“If I were giving a young man advice as to how he might succeed in life, I would say to him, pick out a good father and mother, and begin life in Ohio.”
Wilbur Wright
This is their bike shop where they built and repaired bikes. It is also where they learned mechanics that they would use later on their gliders and planes.
- OHIO: Key Ohio Aviation Firsts:
- World’s First Powered Flight: Orville and Wilbur Wright’s invention and flight of the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft in 1903.
- First Air Cargo: In 1910, pilot Philip Parmalee flew ten bolts of fabric from Dayton to Columbus, marking the first airplane cargo shipment.
- First Military Aircraft: The Wright brothers sold the first military aircraft to the U.S. Government in 1909.
- First Freefall Parachute Jump: Lieutenant Harold Harris made the first credited emergency parachute jump from a falling plane in 1922 at McCook Field, Dayton.
- “Ace of Aces” (WWI): Ohio native Eddie Rickenbacker became America’s top fighter pilot in World War I.
- Neil Armstrong: first man on the Moon
- John Glenn: first American to orbit Earth
- First Practical Airplane for Production: The Wright “B” Flyer, built in Dayton, became the first practical airplane available for commercial production.
- World’s First Airport: Huffman Prairie Flying Field, where the Wrights perfected their designs, became the world’s first airport.
HISTORY IS FUN, STEVE