“We’re always looking at ways to give back and be a part of the community” said FigLeaf Brewing spokesman Josh Engel. Attendees will also be able to buy tickets for a chance to ride in one of their WWII-era airplanes based out of the Middletown Regional Airport. The Warbirds will bring a selection of their extensive WWII propaganda poster collection for display and will wear uniforms from the era. Thursday for a 1940s-themed fundraiser and history night. Those who tour and get their passport stamped at a minimum of eight of these locations (some sites are required) receive a Wilbear Wright aviation teddy bear.A Butler County brewery will sport red, white and blue next week as it helps a local not-for-profit military aviation group restore a World War II relic.įigLeaf Brewing at 3387 Cincinnati-Dayton Road in Middletown will welcome the Butler County Warbirds into its taproom from 3 to 10 p.m. Wright State University: 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy., Dayton 45435 Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center and Aviation Trail Visitor Center: 16 S. Wright Brothers Memorial: Kauffman Avenue, near the Route 444 intersection, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 45433 Wright “B” Flyer: Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport, 10550 Springboro Pike, Miamisburg 45342 Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum: 118 Woodland Ave., Dayton 45409 Tri-State Warbird Museum: 4021 Borman Dr., Batavia 45103 Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site: 219 North Paul Laurence St., Dayton 45402 National Museum of the United States Air Force: 1100 Spaatz St., Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 45433 National Aviation Hall of Fame: 1100 Spaatz St., Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 45433 Historic WACO Field and Air Museum: 1865 S. Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center: Kauffman Avenue, near the Route 444 intersection, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 45433 Huffman Prairie Flying Field: Gate 16A off Route 444, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 45433 Williams St., Dayton 45402īutler County Warbirds: Headquartered at Middletown Regional Airport, 1707 Run Way, Middletown 45042Ĭarillon Historical Park: 1000 Carillon Blvd., Dayton 45409Ĭhampaign Aviation Museum: 1636 N. Some sites may be closed due to current restrictions.Īrmstrong Air & Space Museum: 500 Apollo Dr., Wapakoneta 45895Īviation Trail Parachute Museum: 16 S. Visit for information and to verify hours. “That’s true of most of these sites you are in the same physical location or very, very close to where history happened.” You can still see a lot of that fabric and it’s not taken away and moved to another community in a big city,” says Chris Burton, the museum’s executive director. “Wapakoneta hasn’t changed too much since Neil was here as a boy. Wapakoneta’s Armstrong Air and Space Museum, which opened its doors on the three-year anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s famous first steps, is home to the Gemini 8 capsule, two of Neil Armstrong’s space suits and the first plane he ever flew. Since then, the Aviation Trail has celebrated Ohio’s significance in the world of flight, developing a program that awards travelers who tour and get their passport stamped at seven of the 16 sites with a cute stuffed animal named Wilbear Wright. WACO Field and Air Museum is among 16 stops on Ohio’s Aviation Trail, a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to save one of the Wright brothers’ original bicycle shops in Dayton. “You are flying in an open cockpit biplane,” says Hawk. Sunny, a reproduction of one of WACO’s classic designs, can take two adventurers at a time on a 30-minute tour. During warmer months, guests can even buy some airtime.
BUTLER COUNTY WARBIRDS SIMULATOR
The museum hangar houses nine of the company’s historic planes, as well as a flight simulator and displays of World War II-era video footage. “The museum was started to keep that history alive.” “They were the largest manufacturer of civil aircraft in the country in the late ’20s and ’30s,” says Gretchen Hawk, the museum’s executive director.
Since 1997, the approximately 100-acre site, which now includes a library and museum, has upheld the legacy of the now-defunct WACO Aircraft Co. On the ground, however, Historic WACO Field and Air Museum offers visitors much more than a place to land. From the sky, it’s simply “1WF” - an FAA notation guiding pilots to the roughly 2,000-foot grass airstrip in Troy.