College Park Air Museum

I recently visited the College Park air museum, just outside Washington DC, one of the cradles of aviation (although not a place I’d heard of before). It was a fascinating small museum taking the visitor through the history of the site, the people who were involved there and the aircraft based and built there.

Having perfected their designs at Kittyhawk and Dayton, in 1909 College Park was selected as the site for the Wright brothers to demonstrate their new aeroplane to the US military. Subsequently they set up a flying school for the first few US military aviators, including Hap Arnold, commander of the USAAF during WWII.

Overview of the museum with Wright flyer B replica:

A camera in an exhibit of the firsts carried out at this field, including the first photo from a powered aeroplane and the first machine gun firing:

Another one I’d not heard of, but this is Emile Berliner (inventor of the gramophone)’s attempt at a helicopter, built by modifying a Spad. Apparently in 1924 it made the first “controlled” helicopter flight at College Park, although from the videos on display it looked to be stretching the definition. Control seemed to be by sets of slats with a third, variable propeller, mounted on the tail. It doesn’t seem to have caught on.

Smart looking Curtiss Jenny with a replica of one of his earlier pushers above:

The ercoupes were built nearby and tested from here.

Well worth a visit if you’re in the area, although there’s the distraction of the Smithsonian just 30 mins down the metro line.

And I was lucky enough to visit another cradle. Huffman’s field, where the Wrights moved their experiments after Kittyhawk and managed the first circuit.