Huffman Prairie
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Huffman Prairie Flying Field
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Orville Wright in flight over Huffman Prairie, approximately 1,760 feet in 40 1/5 seconds, Nov. 16, 1904
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| Nearest city | Fairborn, Ohio |
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| Coordinates | 39°48′12″N 84°3′57″W / 39.80333°N 84.06583°WCoordinates: 39°48′12″N 84°3′57″W / 39.80333°N 84.06583°W |
| Built | 1904 |
| Website | http://www.nps.gov/daav/learn/historyculture/huffman-prairie-flying-field.htm |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000640 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1971 |
| Designated NHL | June 21, 1990 |
Huffman Prairie, also known as Huffman Prairie Flying Field or Huffman Field is part of Ohio's Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. The 84-acre (34-hectare) patch of rough pasture, near Fairborn, northeast of Dayton, is the place where the Wright brothers (Wilbur and Orville) undertook the difficult and sometimes dangerous task of creating a dependable, fully controllable airplane and training themselves to be pilots. Many early aircraft records were set by the Wrights at the Huffman Prairie.
The Wrights began using Huffman Prairie in 1904 with the permission of the field's owner, Dayton banker Torrence Huffman. Its location along an interurban rail line from the brothers' hometown of Dayton provided them with easy access. The Wrights made about 150 flights at the field in 1904–1905, leading to development of the 1905 Wright Flyer III, which they considered to be the first practical airplane. This aircraft has been restored, and is now displayed at the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton.
In 1910, the Wright Company placed its testing operations at Huffman Prairie Flying Field; the Wright Company also operated its Wright Flying School on the site. Through the Flying School, the Wright Company trained more than a hundred pilots, including the aviators for the Wright Exhibition Team and early military aviators, including Henry H. "Hap" Arnold and Thomas DeWitt Milling. The United States Army Signal Corps purchased the field in 1917 and renamed it, along with 2,000 adjacent acres (8 km²), Wilbur Wright Field. In 1948 the area was merged with nearby Patterson Field to become Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
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