The Silicon Valley of the Turn of the Last Century

When he learned I was breezing through southwest Ohio, my friend Steve suggested - strongly - that I check out the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton.  So I did.

Over the past several months I've become something of a museum maven, and you may have figured out that I've rarely encountered a museum I didn't like.  Okay, I've never encountered a museum that I didn't like at least a little.  Still, the USAF museum is completely over the top.  It is awesome.  Steve said I "could do it in an hour but you really want more time" and that is a major understatement.  I spent two hours there and that was with a partial eye on the clock because I had a six hour drive to Nashville ahead of me.

Where to begin?  Well, the museum begins with a history of human flight, but I won't go back that far here.  The earliest U.S. military application of lighter-than-air equipment was in the Civil War, where aeronauts, led by Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, used hydrogen balloons for reconnaissance under the auspices of the U.S. Army.  This ended in 1863 when Lowe quit because of some unspecified problems with the Army.  The Confederates tried but couldn't produce hydrogen in the field and by 1863 or so had other problems anyway.

The Wright Brothers (and others) developed heavier-than-air equipment, which was both harder and held more promise (more on that in a minute) and the military returned to paying attention to airplanes at the turn of the twentieth century.  On August 1, 1907, the Army Signal Corps created an Aeronautical Division tasked with matters of  "ballooning, air machines and kindred subjects."

You may recall when I was in New Mexico that I drove through Columbus, where Pancho Villa's attack in 1916 resulted in the Punitive Expedition by General Pershing.  What the historical marker in New Mexico failed to mention that this was the first tactical use of airplanes by the U.S. military.  Pershing's forces were supplemented by the First Aero Squadron from Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio which consisted of eleven officers, 84 enlisted men and one civilian mechanic flying eight Curtiss JN3 airplanes.  The planes didn't work too well - within a month only two of them were still in service, and their replacements weren't such great shakes either - and the whole undertaking was ultimately unsuccessful.  I was talking with a retired Air Force guy named John, a docent at the museum, who pointed out that these planes were extremely loud and very slow, so you could hear them coming far enough in advance that their reconnaissance value was limited.

Okay, dedicated reader, I am sorry to say that I have lost the rest of this blog post - which was, you'll have to take my word for it - very entertaining and informative and filled with pictures and links and all sorts of important things.  Seriously - since I delete my recorded notes after I enter them (AND SAVE THEM) into Blogger, I've lost a lot of the information and so will not be able to replicate what I've done AND THAT BLOGGER LOST.  Plus, to be honest, I'd really rather spend the morning with my aunt and uncle than recreating work I've already done.  And so, let me leave you with some pictures and the strict instructions to go to Dayton and see not only the USAF Museum but also the National Historic Sites for the Wright Brothers.

Vittles, the Berlin Airlift Dog, who never needed to use his parachute

The plane that dropped the "Fat Man" atomic bomb on Nagasaki

These missiles are about three stories high

So many planes, so little time

The USAF Museum also includes a very powerful Holocaust exhibit, along with an "on the lighter side" Bob Hope exhibit.  John said that they are raising money to build a new wing (my pun, please pardon) to house presidential aircraft.  There are some planes and a reconstructed control tower outdoors.

Huffman Prairie, where the Wright Brothers developed the first practical aircraft that could stay aloft for more than a few seconds and land without damage.  This was the world's first airport and became the basis for today's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center in downtown Dayton.  Paul Laurence Dunbar, a friend of the Wrights, was a poet/author and was the first African-American writer to become a national celebrity.  Julia, one of the park rangers, explained that they combined the Wrights and Dunbar to show how Dayton was "the Silicon Valley of the turn of the century" with both technological and artistic innovation.  The Wrights owned a print shop (upstairs from their bicycle shop, which is in the foreground of this picture) and printed a newspaper for Dunbar, a high school classmate of Wilbur's.

Dedicated reader, I apologize for the technical difficulties encountered in the writing of this post.  Just take my word for it - you will not be disappointed if you spend a day in Dayton immersed in aviation history.