Both Katharine and Orville had visited the prairie while they were school children on biology field trips.Ĭolonel Andrew K. Note: Huffman Prairie is a pristine prairie that remains exactly as it was 100 years ago, because it is part of a flood plain created by the construction of Huffman Dam after the great flood of 1913 that inundated Dayton. We are fortunate that they changed their minds and built the monument on a hill some distance away leaving the prairie unspoiled. He noted that at one time there were plans to build a monument to the Wrights in the middle of the Prairie. The real end of the process of invention occurred here in Dayton in 1905.” “The Wright brothers more famous powered flights of 1903 in North Carolina were important, but only another step in their research. It’s surrounded by this enormous complex that’s dedicated to the advancement of the Technology to which Wilbur and Orville gave birth.” “The really wonderful thing about Huffman Prairie is that it’s not just a little historic patch of earth. That is the best way we can honor Orville and Wilbur Wright.” “Contemplate what events occurred here and what flight has meant to the world. “Come when the wind is here, when the wind is blowing through the trees.” Tom Crouch, Senior Curator of the National Air and Space Museum and native Daytonian, urged the crowd to enjoy the prairie in the same manner he does. I was told that the Air Force didn’t want a big crowd.ĭr. It could have been much a much higher number but the publicity was low key. I estimate several hundred people were in attendance. I was told that two days earlier Dusenberry flew a circle at treetop height and was sternly told by authorities not to do that again on the 5th. He was preparing to make a third flight, the engine was running when the weight hung up in the derrick when it dropped a short distance, aborting the attempt. In the picture Bob Holland and David Binkley of WCRS, are preparing for the flight along with me on the left.Īfter the fog had lifted around 9:15 a.m., Mark Dusenberry flew his replica twice in a low straight-line flight for about 1,200-ft in 25-seconds after being catapulted into the air and make a graceful soft landing after each flight. It remains just as it was when Orville and Wilbur flew there. It was a beautiful sight of the pristine prairie. I had the pleasure to narrate the reenactment of the flight by a replica 1905 Flyer III for radio station WCRS of Akron, Ohio.Ī fog covered Huffman Prairie as I arrived early in the morning. It was the 48th flight and second to last flight of 1905. His average speed was 38-mph over the 24 miles he flew. He had flown the 30 circles in more than 39 minutes, exceeding the sum of all 109 flights made in 19. On that occasion Wilbur flew thirty circles over the field, landing only when fuel was exhausted. It was the first flight of the first practical airplane piloted by Orville Wright over Huffman Prairie, a cow pasture in Dayton, Ohio A momentous event in the history of the airplane occurred 100 years ago on October 5, 1905.
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