A Bittersweet Celebration In Dayton

It says something about the current state of aviation, doesn't it? At the very spot where Wilbur and Orville Wright did so much of their research and development at the turn of the century, there's an ATM. Their laboratory was destroyed in 1976, with hardly a whisper of protest. The bicycle shop where they invented the airplane was bought wholesale by Henry Ford and moved to Dearborn (MI), 180 miles away. The airplane that made history in 1903 is almost 500 miles away, at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington (DC). Slowly, the spirits of Wilbur and Orville were slipping away in Dayton (OH), their hometown.

Until Judge Rice came along with the Aviation Trail group.

Federal Judge Walter Rice and Aviation Trail made a tough decision: Should they invest their time, energy and even money when so much of the Wright heritage had already fled Dayton? But for Judge Rice, it really wasn't a decision at all.

"If you're concentrating on the glass being half empty, we've lost a lot of our heritage. If you look at it the other way -- that the glass is half full -- we have saved a great deal," Rice told the Associated Press. "There won't be one thing involving our aviation heritage that's ever going to leave this community again."

In 1992, Congress created a national park featuring another of the brothers' bicycle shops, an early model Wright Flyer, and an open field where they tested their inventions. The soul of aviation may be at Kill Devil Hill (NC), but its heart is still in Dayton.

Presidential Celebration

"I wonder what Wilbur and Orville would have thought if they'd have seen that flying machine that I came in on today," said President Bush, after arriving at Wright-Patterson AFB (OH) aboard Air Force One for a combined Centennial of Flight and Fourth of July celebration. "I had the honor of meeting Amanda Wright Lane and Steve Wright, descendants of the Wright brothers. They were quick to remind me that Dayton is where the Wright brothers first drew up the plans for their flying machine."

The president continued his speech for about 30 minutes, never once mentioning the Wright brothers again. But for Orville's grandniece, that's okay. "I've never felt that Dayton has let these things get away," said Amanda Wright Lane in an AP interview. "They always considered the Wright brothers the boys next door. I think it's a little bit of taking it for granted, and now we're starting to celebrate."

FMI: www.inventingflight.com