From Wright Flyers to Aerial Thermography: The 1910 Wright Brother's Hangar at Huffman Prairie

Abstract

<p>The Huffman Prairie Flying Field, now a National Historic Landmark located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, was the scene of many of the Wright Brother's activities between 1904 and 1916. Following their remarkable success at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned home to develop a versatile and marketable airplane. They used Huffman Prairie as a site to test aircraft and train pilots. There they constructed (in 1904, 1905, and 1910) a series of modest structures to house their aircraft. While each of these buildings is historically important, the 1910 hangar is the focus of this paper. From 1910-1911, this hangar housed aircraft used by the Wright Aeronautical Company in flying exhibitions and in their pilot training school. The 1910 hangar was undoubtedly a focal point for training lectures, demonstrations, long hours of aircraft maintenance and repair, as well as the after-hours camaraderie of these pioneers of modern aviation. Abandoned in 1916, the hangar was remodeled for use as an exhibit in the 1924 Dayton Air Show. The 1910 hangar was demolished during the 1940's and its exact location was forgotten in subsequent years.</p> <p>From 1990 to 1994, CERL led a multidisciplinary effort to relocate the 1910 hangar and evaluate the nature, integrity, and research value of its archaeological remains. This work combined traditional archaeological techniques with state-of-the-art ground based and aerial remote sensing. Magnetic and electromagnetic surveys conducted by WES identified anomalies associated with a scatter of metal artifacts. A ground penetrating radar survey isolated a rectangular area related to the hangar. NASA used a thermal sensor aboard a small aircraft to record images that identified the rectangular footprint of the 1910 hangar. In 1994, CERL returned to Huffman Prairie to ground truth the remote sensing findings. Excavations encountered building debris and several architectural features, including the well preserved lower portion of one of the hangar's wood wall posts. A GIS supported study of artifact distributions demonstrated that, even though the hangar may have been demolished using a bulldozer, its archaeological remains have some integrity and offer important research potential.</p> <p>This paper synthesizes a wide range of data to develop a unique perspective on the Wright Brother's activities at Huffman Prairie. Archival photographs provide a vivid record of the appearance and details of construction of one of the world's earliest specialized aircraft hangars. Artifacts recovered at the site, including fragments of airplane parts, the strap hinges from the hangar's sliding doors, and abundant building debris verify the identity of the building, and provide a material link with the day-to-day events of a century ago. The use of remote sensing and GIS techniques demonstrates how technology can support traditional methods of history and archaeology to better understand this site's role in the lives and contributions of two of the greatest pioneers of aviation.</p> <p>Paper presented in the symposium "Following the Footsteps of the Wright Brothers: Their Sites and Stories", at Wright State University, Dayton, OH, 28 September 2001.</p>