Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is about northeast of Dayton; Wright Field is about northeast of Dayton.
The host unit at Wright-Patterson AFB is the 88th Air Base Wing (88 ABW), assigned to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Air Force Materiel Command. The 88 ABW operates the airfield, maintains all infrastructure and provides security, communications, medical, legal, personnel, contracting, finance, transportation, air traffic control, weather forecasting, public affairs, recreation and chaplain services for more than 60 associate units. The Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) and the Space Force's National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) are also garrisoned there and are the Intelligence Community's primary organizations for strategic air and space threat analysis.
The base began with the establishment of Wilbur Wright Field on 22 May 1917 and McCook Field in November 1917, by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps as World War I installations. McCook was used as a testing field and for aviation experiments. Wright was used as a flying field (renamed Patterson Field in 1931); Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot; armorers' school, and a temporary storage depot. McCook's functions were transferred to Wright Field when it was closed in October 1927.World War I Group, Historical Division, Special Staff, United States Army, Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War (1917–1919) Wright-Patterson AFB was established in 1948 as a merger of Patterson and Wright Fields.
In 1995, negotiations to end the Bosnian War as part of the Yugoslav Wars were held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. The talks were hosted by the United States and involved the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. The negotiations produced the Dayton Agreement, which established Bosnia and Herzegovina as a single sovereign state composed of two entities and brought an end to more than three years of armed conflict.
The base had a total of 27,406 military, civilian and contract employees in 2010. The Greene County portion of the base is a census-designated place (CDP), with a resident population of 1,821 at the 2010 census.
History
Prehistoric Indian mounds of the Adena culture at Wright-Patterson are along P Street and, at the Wright Brothers Memorial, a hilltop mound group.
Aircraft operations on land now part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base began in 1904–1905 when Wilbur and Orville Wright used an plot of Huffman Prairie for experimental test flights with the Wright Flyer III. Their flight exhibition company and the Wright Company School of Aviation returned 1910–1916 to use the flying field.
World War I transfers of land that later became WPAFB include (including the Huffman Prairie Flying Field) along the Mad River leased to the Army by the Miami Conservancy District, the adjacent purchased by the Army from the District for the Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot, and a complex for McCook Field just north of downtown Dayton between Keowee Street and the Great Miami River. In 1918, Wilbur Wright Field agreed to let McCook Field use hangar and shop space as well as its enlisted mechanics to assemble and maintain airplanes and engines under the direction of Chief of Air Service Mason Patrick.Tate, Dr. James P. (1998). The Army and its Air Corps: Army Policy Toward Aviation 1919–1941, Air University Press, p. 18
After World War I, 347 German aircraft were brought to the United States—some were incorporated into the Army Aeronautical Museum (in 1923 the Engineering Division at McCook Field "first collected technical artifacts for preservation"). The training school at Wilbur Wright Field was discontinued. Wilbur Wright Field and the depot merged after World War I to form the Fairfield Air Depot. The Patterson family formed the Dayton Air Service Committee, Inc which held a campaign that raised $425,000 in two days and purchased northeast of Dayton, including Wilbur Wright Field and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field.
In 1924, the committee presented the deeds to President Calvin Coolidge for the construction of a new aviation engineering center. The entire acreage (including the Fairfield Air Depot) was designated Wright Field, which had units such as the Headquarters, 5th Division Air Service (redesignated 5th Division Aviation in 1928), and its 88th Observation Squadron and 7th Photo Section. New facilities were built between 1925 and 1927 on the portion of Wright Field west of Huffman Dam to house all of the McCook Field functions being relocated.
Aeronautical achievements/developments 1919-09-18 "World altitude record (unofficial) of 28,899 ft. set by Maj. R. W. Schroeder (Bristol-300 Hispano) at Dayton, Ohio." 1919-10-04 Maj. R. W. Schroeder and Lt. G. E. Elfrey at Dayton set an "official world 2-man altitude record of 31,821 ft." in a Lepere airplane with a supercharged Liberty 400 engine. 1921-02-12 "First section of American "model" Airways route from Washington, D. C. to Dayton, Ohio, inaugurated." 1922-06-12 "24,206 ft. parachute jump made by Capt. A. W. Stevens from a Martin bomber piloted by Lt. L. Wade, at Dayton, Ohio." 1923-04-16,17 "Non-refueled world duration and distance records set by Lts. J. A. Macready and O. G. Kelly (Fokker T2-Liberty 375) at Dayton, Ohio, Duration 36:04:34. Distance: 2516.55 miles." 1923-08-22 "Initial flight of Barling bomber (6 Liberty 400 engines), largest airplane made in U. S., at [Wilbur] Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. Pilot, Lt. H. R. Harris." 1924-10-2,3,4 "Air race winners at [Wilbur] Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio include: Liberty Engine Builders Trophy, Lt. D. G. Duke (DH4B-Liberty 400), speed 130.34 mph over 180-mile course; John L. Mitchell Trophy, Lt. C. Bettis (Curtiss PW8—D12HC Curtiss 460), speed 175.41 mph over 200 km course; Pulitzer Trophy Race, Lt. H. H. Mills (Verville Sperry—D12AHC Curtiss 520), speed 216.55 mph over 200 km course." 1927-10-12 "Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, formally dedicated, and the Materiel Division moves from McCook Field to the new site. The John L. Mitchell Trophy Race won by Lt. I. A. Woodring, 1st Pursuit Group, during the ceremonies. Speed: 158.968 mph." 1928-03-10 $900,000 was authorized for completing the Wright Field experimental laboratory. 1928-06-16 Wright Field testing of "superchargers designed to give sea level pressure at 30,000 ft." and liquid oxygen breathing system. 1933-05-20 "First class of "instrument landing" fliers demonstrate expertness at Wright Field".
Wright and Patterson fields Wright Field was "formally dedicated" on 12 October 1927 when "the Materiel Division moved from McCook Field to the new site" At the time of the dedication expenditures of approximately $5 million had been involved in the new facility after 18 months work, with the total amount expected to rise to between $7 and $8 million.Associated Press, "High Government and Aviation Officials Help Dedicate Wright Field - Built World's Premiere Field For $7,000,000 - 4,500 Acre Airport Is Almost On Spot Where Wrights Fashioned First Plane - Work Takes 18 Months - Ceremonies at Dayton Are Attended by Secretary Of War and Others," The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Thursday 13 October 1927, Volume LXI, Number 43, page 2. The ceremonies included the John L. Mitchell Trophy Race (won by Lt. I. A. Woodring of the 1st Pursuit Group—Speed: 158.968 mph) and Orville Wright raising the flag over the new engineering center.
On 1 July 1931, the portion of Wright Field east of Huffman Dam (land known today as Areas A and C of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base which included the Fairfield Air Depot and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field) was redesignated "Patterson Field" in honor of Lieutenant Frank Stuart Patterson. Lt. Patterson was the son of Frank J. Patterson, co-founder of National Cash Register. Shortly before the end of World War I, First Lieutenant Patterson and observer Second Lieutenant LeRoy Swan, both of the 137th Aero Squadron, were killed at Wright Field in the crash of their de Havilland DH.4 after its wings collapsed during a dive while firing at ground targets with a new synchronized-through–the–propeller machine gun. Patterson's grave and memorial arch is at Woodland Cemetery and Aborateum in Dayton, Ohio.
World War II
The area's World War II Army Air Fields had employment increase from approximately 3,700 in December 1939 to over 50,000 at the war's peak. Wright Field grew from approximately 30 buildings to a facility with some 300 buildings and the Air Corps' first modern paved runways. The original part of the field became saturated with office and laboratory buildings and test facilities. The Hilltop area was acquired from private landowners in 1943–1944 to provide troop housing and services.
The portion of Patterson Field from Huffman Dam through the Brick Quarters (including the command headquarters in Building 10262) at the south end of Patterson Field along Route 4 was administratively reassigned from Patterson Field to Wright Field. To avoid confusing the two areas of Wright Field, the south end of the former Patterson Field portion was designated "Area A", the original Wright Field became "Area B", and the north end of Patterson Field, including the flying field, "Area C."
In February 1940 at Wright Field, the Army Air Corps established the Technical Data Branch (Technical Data Section in July 1941, Technical Data Laboratory in 1942). After Air Corps Ferrying Command was established on 29 May 1941, on 21 June an installation point of the command opened at Patterson Field. The Flight Test Training unit of Air Technical Command was established at Wright Field on 9 September 1944 (moved to Patterson Field in 1946, Edwards AFB on 4 February 1951).
Two densely populated housing and service areas across Highway 444, Wood City and Skyway Park, were geographically separated from the central core of Patterson Field and developed almost self-sufficient community status. (Wood City was acquired in 1924 as part of the original donation of land to the government but was used primarily as just a radio range until World War II. Skyway Park was acquired in 1943.) They supported the vast numbers of recruits who enlisted and were trained at the two fields as well as thousands of civilian laborers, especially single women recruited to work at the depot. Skyway Park was demolished after the war. Wood City was eventually transformed into Kittyhawk Center, the base's modern commercial and recreation center.
In the fall of 1942, the first twelve "Air Force" officers to receive ATI field collection training were assigned to Wright Field for training in the technical aspects of "crash" intelligence (RAF Squadron Leader Colley identified how to obtain information from equipment marking plates and squadron markings. In July 1944 during the Robot Blitz, Wright Field fired a reconstructed German pulse-jet engine (an entire V-1 flying bomb was by 8 September at Republic Aviation.)
The first German and Japanese aircraft arrived in 1943, and captured equipment soon filled six buildings, a large outdoor storage area, and part of a flight-line hangar for Technical Data Lab study (TDL closed its Army Aeronautical Museum). The World War II Operation Lusty returned 86 German aircraft to Wright Field for study, e.g., the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter, while the post-war Operation Paperclip brought German scientists and technicians to Wright Field, e.g., Ernst R. G. Eckert (most of the scientists eventually went to work in the various Wright Field labs.)
UFO studies / sightings