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Air Force Bases

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Dayton’s aviation birthplace: Huffman Prairie, two fields that became one base, and decades of Air Force research, logistics, and flight test.

Years 1917–presentFile 02 / 03
Dayton’s aviation birthplace: Huffman Prairie, two fields that became one base, and decades of Air Force research, logistics, and flight test.
Aerial view of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 10 October 2000. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey · Source

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base sits northeast of Dayton, Ohio, on ground that reaches back to the beginning of powered flight. In 1904–1905 the Wright brothers refined their airplane at Huffman Prairie Flying Field, now part of the base area and a National Historic Landmark. In 1917 the Army opened McCook Field in Dayton for aeronautical research and Wilbur Wright Field nearby for flying operations.

McCook’s temporary wartime facilities gave way to a permanent research center at Wright Field. Patterson Field grew as a logistics and supply depot. In 1948 the two adjacent installations were combined as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. From that merger grew the Air Force’s largest research, development, acquisition, and logistics complex: laboratories, systems program offices, and later Air Force Materiel Command headquarters.

In December 1975, after Apollo ended, the ARIA fleet—redesignated Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft—transferred from Patrick AFB and Eastern Test Range control to the 4950th Test Wing at Wright-Patterson. Consolidating large test aircraft at Wright-Patterson put ARIA alongside other special mission platforms. From Ohio the fleet continued worldwide telemetry support for DoD and NASA missile and space tests through the 1980s and 1990s.

Wright-Patterson remains a major Materiel Command installation and home of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. One of the original Apollo ARIA aircraft, EC-135E 60-0374, is displayed there after its final flight in November 2000—closing a circle from Patrick operations through the Wright-Patterson years to permanent exhibit in Dayton.

Milestones

  1. 1904–05Huffman Prairie — The Wright brothers refine powered flight on the prairie that later becomes part of the base area.
  2. 1917Wright and McCook Fields — Army aviation research and flying fields open in the Dayton area.
  3. 1948Wright-Patterson AFB — Wright Field and Patterson Field combine as a single Air Force base.
  4. 1975-12ARIA arrives — Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft transfer to the 4950th Test Wing.
  5. 2000-11-0360-0374 retires — The last original Apollo ARIA flies to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

ARIA at this base

ARIA’s long Wright-Patterson chapter—4950th Test Wing operations, fleet composition, and mission gear—is covered on the dedicated ARIA history page for this base. ARIA history: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base · ARIA History · The fleet

Summary original to flyARIA.com. Photograph: U.S. Geological Survey. Works of the U.S. Government are generally in the public domain in the United States; credit does not imply endorsement.

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