2019 Aviation Writers Summit draws journalists
DAYTON, Ohio—Aviation and travel journalists from around the United States got a heavy dose of aviation heritage last week in the National Aviation Heritage Area’s 2019 Aviation Writers Summit.
From Wednesday through Friday, May 29-31, prominent aviation magazine editors and freelance travel writers took an immersive tour of the aviation heritage sites within the Area and learned about the volunteer-driven organizations that operate them.
The group included Emily Carney, National Space Society writer and freelance blogger; Dr. Peggy Chabrian, founder and president of Women in Aviation International, which publishes Aviation for Women; Mike Collins, technical editor of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s AOPA Pilot; Chase Guttman, international travel writer and photographer; Rob Mark, senior editor of Flying, and Christine Negroni, an international travel writer who has featured the Dayton region in national publications.
Because this is the year of Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary, the 2019 Aviation Writers Summit focused on heritage sites and exhibits with connections to spaceflight, Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong. Two early-arriving participants flew on Wright B Flyer Inc.’s Wright Model B lookalike, a one-of-a-kind airplane Neil Armstrong flew during a private visit in December 2007.
Other space-related highlights included the National Museum of the U. S. Air Force, including its Space Gallery; the National Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta. While in Wapakoneta, they had lunch in Neil Armstrong’s boyhood home, now a private residence.
Another highlight was a flight on the B-25J Champaign Gal, a restored World War II-era bomber operated by the Champaign Aviation Museum on Historic Grimes Field in Urbana.
NAHA previously held Aviation Writers Summits in 2015 and 2017. Each summit has resulted in national publicity for the Heritage Area and its partners.
About the National Aviation Heritage Area
The National Aviation Heritage Area is one of 55 U. S. National Heritage Areas under a program administered by the National Park Service and the only one dedicated to aviation heritage. It encompasses eight counties in southwestern Ohio: Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Warren, Champaign, Shelby, and Auglaize counties. The National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) is a not-for-profit corporation designated by Congress as the Area’s management entity.
