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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. Also, orientation flights in the Wright-B-Flyer lookalike are not possible at this time.  Final FAA test flights for new modifications will soon be finished. Upon FAA acceptance,the Wright Flyer lookalike will once again become eligible for orientation flights. 

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 in the service of their country and then made the long arduous journey back through rehabilitation to gain a semblance of normalcy.  These wounded warriors, however, went even further, setting and achieving the goal of once again playing sports.

But on Friday the 13th of October, some of the team members didn’t play softball.  Rather, they and some of their families traveled to the Wright “B” Flyer hangar at the Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport in southern Montgomery County.  And, while at the hangar, they toured the museum and dined, and several took orientation rides on the Wright “B” Flyer lookalike.

It was an exciting experience for them.  But it was an honor for us to have made a little better, in some small way, the lives of a few who gave so much when they answered their country’s call.  The photos included here are Courtesy of Richard Smith.

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.

Off we go… into the wild blue yonder (1)

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.

As a newcomer to the area in Bellbrook, I assume that many or most of you long-time residents know all about the B Flyer. Better still, this weekend or next, or whenever you are looking for something special to do, drive over to their museum-hangar at 10550 North Springboro Pike at the Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport. Admission is free.

There you will not only meet the B Flyer in a huge well-maintained hangar/workspace, but also the most caring group of volunteers you’ll ever experience. Some thirty men and women whom, it became obvious, care about people as much as they love the preservation of the history of flight as written by the brothers Wright. Together, they keep the museum running and open 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

When we arrived Saturday morning with my family in tow, we were warmly greeted and introduced to a volunteer (Marilyn) who signed me in, had me sign the usual perfunctory paperwork that accompanies all such activity, and then accompanied by another volunteer (Kim), were ushered out into the hangar with its great doors opened to the East, framing the B Flyer which had just landed and taxi’d back to off-load another guest ‘co-pilot.’

My 11 a.m. flight would follow three others I was told, most of whom were ‘walk-ins’ that morning. Each time the Flyer returned to the hangar area, volunteers scurried about, assisting an intrepid flyer down a small portable steel ladder from plane to earth, then beckoning to the next anxious rider. Within minutes, the dual-propellered B Flyer with its 225 hp engine revved up and the plane taxi’d forth out toward the run-way. The whole volunteer operation worked like clockwork (inappropriate to suggest like the proverbial railroad, but that too).

A small boy de-planed first, later a young man from the next flight, followed by a middle-aged gentlemen. Moments later, volunteer Kim called my name, introduced me to Bill, who walked me a short distance near the B Flyer as the final ‘flyer’ climbed down the ladder. Now it was the old geezer’s turn. For fellow senior citizens who wonder about making such a flight or families thinking about giving a gift membership and flight to an older recipient, let me assure you that if this 83-year old with a pacemaker, funny breathing, and ouchy joints can do it, so can you. Every safety precaution is taken to make you feel safe and secure.

Bill climbed the ladder behind me then securely strapped me into place beneath a heavy-duty chest-seat belt. Off came the glasses and in their place, a comfortable set of goggles; after which Rich Stepler, the organization’s senior pilot, topped me off with a headset with microphone and earphones. I liked that because first, I’m a talker (an old radio guy) and secondly, I wanted to know as much as I could about the plane and our imminent flight.

We taxied slowly toward the south end of the 5,000 foot runway that the B Flyer shares with business air traffic at other times, while chatting about the Flyer’s horsepower and other things until Rich said as we powered up for the take-off: “Gonna get noisy now, talk to you when we land” (giving my wife a brand new line to use in the future when I get a little windy). Above, the sky was cloudy, the thermometer in the early 80’s, the breeze light at 7 mph. Below, the runway, stretched before us, black and long … and the adenalin kicked in.

Now, we were off down the runway and gaining speed. It seemed like perhaps nearly half the run-way to an ultimate speed of about 50 mph, and then suddenly we were airborne, climbing quickly to about 75 feet. On paper that doesn’t sound like anything at all, but in the Spartan openness of the craft, it looks like a helluva long way down there. The cross-wind (breeze) caused the B Flyer to undulate much more than I expected; enough to make me really sense and feel what the Wright brothers must have experienced in their early experimental flights as they battled far stronger ocean winds at Kitty Hawk in a much lighter aircraft. But, Stepler controlled it beautifully.

Then just as quickly, we began

Our descent after perhaps a 15-20 second flight (which seemed considerably longer), touched down smoothly near the cross-over taxi-way, hung a left, and casually taxi’d back to the hangar. This time, Rich didn’t have to tell me to be quiet. It wasn’t that my heart was in my mouth. It was simply: Wow! What a thrill. What a very special embrace with history.

For a few fleeting moments, I was at Kitty Hawk, experiencing the fragile, capricious flight of a man-made machine that was never supposed to free itself from earth’s grip. No, that’s for the birds most said, and merely the dream of two bicycle shop owners from Dayton, Ohio. Today, mankind, fresh back from the Moon, is circling Pluto, with Mars in sight … and I had my own dream fulfilled.

Wright Brothers B-Flyer, Inc. offers three different memberships. The Honorary Aviator membership which the author was given is $125 and includes the orientation flight.

Mel Grossman is a local resident and guest columnist.

1. This article was published in the Beavercreek News-Current on September 1, 2016 and is reproduced here with that newspaper’s permission.