Dayton Wright Bros Airport – Dayton, Ohio – the Birthplace of Aviation
As of 06/05/2023, the Wright “B” Flyer, Inc. museum and hangar will be open for the public to visit our Wright B Flyer hangar on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Business hours are during the hours of 9am thru 12 noon.
Wright “B” Flyer, Inc. will put the Valentine Flyer on Static Display at For Sam Houston on May 5 and 6, 2018. This aircraft, shown here, is a near replica for the first military aircraft that the Wright Brothers delivered to the US Army Signal Corps in 1909. It was built in the 1970s by Tom and Nancy Valentine who were living in California at that time.
Members of the Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball Team (WWAST) were in the Dayton, Ohio area on Saturday, October 14 to play two softball games at Wright State University. For those who may not know, these are folks who lost limbs
The Wright “B” Half-Scale Flyer won the Trustees Award at Centerville’s 2017 Americana parade. The award is given every year for the best float in the parade based on theme, originality and attractiveness. This is the third time that the Half-Scale Flyer has won that award. The Half-Scale depicts the day (May 25, 1910) when Orville Wright took his father, Bishop Milton Wright, for his one and only flight.
Wright B Flyer contributed a year’s membership for a raffle drawing that was held at the 2017 Boys State Gymnastic Meet. The meet was held on March 25 and 26, 2017 at the Gymnastics Training Center of Ohio (GTCO) in Franklin, Ohio. It was sponsored by the Rings & Beams Booster Club, the parent booster organization. The Park Ranger in the picture spoke with participants about the Aviation Trail and the National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) in the Dayton, Ohio area.
A serious engine failure occurred while flying our Wright “B” Flyer lookalike (Brown Bird) in October. This failure has necessitated extensive maintenance on the Brown Bird. So, along with design and construction of a new aircraft, we are currently working on the restoration of the older one to flying status. We hope to have the Brown Bird flying again by April or May of this year. To read more about the maintenance effort click here. To see more pictures, visit our Facebook site by clicking here and scrolling down a bit.
All four of the new Wright “B” lookalike wing panels arrived at the Wright “B” hangar in January 2017. Construction of these wing panels began in February 2016 at the EAA 5 facility in Middlefield, Ohio under the leadership of project manager, Curtis Cook. After designing and building special tools for use during the wing-panel construction, all parts were completed, assembled and shipped to the Wright “B” Flyer hangar. To read more about the construction of the wing panels, click here.
My grandchildren think I was with Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, or at least worked in their bicycle shop back home in Dayton. I am old, but not that old … yet young enough to want to do a few things yet in life before I join the brothers Wright in the wild blue yonder. One of those things occurred on the first Saturday in August when my kids gave me one of those birthday gifts you dream about: A membership in Wright B Flyer, Inc., and the ride of a life-time in the modern look alike of the Wright brothers’ first production airplane.