McCook Field: Difference between revisions
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Patterson died in 1922, and his son (and successor at NCR), [[Frederick B. Patterson]] organized the Dayton Air Service Committee, a coalition of prominent Daytonians and businessmen dedicated to raising the money necessary to purchase land for the Air Service. Their intensive campaign netted [[United States Dollar|$]]425,000, enough to purchase 4,520 acres (18.29 km²) of land east of Dayton, including Wilbur Wright Field adjacent to Fairfield (now [[Fairborn]]), Ohio, already leased by the Air Service. The area encompassed the [[Wright brothers]]' flying field on [[Huffman Prairie]]. The Dayton Air Service Committee's offer far exceeded all others, and in August 1924 President [[Calvin Coolidge]] accepted Dayton's gift. This facility would later become [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]]. |
Patterson died in 1922, and his son (and successor at NCR), [[Frederick B. Patterson]] organized the Dayton Air Service Committee, a coalition of prominent Daytonians and businessmen dedicated to raising the money necessary to purchase land for the Air Service. Their intensive campaign netted [[United States Dollar|$]]425,000, enough to purchase 4,520 acres (18.29 km²) of land east of Dayton, including Wilbur Wright Field adjacent to Fairfield (now [[Fairborn]]), Ohio, already leased by the Air Service. The area encompassed the [[Wright brothers]]' flying field on [[Huffman Prairie]]. The Dayton Air Service Committee's offer far exceeded all others, and in August 1924 President [[Calvin Coolidge]] accepted Dayton's gift. This facility would later become [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]]. |
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==Trivia== |
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McCooks drive-in theater existed in Fairborn up until the mid 1980s. It closed as widespread VCR and VHS availability encroached upon its core business of pornographic films. |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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Revision as of 17:59, 8 December 2009
39°46′33″N 84°11′27″W / 39.77583°N 84.19083°W
McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station operated by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps (and United States Army Air Service) from 1917-1927. It was named for Alexander McDowell McCook, a Civil War general and his brothers and cousins, who were collectively known as "The Fighting McCooks".
McCook Field was located approximately one mile (1.6 km) north from downtown Dayton, Ohio. Its flying field was in the area between the Greater Miami and Stillwater rivers (now the present-day Dayton park, Kettering Field, named for Charles Kettering) and its structures were located on what is now the site of Parkside Homes. Constructed during World War I, it became the location of the Aviation Service's Engineering Division in 1919. Urban growth encroached on the space and larger aircraft being developed overtaxed the field's surface. Ultimately, the field became too small for its purpose.
The Army intended to relocate McCook's operations to Langley Field, Virginia, but Dayton's civic leaders did not want to lose this center of innovation and industry. John H. Patterson, President of the National Cash Register Corporation (NCR), vowed to keep Army aviation in Dayton and began a local campaign to raise money to purchase a tract of land large enough for a new airfield. The land would then be donated to the U.S. Army with the understanding that it would become the permanent home of the Engineering Division.
Patterson died in 1922, and his son (and successor at NCR), Frederick B. Patterson organized the Dayton Air Service Committee, a coalition of prominent Daytonians and businessmen dedicated to raising the money necessary to purchase land for the Air Service. Their intensive campaign netted $425,000, enough to purchase 4,520 acres (18.29 km²) of land east of Dayton, including Wilbur Wright Field adjacent to Fairfield (now Fairborn), Ohio, already leased by the Air Service. The area encompassed the Wright brothers' flying field on Huffman Prairie. The Dayton Air Service Committee's offer far exceeded all others, and in August 1924 President Calvin Coolidge accepted Dayton's gift. This facility would later become Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Trivia
McCooks drive-in theater existed in Fairborn up until the mid 1980s. It closed as widespread VCR and VHS availability encroached upon its core business of pornographic films.