A century ago, the world was just over 20 years removed from the Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903. At that time, the aviation industry was literally taking off with the knowledge created by the Wrights'.
Flying higher, faster, and further
Advances in flying were linked to the development of more powerful engines, which meant flying higher, faster, and further. Aircraft designers were learning about the facts of more streamlined flying machines. The theories of propellers being rotating wings found aviation engineers creating propellers that could be used for speed and others for long-distance cruising.
McCook Field, here in Dayton, was a national center of aviation research and testing. It was already getting too small, so the Army had located some flying fields away from downtown Dayton. One was Wilbur Wright Field, where Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is now.
The Fall of 1924 brought international attention to Dayton. In September, the Army’s Round the World mission was concluding. The surviving two of the four Douglas World Cruisers had almost made the full circle. They were making the last legs of the effort from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, where they started over 160 days before. Their first stop was at McCook Field, where the mission was organized, global logistics managed, and the aircraft managed and paid for.
“The thought of circling the globe in an ‘aeroplane’ was considered impossible by many, but the Army Air Service said: ‘We can do that.’”
In mid-September 1924, the Cruisers landed, and McCook Field held an “Open House.” 70,000 Daytonians came to see the globe-circling Flyers.
Dayton International Air Races
Two weeks later, in early October, the world’s attention was again focused on Dayton. The Dayton International Air Races were held at Wilbur Wright Field for three days. There were 174 entries from across the USA. Legendary names flew in the events, including Jimmy Doolittle. The races were supposed to be international, but foreign competitors dropped out because they were concerned they couldn’t compete with the high-performance American aircraft.
At the event, there were speed races and long-distance endurance flights.
The attendance was around 50,000, including Orville Wright and his sister Katharine. The 1903 Wright Flyer was reassembled and on show in the still-standing Wright hangar on the field.
An Art Nouveau Mystery
There is a 21st-century mystery surrounding the 1924 races and the awards given for the flying accomplishments. An art nouveau trophy designed and made for the overall winner has been lost to history. It is nowhere to be found.
Many aviation historians and folks like me have inquired and searched but without any success. There are rumors that it is in storage at the Dayton Art Institute but the director there said, “we don’t have it”. There have been rumors that it must be at the National Musuem of the USAF but their collections manager said, “we don’t have it”.
Perhaps, like at the end of the classic film Raiders of the Lost Ark, that trophy was sealed in an ordinary wooden crate, and a warehouse guy placed it on a storage shelf with hundreds of similar crates, just waiting to be discovered.
Wishing you blue skies and tailwinds,
Editor's Note: After airing this story, we received an email from the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park and learned that the public can still engage in this story!
To commemorate the race, the park held a free family LEGO mosaic build event in October at Huffman Prairie Flying Field, where it occurred. The mosaic is an image of the 1924 International Air Race commemorative pamphlet.
The LEGO mosaic is currently being completed by second and fifth-graders from the Dayton Leadership Academy. The public can view the completed LEGO mosaic at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park visitor center at 16 S. Williams Street in West Dayton later this fall; check the park's website for details.
Dan Patterson is a Community Voices Producer and Aviation Commentator at WYSO. This story was produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices.