the Past and Inspire the Future" as showcased in our activities and events offered to the Miami Valley community."

The Paul G. Duke Foundation has been pivotal in the support of the WACO Historical Society by providing operating cost and funding the organization's first executive director. Recent development that has occurred since the foundation's involvement includes the renovation of an existing hangar , the move of the WACO Museum to the renovated space and the explanation of community programs.

The Paul G. Duke Foundation is a Supporting Foundation of The Columbus Foundation and targets grant awards for non profits in the Miami County and central Ohio regions. The Duke Foundation was founded in 1983 by Troy entrepreneur Paul G. Duke. Mr. Duke's daughter, Pat Robinson, is president of the Foundation and carries on the family's tradition of supporting the community.

The WACO Historical Society is a community based non-profit organization that has been in existence since 1978. Over the past 29 years, the 501(c)(3) organization has served a dual purpose: Preserving of the history of the WACO Aircraft and the "Golden Age of Flight" and the educating of young people in the areas of math, science, technology and history, using aviation themes as a means toward enhancing student enthusiasm and response to traditional classroom curriculum. WACO serves the Miami Valley area with The WACO Museum, educational programs for all ages and our community based events held on Historic WACO Field.

The organization is located in Troy, Ohio on a 79 acre site known as Historic WACO Field that features a grass runway specially built and designed for vintage aircraft. Historic WACO Field is in the process of evolving into a vintage airfield environment to engage the visitor on all sensory levels with the "Golden Age of Flight".

Tags: aviation heritage, WACO aircraft

Chuck Yeager is famous for booming the California desert 60 years ago on the first supersonic flight of the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane. What many people don't know is that the supersonic flight program was directed from Wright Field — now Area B of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — near Dayton, Ohio.

The age of supersonic flight came at the same time the Army Air Forces became a separate military service. The XS-1 program began as an Army program with the civilian National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as a partner. It came to fruition under the Air Force. It was directed by the Flight Test Division at Wright Field. Yeager, who had come to Dayton as a maintenance test pilot, graduated from flight test school just in time to be the lead pilot for the XS-1 program. He was sent to Edwards — then Muroc Army Air Field — and soon punched through the so-called sonic wall.

There are claims that Yeager was not the first to go supersonic, but only the first to do so in level flight. Claims have been made that German pilot Hans Guido Mutke and George Schwartz "Wheaties" Welch both broke the sound barrier in dives prior to Yeager's flight. Neither claim is officially recognized.

Yeager is scheduled to visit Wright-Patterson on Oct. 26 for the "Flying Sergeants" reunion of the Army Air Corps Enlisted Pilots Association. Yeager started his flying career in World War II as a sergeant through a program that allowed non-commissioned officers to take flight training.

Tags: Chuck Yeager, X-1, supersonic flight, Wright Field

Watch my eight-minute movie about the centennial celebration that was held
on Huffman Prairie in 2005, featuring comments by Historian Tom Crouch
and Mark Dusenberry's flights in his replica Wright Flyer III.

On October 5, 1905, the Wright brothers ushered the world into the age of practical flight. On that day Wilbur took off from Huffman Prairie in Greene County, Ohio, in their 1905 Flyer III. Flying circle after circle, he kept the machine aloft for more than 39 minutes, covering 24 miles in 29 laps at an average speed of 38 miles per hour. The flight marked the end of their six years of experimentation.

Huffman Prairie is now a part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It’s also a part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park and the National Aviation Heritage Area. On October 5, 2007, the National Park Service, the Air Force and the Aviation Heritage Foundation will hold a week of activities to celebrate the flight’s 102nd anniversary. The main event will be re-enactment of the flight by Mark Dusenberry in his Wright Flyer III replica.

The celebration will run from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The field will be open to the public at 8 a.m. The main attraction will be Dusenberry's flight. The plan is for Dusenberry to make a straight-line flight with two 90-degree turns -- not a circle, but you should be able to see him bank and turn the airplane much as the Wright brothers did. (In 2005, he was not allowed to make any turns.) School programming will commence following the flight.

All events are free and open to the public, according to the National Park Service. Spectators are encouraged to bring chairs. Access to the flying field is through Gate 16A, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Fairborn, OH.

Near the prairie is the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center on Memorial Hill, where you can learn more about the leagacy of the Wright brothers, including the continuing research at Wright-Patterson. You can watch a film about the Wright brothes’s work and even try your hand at a 1911 Wright Flyer simulator.

Tags: Mark Dusenberry, Huffman Prairie, Wright Flyer III, Wright Brothers, aviation heritage

Stephen Wright, great-grandnephew of Wilbur and Orville Wright and an Oakwood resident, spoke for the family when he presented its request for a special use permit to the Oakwood City County last week. (With him was his sister Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of the Wright brothers. Council approved the request, overturning the planning commission's decision. Some neighbors strongly oppose the plan, fearing noise and traffic in their quiet, leafy neighborhood.)

Wright's statement largely recounted the events since NCR Corp. returned the home to Wright family ownership last year and the family's efforts to develop a plan for public access that won't disrupt the surrounding neighborhood. He closed by describing what makes the home special not only to the family, but to America:

"Until last year, Amanda and I had only visited Hawthorn Hill but a handful of times in our own lives because of its private ownership. This was a house that the previous three generations of our family had gathered in and enjoyed for 44 years as guests of their famous Uncle Orv. Hawthorn Hill for us represents and tells the story of the private life of Orville Wright, a shy in public, reserved, self taught genious who was half of one of the greatest inventive collaborations in all of human history.

"The Orville Wright my family new and loved privately at his home was a totally different person altogether as was his older brother Wilbur in private. The Orville Wright of Hawthorn Hill was a cordial neighbor. He was generous to his family and community. He was a fascinating and well-rounded conversationalist and irretrievably corrupted as a player of practical jokes. Anyone visiting Hawthorn Hill was fair game. He was a child at heart and as such, adored by our father, uncle, and all the cousins of their generation as well as the one preceding it.

"In short; there was an Orville Wright only a handful of people ever got a glimpse of and we would like to request from you the opportunity to share that side of the man with anyone who cares to visit his home as an interested, respectful guest. We ask that you grant Hawthorn Hill museum status as provided for in the City of Oakwood's articles of zoning under section 601.3.

"We feel it is time to allow the general public to hear this story and visit the home that until now was only possible if you were privileged enough to be an invited guest as was Thomas Edison, Vilhammer Stephanson, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Carl Sandberg and Charles Lindbergh, to name a few.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again; Hawthorn Hill was a museum, monument and memorial to invention from the day in 1912 when the first brick was laid, like it or not. It has always been the subject of special attention, like it or not, and it has not truly been a private residence since the death of Orville Wright in 1948, like it or not. Amanda and I are here tonight to respectfully convey a final request for the City of Oakwood to accord Hawthorn Hill the status deserving of it's history and significance to not only Oakwood; but to our region as a whole. This is where aviation began and that industry lives on today as a vital part of our economy. It is who we are. We live in the Birthplace of Aviation, like it or not."

Amanda Wright Lane with Mario Villares (left) and Fernando Botelho (right.)

Note: Some links here are to Portuguese-language sites.

SAU PAULO, BRAZIL—A descendent of the Wright brothers met her counterpart to Brazil´s most famous air pioneer on May 22 in advance of a major Brazilian air show.

Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright, met Mario Villares, grandnephew of Alberto Santos-Dumont, at Sao Paulo Air Force Base adjacent to the civilian airport. The meeting took place minutes after Lane arrived from her hometown in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The meeting was arranged by Fernando Arruda Botelho. He is a Brazilian business executive and pilot who promotes Brazil´s aviation heritage internationally through his private foundation.

Through several interviews with Brazilian news media, Lane and Villares seemed determined to avoid a century-old dispute over who made the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air flying machine.

´´I would hope this day, today, is the opening of a new era. We are talking about airplanes. We are talking about pioneers,`` said Villares, of Sao Paulo, an engineer and retired steel-business executive.

He said Santos-Dumont´s pioneering work is virtually unknown in the United States and not widely known even in Brazil.

Lane said she admires Santos-Dumont´s passion for flight and the many ways he expressed it, designing both lighter-than-air and winged machines.

``He saw flying in so many ways,´´ she said.

Tuesday's press conference kicked off four days of aviation-related activities for Lane and Villares. Later on Tuesday, they toured the Wings of a Dream Museum in Sao Carlos, about 160 miles from Sao Paulo. (Map of Sao Paulo State.) The museum is owned by a private foundation managed by TAM Airlines, a Brazilian air carrier. On Wednesday, the Brazilian Air Force gave them royal treatment with a tour of its Air Force Academy. Lane gave a lecture detailing the Wright brothers' accomplishments. And on Thursday, they took part in the opening ceremonies for the annual Broa Fly-In, a private aviation expo and air show on Botelho's airport near Sao Carlos.

At the fly-in, Alan Calassa flew his 14bis, a replica of Santos-Dumont's first powered airplane, in formation with two of Botelho's Demoiselle lookalikes. The Demoiselle was a later Santos-Dumont design that resembles a modern ultralight. Underscoring the spirit of friendship, Lane climbed into Calassa's craft and posed for pictures with him and daughter Aline, who has also flown the machine.

Brazil recognizes Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian native who longed to fly and moved to France to study engineering in the late 1800s. He designed a series of powered lighter-than-air ships, then focused on winged flight and won a French prize for the first heavier-than-air powered flight in 1906.

The Wright brothers made their first powered flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903. They demonstrated a practical airplane on Huffman Prairie in Ohio in 1905, and received a U.S. flying-machine patent in 1906. But the claims of the two publicity-shy brothers were widely viewed with skepticism at the time, while Santos-Dumont had made a reputation with lighter-than-air flight and made his heavier-than-air flight in an official contest. Europe finally recognized the Wrights when Wilbur made their first public flights in Le Mans, France, in 1908.

The Brazilian Air Force revers Santos-Dumont as the father of Brazilian aeronautics, but little is known about the Wright brothers in South America's largest country. Likewise, Santos-Dumont is virtually unknown in the United States.

Botelho believes the Wrights and Santos-Dumont share a common heritage as air pioneers, and he wants people around the world to know about them and draw inspiration from their stories.

Lane, representing the Wright family, is making her first visit to Brazil at Botelho´s invitation. Botelho previously made two trips to the United States to promote Santos-Dumont.

His first visit was in 2005 to give a presentation about his foundation's project to build replicas of one of Santos-Dumont´s flying machines, a dainty, ultralight-like airplane dubbed the Demoiselle.

He returned in 2006 to display the completed replica at Sinclair Community College in downtown Dayton and make demonstration flights (watch my video) at Dayton Wright Brothers airport in concert with the Wright ``B´´ Flyer, a lookalike of the Wrights´1911 airplane, which is based there.

The National Air and Space Museum displayed the machine last October. (Watch video.)

``I admire Fernando´s efforts to have Brazil understand its aviation heritage and the fact he wants to connect all the aviation pioneers,`` Lane said. After his visits to Dayton, ``I´m more than happy to return the favor,´´ she said.

The fly-in featured impressive flights by Calassa in his 14bis, accompanied by two Demoiselle lookalikes — one piloted by Botelho. The closing act was a performance by the Brazilian Air Force's Smoke Squadron — the Esquadrilha da Fumaca — which is also scheduled to fly at the Dayton Air Show in July.

Photo Gallery

Update: Brian J. Terwilliger has replaced Michael Dorn as the 2007 National Aviation Hall of Fame emcee. Terwilliger is the producer of the DVD aviation documentary "One Six Right." A NAHF statement said Dorn had a production schedule conflict.

Michael Dorn, who played Klingon Star Fleet Officer “Worf” on TV and film, will emcee the National Aviation Hall of Fame’s 46th annual enshrinement dinner and ceremony in Dayton on July 21, NAHF officials announced Wednesday.

An actor and pilot, Dorn will lead the prestigious induction ceremony which NAHF bills as “America’s Oscar Night of Aviation.” Five American pioneers of flight are to be honored at the black-tie event, joining a roster of 190 enshrinees.

Dorn is Texas native who grew up in Pasadena, CA, according to NAHF. An active pilot for nearly 20 years, he has owned and flown a variety of aircraft including a Lockheed T-33 trainer, North American F-86 Sabre, and Sabreliner. NAHF says he currently flies a Beech Baron. Wikipedia says he's a member of the Air Force Heritage Foundation.

He’s had a varied career but is best known as Worf in two TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, as well as Star Trek films. In addition to acting, Dorn has done voiceovers for a number of animated productions and video games. He recently narrated the PBS-TV documentary "Red Tail Reborn," about the Tuskegee Airmen and an effort by a group to honor them by rebuilding and flying again a restored WWII-vintage P-51C Mustang that crashed in 2004.

At the hall of fame ceremony, Dorn will be be among aviation’s brightest stars. NAHF’s “Class of 2007” includes Walter J. Boyne, former Director of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, aviation historian and best-selling author; Steve Fossett, globetrotting adventurer who holds numerous world records in balloons, gliders and powered aircraft; Evelyn Bryan Johnson, a flight instructor who has logged more flight hours, trained more pilots, and given more FAA exams than any other pilot; Sally K. Ride, America’s first woman in space aboard NASA’s STS-7 Shuttle mission; and Frederick W. Smith, a former USMC combat pilot and innovative founder of FedEx Corporation. All five are expected to accept their honors in person.

NAHF officials expect more than 1,000 people to attend the ceremony, including leaders from the civil and military aviation industry, government officials, nominees and former enshrinees, and aviation enthusiasts from around the U.S.

Among a number of previously inducted enshrinees planning to attend are astronaut Joe Engle, aerobatic legend Patty Wagstaff, test pilots Fitz Fulton and Joe Kittinger, Experimental Aircraft Association founder Paul Poberezny, and designer and record-setter Dick Rutan.

The ceremony is the highlight of NAHF's enshrinement weekend, which includes the Friday night President's Dinner. For more details, click here.

Well, there it goes. The residents of the posh neighborhood surrounding Orville Wright's historic mansion at 901 Harmon Ave. couldn't abide the thought of sharing the famous site with the world. They turned out to oppose a request for a special use permit to allow small, controlled tours of the home, which has been in private hands and rarely open to the public for more than half a century. The Oakwood Planning Commission tabled the request until its next meeting in June and urged the Wright Family Foundation to find a compromise with the neighbors.

I decided to solve the problem for everyone. Last night I just moved the whole building to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. Orville himself allowed Henry Ford to cart off the original Wright family home and the bicycle shop where they invented the airplane. Michigan might as well have Hawthorn Hill.

This should make everybody happy. The public will get to see Hawthorne Hill, and Oakwood's residents won't have to endure strangers on their quiet streets or turn their leafy neighborhood into a gated community. What do you think? Post a comment!

The Wright Family Foundation and Dayton History are to present their plan to "dip our toe in the water" with the first public tours of Orville Wright's Oakwood mansion, according to an e-mail from Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandneice of the Wright brothers. Hawthorn Hill is on the National Register, but public tours of the home have been rare, in part out of respect to the quiet residential neighborhood where it's set. NCR turned over the property to the Wright Family Foundation last year. The foundation has been working with Dayton History at Carillon Park to work out a plan for low-impact tours. The plan will get its first public airing at an Oakwood Planning Commission meeting Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in city offices at 30 Park Ave.

Here's the request Lane said the groups have submitted for a "special use zoning (museum) for Hawthorn Hill in order to present the home of one of America’s celebrated sons, Orville Wright, to the general public."

• 3 tours per day, duration of 45 minutes to 1 hour per tour
• 4 days per week, Wednesday – Saturday
• 9 am – 3 pm, Wednesday – Saturday
• Proposed tours originate at Carillon Park and visitors, including the guide/driver, are transported to Hawthorn Hill in a 15 passenger van. All visitor parking will be remote at Carillon Park where tours begin and conclude.
• No admission or retail sales will be permitted on-site at Hawthorn Hill.

Lane explained the thinking behind the plan in her e-mail, which went out to aviation heritage supporters:

"We have asked the commission to grant the 9am-3pm time period for those days, even though the tours will take up only about half of that time, for two reasons. First, this schedule will allow a little time for the home to be opened and closed before and after the tours take place. The guide can turn on the lights, open curtains, etc....  Second, we think those hours will allow us to make some adjustments in the timing of the three tours per day in case the times do not work out well for the neighborhood. So, for example...a 9:30am tour could become a 10:15am tour if this suited the situation better.

"I have discussed our plan with Gretchen Loper, principal of Harman School, and explained to her that we would keep the tours within the school hours so that we would not interfere with the coming and going of children during the morning arrival and the afternoon dismissal. She was very supportive of the proposal. And, the tour vehicle (a small one, like the senior vans) would make its way from the Carillon Park to Hawthorn Hill via Park Ave. to Harman so as not to go by the school. And, for the neighbors, this van would go up the driveway 3 times on tour days, and go down the driveway 3 times on tour days. The van will park in the driveway, near the house, not on the street. We want to keep the "activity" simple and non-intrusive for the neighborhood.

"Our plan includes a tour guide/driver who accompanies the visitors for the ENTIRE tour. We will not allow visitors to explore the full extent of the grounds...there is no need since the most interesting interpretation is of the house itself and its' former occupants and world famous visitors. However, we will provide a restricted area of access outside, but in close proximity to house, for those who might like to take a photo of the exterior. The public can ONLY access Hawthorn Hill by making a reservation and purchasing a ticket at Carillon Park."

She said the groups want to give this model a six-month test run, then review it. She added, "We are COMMITTED to taking great care of Uncle Orv's home AND neighborhood. We are also committed to an enjoyable experience for any visitor who would like to tour one of our nation's treasures. We think we can do all three with the help of our partners and the community."

Lane hopes for a big turnout of supporters for the plan.

In the meantime, you can express your own opinion right here. Should public tours be allowed? Is this a good plan? Post a comment!

Restored Wright Cycle Co. building at 22 S. Williams St.

Over the last 15 years, the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park has attracted national recognition, park service personnel, and resources to tell the story of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the community’s aviation heritage, and the Dayton Poet Laureate Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Creating and managing a national park here has been a challenge, says Aviation Trail Inc. President Marvin Christian. It embraces four geographically separated sites: The Wright Cycle Company and the Paul Laurence Dunbar State Memorial, both in Dayton; the Huffman Prairie Flying Field on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the Wright Brothers Aviation Center at Carillon Historical Park in Kettering. Three were already under private, state or federal management, so forging them into a national park has required a partnership approach.

The park itself follows the trailblazing work of ATI. NPS’s first major step was to acquire the Wright Cycle Company building at 22 S. Williams St. from ATI, which had saved it from the wrecking ball in the early 1980s. The Park Service restored the building to its 1895-97 ambience while developing 1890s-era displays of bicycling and cycling products.

Next, the NPS bought the Hoover Block at the corner of West Third and Williams and renovated it as the Wright Cycle Company Complex. More than a quarter-million park visitors have visited the center since it opened in 2003, according to ATI.

The park’s third major building focus was the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center, built on Wright Brothers Hill in cooperation with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The center tells the story of the Wrights’ flight testing on Huffman Prairie Flying Field and the continuing advanced aeronautical research at the air base.

NPS has also forged partnerships with the Ohio Historical Society to include Dunbar’s home as a park site, and with Dayton History to include the original 1905 Wright Flyer III, which is on display at Carillon Historical Park.

“To accomplish so much in only 15 years is truly indicative of the park’s spirit to fully tell this important aviation story,” Christian said.

The Trailblazer banquet commemorates Wilbur Wright’s birth on April 16, 1867. The Trailblazer Award recognizes an organization or individual who has furthered aviation in the greater Miami Valley. Awardees have included large and small aerospace companies as well as individuals whose time and resources are focused on aviation-related pursuits.

Reservations for the event are $40 and are due April Monday, April 9. Write checks to Aviation Trail, Inc. and mail them to P.O. Box 622, Wright Brothers Branch, Dayton, OH, 45409. Please indicate your choice of entrée (beef, chicken, or vegetarian).

Aviation Trail Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation formed in 1981 to preserve and promote the Dayton/Miami Valley area’s unique aviation heritage and to stimulate economic development by encouraging tourism.

The National Park Service is trying to get UNESCO World Heritage status for Huffman Prairie in Greene County, the place where Wilbur and Orville Wright proved the practicality of powered flight. A part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Huffman Prairie Flying Field already has status as a nationally important site. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990 and is one of the four sites that form the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. The park service operates an interpretive center at the Wright Memorial, which overlooks the flying field. Wright-Patterson has adjusted its fences and other security to allow public access. The prairie itself is a valuable part Ohio's environmental heritage as one of its last remaining prairies.

So what's the holdup? The Air Force has to support the idea.

What's not to support? The Air Force has its roots deep, deep in Huffman Prairie. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, an architect of American Air Power and the Air Force's only five-star general, learned to fly on Huffman Prairie from the Wright brothers themselves.

The base belongs to the Air Force Materiel Command. Headquarters AFMC sits across the airfield from Huffman Prairie. This should be a no-brainer for AFMC's leadership.

What do you think?

Hawthorne Hill, Orville Wright's Oakwood mansion, may open for public tours as early as May.

NCR Corp., which acquired the property shortly after Orville's death in 1948, donated it last year to a foundation managed by Orville's descendents. Since then, the Dayton Daily News reported last week, Wright family members have been working with the National Park Service on a plan to make the stately house an element of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. A bill to make it happen is being drafted for U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, according to the paper.

Airplane inventors Wilbur and Orville Wright planned the home together, but Wilbur died in 1912, before it was finished. Orville, his sister Katharine and their father took up residence there in 1914. Orville lived there until his death. The home features many unique and sometimes quirky innovations designed by Orville. It's been a National Historic Landmark since 1991.

But members of the public have seldom had a chance to see it. Neighbors have worried public tours would draw crowds and disturb the neighborhoods, but Wright family members and park service officials have been looking at ways to limit the impact, possibly by running small shuttles from nearby Carillon Historical Park, where the original Wright Flyer III, another National Park element, is on display.

Should Orville's private home be open to the public? Should it be turned over to the government? How would you manage tours to limit their impact? Post a comment.

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