Spring/Summer 2011

School kids typically read about the Wright Brothers, those innovators who gave the world modern aviation from a Dayton bicycle shop. Textbooks and websites are fine, of course, but how would they like to see pieces that the brothers actually touched? All it takes is a visit to the Early Years Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in the brothers’ own hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

The Wright 1909 Military Flyer was the first military heavier-than-air flying machine, sold to the Signal Corps for $30,000 in 1909. While the original flyer is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., Dayton’s museum has an exact copy built by museum personnel in 1955. Orville Wright himself donated the engine, and heirs of the Wright estate donated the flyer’s chains, sprockets and propellers.

The Early Years Gallery can keep you enthralled for hours, but you’ll also want to see the Presidential Gallery. Don’t miss the Sacred Cow, a VC-54C used by Franklin Roosevelt, and the Air Force One that carried John F. Kennedy to Dallas in November 1963. 

President Kennedy’s Boeing VC-137C/Air Force One was the first jet made specifically for the Commander in Chief. The president flew this to Berlin in 1963, and to Dallas in November 1963. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in on board the aircraft following President Kennedy’s assassination. This Air Force One went on to serve eight presidents, through Bill Clinton.

The Presidential Gallery is on the active part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, so you’ll need to sign up early and hop on a first-come, first-served, shuttle to get there.

- State - Ohio

- Type - Family Vacations - Historic Tours

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