Dan Patterson

Long before there were air ambulance companies like CareFlight, and TV shows like 'China Beach' and 'M*A*S*H,' Valérie André was flying rescue missions in combat zones.

Once the Wright Brothers had invented a practical and consistently flyable machine (what we now call an airplane) in 1903, they began developing the aviation business.

Since before World War II, the Dayton region has been a source of high-quality professional aviation communication arts, including photography, print designs, and more.

In 1924, the aviation industry was 20 years removed from the Wright Brother's first flight. The world took that knowledge created by the brothers and literally took off.

The French pilot, writer, and illustrator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote "The Little Prince." He disappeared during a WWII reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean Sea.

WYSO community voices producer and aviation historian Dan Patterson offers some perspective on why the Miami Valley has become a hub for USAF investment and innovation.

Ohio plans to give $3.5 million to rehabilitate and reopen a second runway at the Wilmington Air Park. WYSO aviation commentator Dan Patterson recounts that there is historic precedent for that.

Allied troops were about to invade Nazi-occupied Europe 80 years ago. That seaborne invasion on June 6, 1944, is known as D-Day, but the operation first began on the night of June 5 when airborne divisions were air-dropped behind enemy lines.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Army’s first around-the-world flight. Some preparation for that flight happened here in the Miami Valley at McCook Field.

Recently it was reported that the remains of a WWII airman from Dayton, Ohio had been identified. First Lt. Howard L.Dixon, was a member of the 93rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. He had been on one of the most storied missions of the war, Operation Tidal Wave — flown on August 1st, 1943. WYSO’s aviation commentator Dan Patterson has some thoughts.