NATIONAL AVIATION HERITAGE AREA

Newsletter

June 26, 2014

Vectren Dayton Air Show this weekend

Dayton's biggest aviation extravaganza is ready for takeoff.

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels, one of America's premier military jet teams, will fly each day on June 28-29 in the Vectren Dayton Air Show Presented by Kroger at Dayton International Airport. They mark the return of military participation in air shows across the country after last year's hiatus.

Joining the Blue Angels will be the U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier "Jump Jet," the Air Force Academy's Wings of Blue parachute team and the U.S. Coast Guard's HH-65 Dolphin search-and-rescue demonstration. Warbird acts include the F-86 Sabre jet warbird, a P-51D Mustang and a rare F4U-5 Corsair.

Air show legends Sean D. Tucker and Patty Wagstaff will also fly. The North American AeroShell Aerobatic Team will add to the action with its four-ship formation of T-6 warbirds. The Shockwave jet truck will bring a spectacle of smoke, fire and jet-speed drag racing on the airport runway. The one-of-a-kind Wright "B" Flyer, a flying lookalike of the Wright brothers' first production airplane, will remind spectators that all this airpower had its roots in Wilbur and Orville's bicycle shop in Dayton.

Ticket prices remain unchanged from 2013. The popular Chairman's Club, Pavilion, Family 4 Pack, and Blue Sky Chalet are now on sale, offering a range of seating amenities. Tickets can conveniently be purchased through the show's website at www.daytonairshow.com. Deep discount general admission tickets are on sale at more than 100 Kroger stores in the Dayton-Cincinnati region.

Armstrong Air and Space Museum busy:
Gravity, book signing, astronaut visits

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta will be busy with special events in July.

* The museum will have a special screening of the award-winning film Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in its Astro Theater at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 8.
Go here for more details.

* Historian James Hansen, official biographer of Neil Armstrong, will be at the museum at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 9, to deliver a presentation of his research and experience with the astronaut and summarize the events since the publication of his 2005 book, First Man. He will also sign books while supplies last. Go here for more details.

*NASA astronaut Sunita Williams will attend the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta as part of its participation in the 2014 Summer Moon Festival, celebrating the 45th anniversary of the first lunar landing, officials announced.

A Euclid, Ohio native, Williams is a current astronaut. She has commanded the International Space Station and is the record holder for cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut. She has spent 322 days in space.

Williams's schedule will include several events over the weekend, including the Run to the Moon, a presentation with question-and-answer time, autograph signings, a dinner and an exclusive event for Armstrong Air and Space Museum Association members.

Gregory H. Johnson, a retired Air Force colonel and former astronaut, will return to the event for the third time. Johnson was the pilot of Shuttle Endeavour in 2008 and 2011. Mr. Johnson will attend the car show downtown as well as events at the museum.

The Summer Moon Festival will take place at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum on July 19 and 20. The event includes free air- and space-themed inflatables including a 35' space shuttle slide, model rocket launches, face painting, a half-sized Wright Flyer, and a traveling NASA exhibit.

WASPs topic at Huffman Prairie Society

Photo of cover of book, Flight to Destiny

The Huffman Prairie Aviation Society will host the premier of a new documentary, Dorothy Scott, an Original, and celebrate the release of a new book about Women Air Service Pilots (WASPs), Flight to Destiny by Sarah Rickman. Rickman will also discuss "the WASP Story You Don't Hear."

The program is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, July 7, in the Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. Go here for more details and directions.

Springfield to host barnstorming carnival

Photo of three antique biplanes in formation

The nostalgia of aviation's Golden Age will come roaring back in the Barnstorming Carnival July 19-20 at Springfield Municipal Airport.

In the 1920s and 1930s, vagabond pilots in biplanes brought the thrill of flight to communities across the United States. These "barnstormers" traveled from town to town offering airplane rides and putting on airshows to make a living.

At Springfield, pilots with beautifully restored, antique biplanes will sell rides, and a host of other activities will be available. Admission to the event is free. Go here for more details.

Dayton CVB honors Wrights in new logo

The Dayton/Montgomery County Convention and Visitors Bureau is always a strong booster of the area's aviation heritage sites as tourism destinations. Its new logo even puts the Wright Flyer inside the "O" in Dayton. Visit the CVB's website to see the many ways it promotes aviation and aviation heritage.

NAHA, WSU seek 'Wright Factory Families'

The National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) will use the launch of a new book about the Wright brothers to connect with descendants of the Wright Company's factory workers.

NAHA is inviting descendants of men and women who worked in one of the two factory buildings to attend the launch of the new book by Timothy R. Gaffney, The Dayton Flight Factory, at Books and Co. at the Greene at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2.

Descendants will have an opportunity to be recognized and briefly tell about their relatives and the work they did in the factory. They will also be invited to participate in "Wright Factory Families", a project by NAHA and Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives to create a new collection focused on the factory workers. NAHA will also invite descendants to an exclusive tour of the factory at a later date. See NAHA's news release for more details.

NATIONAL AVIATION HERITAGE AREA

The National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) is a private, not-for-profit corporation designated by Congress as the management entity of the National Aviation Heritage Area.

The Heritage Area encompasses an eight-county area in Ohio (Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Warren, Champaign, Shelby and Auglaize counties.)

NAHA's vision is to sustain the legacy of the Wright brothers and make the Dayton region the recognized global center of aviation heritage and premier destination for aviation heritage tourism. www.visitNAHA.org

PO Box 414 * Wright Brothers Station * Dayton, OH 45409

info@aviationheritagearea.org * 937-443-0165

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