Saturday, September 9, 2017:
Wright Patterson Air Force Base celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2017. One of the tributes to this anniversary will be the National Park Service's annual Aero Carnival which will be held on Saturday, September 9, 2017 from 10:30 to 5:00. It will take place on the Huffman Prairie Flying Field on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the very place where Orville and Wilbur Wright conducted tests and flights as early as 1904. This will be a special year for Aero Carnival in celebrating WPAFB's origins.
The Army Air Service established Wilbur Wright field on May 22, 2017 and then McCook Field in November of that year. McCook was the test field where many aviation experiments and milestones were established, and Wright Field was a flying field, supply depot, and armorers' school. McCook Field closed in 1927, partly due to space restrictions, and its functions were moved to Wright Field, and in 1931 part of Wright Field was designated as Patterson Field. In 1948 Wright Field and Patterson were merged into Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The Aero Carnival event is free to all and access is through Gate 16A off of State Route 444.
Updated list of events at 2017 Aero Carnival, as of August 28, 2017: For more information, and for the latest list of the many activities that are lined up so far, CLICK HERE to go to the Aero Carnival page on this website, and also see the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park website at this link: https://www.nps.gov/daav/learn/news/the-2017-great-wright-brothers-aero-carnival.htm
Update of September 10, 2017: See a report on the event, with photos on the Aero Carnival page on this website: CLICK HERE