In publishing, as in flying, correct timing is essential, so it’s only appropriate that Tim’s 15th book, this one like many of his works being about aviation, was just published on June 24 and that the launch of his newest book will be Wednesday, July 2, at 7 p.m., at Books & Company at The Greene.
The book is “Dayton Flight Factory: The Wright Brothers & the Birth of Aviation,” published by The History Press. It focuses on the efforts of Wilbur and Orville Wright on the ground to create the flying machines that would change both history and the future. Specifically, the book weaves the story of the Dayton area locations: the Wright brothers’ neighborhood, the prairie where they flew the Wright Flyer III, and the brothers’ factory — the first American factory built to produce airplanes. Drawn from Tim’s extensive research, the narrative also includes numerous Dayton area photographs.
Tim works part-time as director of communications for the nonprofit organization National Aviation Heritage Alliance in Dayton, whose goal is to honor aviation and aerospace accomplishments in the Dayton area.
“We conducted a national survey about nine years ago,” Tim says. “Most respondents knew that the Wright brothers invented flight. But only 14 percent knew that the Wright brothers did so in Dayton. And that percentage didn’t go up much for those respondents in the Dayton area, surprisingly.”
Though books abound on the history of flight — and Tim graciously acknowledges those in his own book — he says, “there was a lack of books on the Dayton places themselves where the Wright brothers invented flight and then had airplanes built. The Wright factory here in Dayton was the first American factory built in America specifically for aviation, which means Dayton’s not only the birthplace of flight, but also the birthplace of the aviation and aerospace industry.”
At the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, Tim is working alongside Wright State University’s Special Collection and Archives Department to collect stories passed down from Wright factory workers to their families. He invites any descendants of Wright factory workers to come to the book launch and share their stories.
Tim says he first became interested in aviation through his own parents; his father worked as a civilian for the Air Force and his mother once worked at Wright Field. “I grew up steeped in aviation lore,” Tim says, “and my mother was a big reader, so I grew up surrounded by books and the love of them. I fell in love with books, too.”
It’s no surprise, then, that Tim has spent his career not only as a journalist and writer, but focusing those talents on aviation and aerospace. He’s lived in this area most of his life, currently in Miamisburg with his wife Jean, who is a librarian for the Dayton Metro Library. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in Columbus in 1974, he worked for the Piqua Daily Call, the Kettering-Oakwood Times and the Dayton Daily News, where he was the aerospace and defense writer for 21 years until his retirement in 2006. He is the author of 15 books about aviation, space, exploration and science, mainly for children and young adults. In addition to serving as director of communications for the nonprofit National Aviation Heritage Alliance, he is a volunteer trustee of the United States Air and Trade Show Inc. and Wright B Flyer Inc.
These websites provide additional information:
• Tim’s book, “Dayton Flight Factory: The Wright Brothers & the Birth of Aviation,” www.daytonflightfactory.com/ (includes photos, blog, and information on Wright sites in the Dayton area)
• National Aviation Heritage Alliance, www.aviationheritagearea.org
• Vectren Dayton Air Show 2014, www.daytonairshow.com.
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