Aviation Trail
During the COVID-19 health crisis, attractions and organizations in Dayton are closed to protect the health and safety of you and your family. Please take some time to learn about Dayton's incredible Aviation Trail sites so that you can plan for a future visit.
The Dayton Aviation Trail is a self-guided tour of selected, aviation-related sites open to the public. The Trail was established in 1981 by Aviation Trail, Inc., an all-volunteer, not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to preserve and promote the Dayton's area's unique aviation heritage, starting with the invention of the airplane by Wilbur and Orville Wright. Tour a minimum of eight of the amazing aviation sites listed below using our brochure and receive a FREE "Wilbear Wright" aviation teddy bear!
Armstrong Air & Space Museum
500 Apollo Dr.
Wapakoneta, Ohio 45895
(419) 738-8811
Website
On July 20, 1972, three years to the day after NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong, a native of Wapakoneta, walked on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum opened with Armstrong present.
Aviation Trail Parachute Museum
16 South Williams Street
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 443-0793
Website
The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum tells the story of the development of the free-fall parachute through interactive exhibits, original artifacts, panels with copies of historic photographs and text and a timeline..
Butler County Warbirds, Inc.
Middletown Regional Airport - 1707 Run Way
Middletown, Ohio 45042
513-702-3062
Website
Butler County Warbirds, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, formed for the purpose of acquiring and maintaining historic aircraft and establishing a series of mobile and permanent historical displays for use in educating and entertaining.
Carillon Historical Park
1000 Carillon Historical Park
Dayton, OH 45409
(937) 293-2841
Website
Among the attractions at this unique, 65-acre museum is the original 1905 Wright Flyer III, the world's first practical airplane. The Flyer III, housed in Wright Hall, was restored under the personal direction of Orville Wright.
Champaign Aviation Museum
1636 N. Main St.
Urbana, Ohio 43078
(937) 652-4710 • Open Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 4
Website
Staff at this museum, located at Grimes Field in Urbana, Ohio, restore and preserve World War II-era aircraft to flying condition. Work is underway currently on a B-17G Flying Fortress Champaign lady.
Grimes Flying Lab
1652 N. Main St.
Urbana, Ohio 43078
(877) 873-5764 and
(937) 652-4319 (weekends)
Website
Located at Grimes Field in Urbana, the "lab" is a Beech 18 that served the U.S. Air Forces as a C-45 and was modified to a C-45H as a test bed for aircraft nighttime lighting systems.
Historical WACO Field & Airplane Museum
1865 S. County Rd. 25A
Troy, Ohio 45373
(937) 335-9226
Website
The WACO Aircraft Company was the largest manufacturer of civil aircraft in the country in the late 1920's and early 30's and this museum is dedicated to the plant and the employees that made it great.
Huffman Prairie Flying Field
Kauffman Ave. near the Route 444 intersection
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433
(937) 425-0008
Website
The Interpretive Center’s exhibits focus on the Wright brothers’ experimental flights at Huffman Prairie Flying Field in 1904 and 1905, and on The Wright Company’s flying school at Huffman Prairie from 1910 to 1916.
National Aviation Hall of Fame
P.O. Box 31096
Dayton, Ohio 45437
(937) 256-0944
Website
Learning and Research Center Springfield Street at Gate 28B Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433 The Hall of Fame is co-mingled with the National Museum of the United States Air Force (Site 8).
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
1100 Spaatz Street
Dayton, OH 45431
(937) 255-3286
Website
The Museum is the world’s largest and oldest military aviation museum. Its more than 400 aerospace vehicles and thousands of personal artifacts, photographs and documents tell the story of military aviation from the days of the Wright brothers to the latest in stealth technology.
Tri-State Warbird Museum
4021 Borman Drive
Batavia OH 45103
(513) 735-4500
Website
The Tri-State Warbird Museum was formed with a commitment to preserve the aircraft of World War II, educate visitors on America’s role in WWII, and to honor the veterans who fought and whose who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center
Aviation Trail Visitor Center
16 South Williams Street
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 225-7705
Website
The Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center is located in the Hoover Block building part of this complex. The Aviation Trail Visitor Center is in the Aviation Trail building.
Wright B Flyer
Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport
10550 Springboro Pike (Rt. 741)
Miamisburg, Ohio 45342
(937) 885-2327
Website
The Wright “B” Flyer is a flyable look-alike of the world’s first mass-produced airplane, manufactured in The Wright Company factory in Dayton from1910 to 1911.
Wright Brothers Memorial
Kauffman Ave. near the Route 444 intersection
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433
(937) 425-0008
The Memorial is located at the top of Wright Brothers Hill, overlooking the Huffman Prairie Flying Field where Wilbur and Orville conducted tests of their early flying machines in 1904 and 1905.
Wright Cycle Company
16 South Williams Street
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 225-7705
Website
This building is one of only two original Wright brothers buildings still standing at their original locations in the West Side neighborhood where Wilbur and Orville lived, worked and invented the airplane.
Wright State University Archives
3640 Colonel Glenn Highway
Dayton, Ohio 45435
(937) 775-2092
Website
Wright State University, named for Wilbur and Orville Wright, is home to the world's largest Wright Brothers' manuscript collection.
Woodland Cemetery
118 Woodland Avenue
Dayton, OH 45409
(937) 228-3221
Website
Wilbur and Orville Wright, their parents Milton and Susan, and their sister Katharine are buried in the Wright family plot in Woodland Cemetery. Their friend poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and his mother Matilda are buried nearby.
