Commuter Flyers

During the 1904 and 1905 flying seasons, Wilbur and Orville Wright rode a trolley here almost every day except Sundays, traveling ten miles from their West Dayton home to a stop in what was then open farm country. In the privacy of a cow pasture at Huffman Prairie, they did some of their greatest work by perfecting their flying machine. The Interurban electric trolley allowed the Wright brothers to bring tools, materials, and parts for their flying machines to the site. Dayton Journal writer Luther Beard recalled chatting with them in a friendly way because he felt sorry for them, seeing them as decent young men neglecting their business to spend day after day on what he considered a ridiculous flying machine and thinking it must worry their father.

Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio · United States