Dayton History

For our last day in Ohio, we went to visit the rest of the sites in the Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP. Starting out at the Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center, the boys worked on the other half of the Jr. Ranger booklet that was relevant to this location in order to earn another patch.

Next door to the visitor center is the Wright Cycle Company building, the Wrights' fourth bicycle shop. Orville and Wilbur Wright must have been amazing men! They never graduated from high school, and yet they were mechanical geniuses and able to accomplish so much with their ingenuity!
  

From here, we went over to the Carillon Historical Park to see the original 1905 Wright Flyer III. But before we got to the building which houses the Flyer, we went through several exhibits about Dayton's history. I didn't realize that so many companies have their origins here in Dayton, such as DELCO (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co., where the battery ignition system and starter were invented), Frigidaire, and National Cash Register (NCR).

We walked across the grounds to the Wright Brothers Aviation Center, where the volunteer docent led us on an interesting and informative tour through a replica of the Wrights' bicycle shop...

The bicycle on display is an original Wright cycle

...and then to see the world's first practical airplane, the 1905 Wright Flyer III. Much of the plane had been dismantled, but Orville was able to reacquire most of the parts to complete the restoration in the late 1940's.

After this, we went to see the home of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar was a notable African-American poet, novelist and playwright from Dayton. He was a contemporary of the Wright Brothers, but I'm not sure what he has to do with aviation heritage...

"I know why the caged bird sings..."

After collecting passport cancellations from the various Dayton Aviation Heritage sites, plus a few more stamps from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Aviation Hall of Fame, and Woodland Cemetery, M and J had visited enough locations to each get a free Wilbear Wright aviator teddy bear. Bonus!