5/20/13 - Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park commemorates three men: Orville and Wilbur Wright and Paul Laurence Dunbar.  I knew about the Wright Brothers, but Paul Dunbar was new to me.  He was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet. He and Orville went to high school together, and later the Wrights printed a newspaper he published and edited for the black community in Dayton.

There are five National Historic Landmarks located within Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, which are scattered all around Dayton. We just visited two. 

The Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center is in the building where the Wright Brothers had a printing business.  And, of course, there's an airplane!  This is the 3rd one they made.  They experimented in a pasture outside of town.  I thought it was Kitty Hawk...

 There are lots of family pictures. 

And there's a Parachute Museum, because sometimes you need to exit the plane without actually landing it, and it's a good idea if you can come down slowly.

Right across the courtyard is The Wright Cycle Company building, where the brothers built custom bikes, which were all the rage in the early 1900s.  That's why their planes used lots of bicycle technology and parts.  (I'm pretty sure that Boeing has progressed beyond that.)

We didn't make it to the other 3 landmarks in this park. We opted to go to the National AF Museum instead--and that took care of the rest of the afternoon.

Link to more pictures of Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP