Dayton Ohio Travel Tips Requested

[RoundTwo]

Next month, we’re flying up to Dayton for the air show and then the museum. I haven’t been to Dayton in over 30 years and I understand it has shrunk a good bit since then. Can anyone recommend the better places in town we might want to look for lodging, restaurants and entertainment?

Thanks,

Chuck

[laytonl]

I will be traveling to Pittsburgh in mid august and was thinking about stopping by the museum on the way back.  I’m  Interested in any comments about Dayton too.

Lee

[Eight8Victor]

I usually fly in to I19, Mac Air and Uber to town. (Be sure to pet the FBO cat).

There is a Comfort Suites across the street from the museum that is safe, clean and has a friendly and helpful staff.

Colonel Glenn Highway and Fairfield Rd have all the usual name brand restaurants. Be sure to check out Graeters if you like icecream.

Yellow Springs has an eclectic downtown area with great local restaurants. If you have time and like to hike, don’t miss Glen Helen nature preserve.

Pies and Pints is a fun time and great food, located at The Green. 

The museum is amazing. I spent two hours just at the Memphis Belle exhibit. Depending on your level of interest, it could be a multi day affair.

Have fun!

[RoundTwo]

8 hours ago, Eight8Victor said:

I usually fly in to I19, Mac Air and Uber to town. (Be sure to pet the FBO cat).

There is a Comfort Suites across the street from the museum that is safe, clean and has a friendly and helpful staff.

Colonel Glenn Highway and Fairfield Rd have all the usual name brand restaurants. Be sure to check out Graeters if you like icecream.

Yellow Springs has an eclectic downtown area with great local restaurants. If you have time and like to hike, don’t miss Glen Helen nature preserve.

Pies and Pints is a fun time and great food, located at The Green. 

The museum is amazing. I spent two hours just at the Memphis Belle exhibit. Depending on your level of interest, it could be a multi day affair.

Have fun!

Thanks for the tips.

I last did the museum in ‘90 or ‘91 when it was just two buildings. I was working at Pratt & Whitney and we were testing our low pressure compressor (LPC) rig for the F-35 in the Wright Pat test cell on the old base. We had lots of down time between tests, so I got to do the museum pretty thoroughly.

This was the time frame when they took the SR-71’s out of service and one of them wound up at WPAFB. One of my colleagues was there to watch it fly in but at least when I was back the next week, it was still sitting on the end of the runway. Back then, they only had the YF-12 in the back building. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they’ve added.

[mike_elliott]

I believe J owner, former Red Flag, former N1 pilot and current Mooney Pros instructor Karl Ludolph is one of the volunteer tour guides there. You wont meet a finer, more humble Mooney pilot if your lucky enough to draw him. His, Carol Ann's and Mary Gaffney's are some of the names in my log book I am most proud of.

[RoundTwo]

1 minute ago, mike_elliott said:

I believe J owner, former Red Flag, former N1 pilot and current Mooney Pros instructor Karl Ludolph is one of the volunteer tour guides there. You wont meet a finer, more humble Mooney pilot if your lucky enough to draw him. His, Carol Ann's and Mary Gaffney's are some of the names in my log book I am most proud of.

I wasn’t even aware it was a guided tour. That’s fantastic! Now my guests won’t have to listen to me blabbering on all day.

[mike_elliott]

In the past, you had to sign up for the presidential hangar tour for sure and had to do that early. WELL WELL worth in. I dont know what the rules are now, but be sure to ask early in the day. My last visit was in 2005, so I am a bit outdated on all the ops, but I had the pleasure of flying an 80 year old couple to Xenia who used to own my F and host them. In fact, Carol Ann Garratt was giving a presentation on her J travels that day and a number of Mooney's showed up, while Karl shuttled us to and from the Museum if my aging memory serves me.

[mooniac15u]

On 6/27/2023 at 6:13 AM, mike_elliott said:

In the past, you had to sign up for the presidential hangar tour for sure and had to do that early. WELL WELL worth in. I dont know what the rules are now, but be sure to ask early in the day. My last visit was in 2005, so I am a bit outdated on all the ops, but I had the pleasure of flying an 80 year old couple to Xenia who used to own my F and host them. In fact, Carol Ann Garratt was giving a presentation on her J travels that day and a number of Mooney's showed up, while Karl shuttled us to and from the Museum if my aging memory serves me.

The presidential collection has been moved into the main museum.

[Pinecone]

You have to sign up for the tour of the restoration hangars.  If you can't get a reservation, you can show up and get in the standby line.  Last time I went with some friends, we did the standby and they took something like 15 standbys.

If you haven't been for a while, the museum has grown.  It is up too 4 of the buildings, so it takes a while to get through.

If you are into amusement and water parks, King's Island is also in Dayton.  Both the dry and wet parks are quite nice.

[dzeleski]

This is perfect timing. We leave for CA/Osh in two weeks and will be stopping in Dayton to see the museum.

Thanks for the info!

[mooniac15u]

6 hours ago, Pinecone said:

You have to sign up for the tour of the restoration hangars.  If you can't get a reservation, you can show up and get in the standby line.  Last time I went with some friends, we did the standby and they took something like 15 standbys.

If you haven't been for a while, the museum has grown.  It is up too 4 of the buildings, so it takes a while to get through.

If you are into amusement and water parks, King's Island is also in Dayton.  Both the dry and wet parks are quite nice.

According to their website they aren't currently offering tours of the restoration hangar.

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Groups-and-Tours/

Kings Island is in Mason which is part of the Cincinnati area.  It's about 40 miles from the Air Force museum.

[Pinecone]

I didn't realize it was that far, but still fairly close.  You would not fly that short a flight.
 

[RoundTwo]

On 6/27/2023 at 6:05 AM, mike_elliott said:

I believe J owner, former Red Flag, former N1 pilot and current Mooney Pros instructor Karl Ludolph is one of the volunteer tour guides there. You wont meet a finer, more humble Mooney pilot if your lucky enough to draw him. His, Carol Ann's and Mary Gaffney's are some of the names in my log book I am most proud of.

I just checked and unfortunately, Karl isn’t volunteering here today. 
I’m trying to figure when I was here before and the landmark I can use is it was when the SR-71 flew in. I have pictures of it still parked on the runway the week after it landed. I was actually working here in the compressor test tunnel when I was employed by Pratt & Whitney. If I recall correctly, there were only 2 buildings here then. 

[BKlott]

The Air Force Museum, Huffman’s Prairie and the Wright Bicycle Shop were places we visited in 2003. When we flew our plane to Dayton, celebrating the Centennial of Flight. 

[RoundTwo]

6 hours ago, BKlott said:

The Air Force Museum, Huffman’s Prairie and the Wright Bicycle Shop were places we visited in 2003. When we flew our plane to Dayton, celebrating the Centennial of Flight. 

The airshow was great and the museum was awesome, as expected,  but even with 2 days, it wasn’t enough. We’ll be returning next year for the 50th anniversary of the airshow and we’ll try again. We’ll also throw in the Packard Museum for some non-aviation eye candy as well.

[Fly Boomer]

55 minutes ago, RoundTwo said:

The airshow was great and the museum was awesome, as expected,  but even with 2 days, it wasn’t enough. We’ll be returning next year for the 50th anniversary of the airshow and we’ll try again. We’ll also throw in the Packard Museum for some non-aviation eye candy as well.

I didn’t know about the Packard museum.  Thanks for the tip.