Stories

Hangar Y & Huffman Prairie

Two sites that changed the world of aviation.

Aviation history is rooted in remarkable places where visionaries pushed the boundaries of what was possible. From the bustling Wright Cycle Company Shop, full of tools, schematics, and plans for a flying machine, to the tall, sweeping sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers took their first flight, these historic sites represent early innovations in aviation and can still be visited and appreciated today. In fact, there are two that are actively being preserved today and have unique similarities despite being on different continents. Read on to learn more about Hangar Y and Huffman Prairie Flying Field, two sites that symbolize pivotal chapters in the global story of aviation.

Hangar Y is located in Meudon, France, a southwestern suburb of Paris. Constructed around 1879, it is one of the earliest surviving aeronautical structures in the world. It was originally constructed to house experimental military balloons under the direction of Charles Renard, an engineer who was intensely interested in lighter-than-air aerial transportation for French military use. It was at Hangar Y in 1884 that La France, a 170-foot long, electric-powered dirigible airship was constructed by Renard and Arthur Krebs. On August 9, 1884, Renard and Krebs piloted La France out of Hangar Y, travelling five miles over the surrounding forest, and back to the hangar again, successfully completing the world’s first round-trip, lighter-than-air flight. Following this monumental achievement, Hangar Y continued to serve as a hub for early aviation pioneers, contributing to the development of theory and technique that undoubtedly influenced heavier-than-air flight engineers, including the Wright Brothers. Today, the site symbolizes the early age of aviation when fearless engineers and innovators pushed the boundaries of human flight.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Huffman Prairie Flying Field in Dayton, Ohio, also saw many achievements in the early days of aviation innovation. Prior to 1904, the unassuming prairie was a cow pasture owned by Torrence Huffman, a local banker. Despite this humble history, the land eventually became an integral part of the Wright brothers’ story. Although the brothers had successfully taken their first flights in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903, they needed a local spot to continue to hone their flying machine. Huffman Prairie became the perfect spot when Huffman gave the brothers full use of the pasture for their aviation work. From 1904 to 1905, the brothers made approximately 150 flights at the field and honed their flying machine, eventually developing the 1905 Wright Flyer III, the world’s first practical airplane. At Huffman Prairie, Wilbur and Orville also trained themselves to be pilots, mastering the art of controlled, sustained flight. On October 5, 1905, Wilbur flew the Wright Flyer III a world-record breaking 24 miles in 39 minutes, a feat that arguably marks the Wright brothers’ transition from experimental flying-machine innovators to masters of powered aviation- a key turning point in the history of human flight.

Though Hangar Y and Huffman Prairie Flying Field are separated by 4,000 miles and represent different eras of aviation history, they are united by the spirit of aviation innovation that flourished in both the United States and Europe. Both locations were instrumental in advancing the global understanding of flight. In fact, the Wright brothers were well-aware of the aviation experimentation and achievements that took place in Europe, including the ground-breaking achievements of France’s Renard and Krebs. Although the Wrights were more directly influenced by pioneers like Sir George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, and Samuel Langley, France’s balloon, and dirigible experiments, such as those conducted at Hangar Y, contributed to the growing body of knowledge about flight that informed and paved the way for the Wrights’ innovations. Similarly, after their pioneering work at Huffman Prairie, the Wrights exchanged ideas with European counterparts, visited French aeronautical exhibits, and even demonstrated their aircraft in Europe, cementing a transatlantic link in the development of flight and further influencing aviation progress in France.

Today, both Hangar Y and Huffman Prairie Flying Field share similar states of global preservation status, as both sites have been selected for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention’s tentative list. The tentative list is comprised of sites that each nation’s state departments deem to meet the criteria of having sufficient cultural or natural “outstanding universal value” to one day be added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. The tentative list features hundreds of sites around the world with monumental historical, cultural, and natural importance. Sites such as Ellis Island, Mount Veron, Central Park, the ancient remains of the library of Alexandria in Egypt, and the D-Day beaches in Normandy are all on UNESCO tentative lists. Typically, only one site from the list is nominated for consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, per country, per year.

While both Hangar Y and Huffman Prairie Flying Field await more formal recognition for their significance in aviation history, both sites are open to the public today. Hangar Y is now a museum and cultural events center. It features many exhibits that tell the story of dirigible air ships and other aeronautical inventions, with other exhibitions that combine the themes of science, nature, and art. Likewise, Huffman Prairie Flying Field can still be explored today and retains many important aesthetic elements of its historic appearance when the Wright Brothers used it for flights and experimentation. Additionally, the site now features an interpretive center with a film and exhibits focusing on the amazing aviation achievements that took place at Huffman Prairie and in the greater Dayton area. To learn more about the three other Dayton aviation sites on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list, click here.