Located in Area C of Wright-Patterson AFB, the Huffman Prairie Flying Field site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990 and is one of the four sites which together form the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. The Wright Brothers made use of this site during 1904-1905, when they worked there to perfect their invention, and again in 1910-1916 when they operated the Wright Company School of Aviation and the Wright Exhibition Company. The Flying Field site and the adjacent natural prairie are preserved and managed by the 88th Air Base Wing Office of Environmental Management.
Making Flight Practical, 1904-1905
Wilbur and Orville Wright had flown successfully four times at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on 17 December 1903. In 1904-1905 they set about refining their invention, transforming it into a practical, functional aircraft. For this work, they needed a site much closer to their home and their business in Dayton. They arranged to use a parcel of flat land outside Dayton known as "Huffman Prairie" after its owner, Dayton banker Torrence Huffman. Wilbur described the site in a 1904 letter to Octave Chanute:
...We are in a large meadow of about 100 acres. It is skirted on the west and north by trees. This not only shuts off the wind somewhat but also gives a slight downtrend. However, this matter we do not consider anything serious. The greater troubles are the facts that in addition to the cattle there have been a dozen or more horses in the pasture and as it is surrounded by barbwire fencing we have been at much trouble to get them safely away before making trials. Also the ground is an old swamp and is filled with grassy hummocks some six inches high so that it resembles a prairie dog town. This make the track-laying slow work. While we are getting ready the favorable opportunities slip away, and we are usually up against a rainstorm, a dead calm, or a wind blowing at right angles to the track.
The site did have several advantages, however. The Wright brothers could reach it using the Dayton, Springfield and Urbana electric railway, which had trolleys stopping at Simms Station immediately north of the site every 30 minutes. Perhaps even more important was the fact that Torrence Huffman allowed them free use of the land.
By May 1904 the Wrights had constructed a small hangar on the site to shelter their new airplane, the Flyer II, which flew for the first time on 26 May. In September they added a catapult launch device to assist takeoffs. The device consisted of a derrick tower (visible at right) which held a 1600-pound weight which was then linked to the front of the aircraft by ropes and pulleys. Flights concentrated on perfecting control of the aircraft, and on 20 September 1904 Wilbur flew the first complete circle with the airplane. By 9 December 1904, the brothers had made 105 flights, totaling about 50 minutes of flight time. They then removed all of their equipment from the site for the winter, and the 1904 hangar became a shelter for livestock.
Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to the site in 1905 with a new aircraft, the Wright Flyer III, which they housed in a new hangar slightly closer to the Simms Station depot. With the improved aircraft, they learned to turn, bank, and fly figure-eights as well as circles. In the longest flight of the season, Orville remained aloft for 39 minutes, 23 seconds on 5 October 1905, making 29 circuits of the site. Replicas of the 1905 hangar and the catapult launch device now stand on the site. After the 1905 season, the brothers suspended flying at Huffman Prairie while pursuing patents for their inventions.
Flight Training and Exhibition, 1910-1916
Beginning in May 1910, the site again saw active flight operations as the brothers opened the Wright Company School of Aviation. For $250 the school provided 10 days of training, including "four hours of actual practice in the air and such instruction in the principles of flying machines as is necessary to prepare the pupil to become a competent and expert operator." Among the 119 students who learned to fly here were then-Lt Henry H. Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Wilbur Wright died in 1912, and Orville sold the Wright Company in 1915. The School of Aviation ceased operations in 1916, but the hangar built in 1910 to serve it remained in place until the 1940s. In 1917 the site became part of 2,000 acres purchased by the Miami Conservancy District and later incorporated into Wilbur Wright Field.
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