THE WRIGHT MEMORIAL, near the intersection of Kauffman Road and Ohio 444, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is a 30-foot shaft of pink granite on a granite base. It stands on Wright Brothers Hill, a 27-acre park designed by Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects, the same Olmsteds of New York Central Park fame. The memorial was dedicated in 1940, on Orville's 69th birthday. The granite was quarried in North Carolina; the memorial is built on a bed of Kitty Hawk sand; an arrow points to Huffman Prairie Flying Field, two miles distant. Pennants flying from 40-foot poles on the edges of the flying field mark the approximate height the brothers flew.
HUFFMAN PRAIRIE FLYING FIELD INTERPRETIVE CENTER, 2380 Memorial Road, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is across the road from Wright Memorial. It was dedicated Dec. 17, 2002, and is staffed by rangers from Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park. Exhibits cover the Wrights' accomplishments and aeronautical research at Wright-Pat labs. Staff recommendation: Stop here first for the Wright brothers' story, then head to the flying field.
HUFFMAN PRAIRIE FLYING FIELD, Pylon and Marl roads, Area C, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is the cow pasture where the brothers transported pieces of their second airplane, an updated version of the 1903 Flyer, in the spring of 1904. In the summer of 1905, they returned with their third, radically modified Flyer. In the 1905 Flyer III, Wilbur and Orville mastered flight. They turned, flew the world's first circle, stayed aloft as long as they wished and landed deliberately. On Oct. 5, 1905, before a crowd of 20 or 30 awed onlookers, Wilbur flew 39 minutes, stopping only when he ran out of fuel. This is one of the four distinct sites making up the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park. The others are the Wright Cycle Co./Hoover Block, the Wright Brothers Aviation Center at Carillon Historical Park and the Paul Laurence Dunbar House. Information: 1-937-225-7705 or www.nps.gov/daav.
THE WRIGHT CYCLE CO., 22 S. Williams St., Dayton, is the brick building in West Dayton (a streetcar suburb 100 years ago) that was the fourth of five Wright bike shops, where Wilbur and Orville repaired bikes, built their own bike designs and ran a second-floor print shop. The brothers walked these floorboards from 1895 to 1897 and were caught up in steady newspaper coverage of others' attempts to fly. The1896 death of Otto Lilienthal, a serious student of aeronautics, reawakened Wilbur's longtime interest in unraveling the mechanics of birds and flight.
CARILLON HISTORICAL PARK, 1000 Carillon Blvd., Dayton, has a feeling of a temple. It has the room Orville Wright designed to hold his and Wilbur's jewel: the 1905 Wright Flyer III, the world's first utilitarian airplane, and the only plane designated a national historic landmark. Wright Hall is now part of the John W. Berry Sr. Wright Brothers Aviation Center, dedicated last June. It includes an exact replica, down to the leaky spot in the roof, of the bike shop in which Wilbur and Orville built their gliders and planes. The heart of the center is the softly lit Wright Hall, with its elegant display of the 1905 Flyer. At the time of his death, Orville was directly supervising the plane's restoration. At his suggestion, the plane sits in a 3-foot pit; he wanted visitors to understand the plane's mechanisms, which are best viewed from above. Other Wright artifacts here: two original Van Cleve bicycles; the sewing machine used to stitch the glider and plane fabric; the camera used for the famous photo of the 1903 plane aloft. Information: 1-937-293-2841 or www.carillonpark.org.
WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton. A replica of the 1903 Flyer -- light, airy, improbable -- hangs in the atrium. Snippets of poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar, a friend of the Wrights and the first nationally eminent African-American poet, adorn the wall. The museum houses one of the country's three most-complete archives of Wright photography and one of the two premier repositories of Wright papers.
WRIGHT-DUNBAR PLAZA, Williams Street at Third Street, Dayton, adjacent to the bike shop, is dedicated to the Wrights and poet Dunbar. The three-story Hoover Block is a brick building that housed the Wrights' print shop from 1890-1895. By summer, it will be reborn as National Park Service's Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center, adjoined by the newly built Aviation Trail Visitor Center. Free.
7 HAWTHORN ST., Dayton. The clapboard Wright family home was just around the corner from the brothers' various printing and bike shops. In 1936, with Orville's cooperation, Henry Ford bought 7 Hawthorn St. as well as the Wright's fifth cycle shop. Ford moved them to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich. The Dayton Aviation Heritage federal commission recently added a partial reconstruction of a wraparound porch that the brothers had built and marked the absent house's foundation with stone. By July, a replica of the facade of the fifth bike shop at 1127 W. Third St. will be in place.
U.S. AIR FORCE MUSEUM, Gate 28-B on Springfield Pike, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is the granddaddy and big daddy of world aviation museums, drawing 1.5 million visitors annually. The museum's main interest in the Wrights is their contribution to military aeronautics. Nevertheless, its most cherished artifact is a 127 1/2-foot piece of Pride of West muslin, donated by the Wright family, that covered the 1903 Flyer. (The Flyer itself is at the Smithsonian Institution, by Orville's bequest.) The Air Force museum boasts a 1909 Flyer reproduction, meaning it was built according to original plans. Check out the bicycle-like gears and bike chain. For directions, go to www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/dir.htm. Admission is free.
NATIONAL AVIATION HALL OF FAME MUSEUM, Adjacent to the U.S. Air Force Museum, the 13,000 square-foot exhibit opened to the public in January 2003. Its seven galleries feature virtual tours of America's air and space heritage and honor 178 men and women who helped to pioneer and develop aviation over the last century, from Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong. In addition, a new Web site provides educational outreach programs. Admission is free. Information: 1-937-256-0944 or www.nationalaviation.org.
HAWTHORN HILL, 901 Harman Ave., Oakwood. Wilbur died in May 1912, shortly before ground was broken for the symmetrical mansion he and Orville designed in collaboration with Dayton architects. Orville lived here with his sister, Katharine, until her marriage, and with their father, Bishop Milton Wright, until the bishop's death. Houseguests included Charles Lindbergh, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Carl Sandburg and Thomas Edison. After Orville died in 1948, the NCR Corp. bought Hawthorn Hill. It is not open to the public, but the leafy grounds and house are worth admiring from the street.
WOODLAND CEMETERY, 118 Woodland Ave., Dayton. A large family stone marks the spot where parents Susan and Milton, sister Katharine and brothers Wilbur and Orville are buried. When Wilbur died, his death made international headlines; 25,000 people filed past his casket before the funeral; the city was at a standstill as he was buried beside his mother. When Orville died 36 years later, flags flew at half-staff nationwide. When Orville's casket was lowered, four jet fighters flew over, dipping their wings.
NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER, at Lewis Field in Cleveland on Route 17 near Hopkins Airport, is known for its contributions to air and spacecraft propulsion, aviation safety and satellite communications. Interactive displays at its visitors center, including an airline cockpit, wind tunnels and a microgravity laboratory, offer insights into how engineers have met the design challenges presented by flight in Earth's atmosphere and deep space. Admission is free. Information: 1-216-433-2000 or www.grc.nasa.gov.
-- Janet Filips
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