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Museums 101: Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center (photo diary) [1]

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Date: 2023-08-04  

Dayton, Ohio is the birthplace of modern aviation, and it was at the Huffman Prairie Flying Field where Orville and Wilbur Wright first developed a controllable airplane. The Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is operated by the National Park Service.

Following their initial powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina the Wright brothers came home to Dayton and, using an old cow pasture called Huffman Prairie, they perfected their airplane. According to the Park Service:

“Here the two bicycle brothers from Dayton, Ohio took their invention and made it better. Using the pasture as a flying field, they tested, redesigned, and rebuilt their aircraft until they perfected it, making the first fully controllable, practical airplane ever. In the process, they taught themselves to fly and created a legacy of invention and innovation that changed the world forever.”

Some of the Interpretive Center displays are shown below.

According to Orville Wright:

“We built another machine during the winter and spring of 1904, almost exactly like the one used at Kitty Hawk, excepting that the parts were built heavier and stronger.”

They quickly found that the Huffman Prairie Flying Field, unlike Kitty Hawk, offered little headwinds for take-off. To overcome this obstacle, the Wright brothers devised a catapult system and within a week they were flying longer than before.

According to the National Park Service:

“When the Wright brothers first began studying flight in 1899, one of the qualities that set them apart from all others was their conviction that control was the key to solving the problem of flight. Their 1905 Wright Flyer III was a practical airplane because it could be controlled on all three axes of movement: roll, pitch, and yaw.”

More aviation history

Public Lands: The world's first airport (photo diary)

Wright Museum: The 1905 Wright Flyer III (photo diary)

Museums 101: The birth of aviation (museum tour)

Museums 101: World War I Airplanes (Photo Diary)

Air Force Museum: World War I airplanes (photo diary)

Air Force Museum: Early aircraft engines (photo diary)

Air Force Museum: Early Years memorabilia (photo diary)

Evergreen Aviation: Biplanes (photo diary)

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/4/2184791/-Museums-101-Huffman-Prairie-Flying-Field-Interpretive-Center-photo-diary

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