By Randy McNutt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DAYTON , Ohio - The National Aviation Hall of Fame will hold a public grand opening today that will feature new interactive displays and special guests such as atomic-bomb mission pilot Gen. Paul Tibbets.

IF YOU GO

The National Aviation Hall of Fame is adjacent to the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton. To get there from Cincinnati, take Interstate 75 north to I-675, and follow it until you see signs for the Air Force Museum (in the Fairborn area). The Hall of Fame is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. (Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.) Information: (937) 256-0944.

The 17,250-square-foot hall of fame, adjacent to the U.S. Air Force Museum on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at 1100 Spaatz St., is a nonprofit organization founded in 1962 to honor America's air and space heroes.

"We have been open since 1999, but have not had all the interactive displays," spokeswoman Nancy Potts said. "We have been closed since March to install them. Before, all people could do was look at pictures of aviation pioneers. Now visitors can get involved, in a virtual sense.

"This is very hands-on. We don't call it a museum; it's a learning center. Kids will love it. They'll like trying to land a plane on top of an aircraft carrier, landing a helicopter and shooting a rocket. But adults will find the place interesting, too."

The grand opening, which begins at 10 a.m., will include Gen. Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan; astronaut Joe Engle, and test pilots Joe Kittinger and Scott Crossfield.

Another link to flight

The $6.5 million hall is one more important connection between flight history and Ohio, where the Wright Brothers designed their early aircraft in Dayton. The city will celebrate the centennial of their first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., with a July celebration called Inventing Flight.

Seven different galleries line the hall of fame's exhibit hall. Each focuses on its own era of aviation: early flight, World War I, World War II, golden age, jet age, Boeing Co. and space.

Each gallery features a wall with colorful photographs of the hall's 178 inducted members.

"We want to present each enshrinee's strengths and weaknesses," said Tara Engel, director of the Harry B. Combs Research Center at the hall. "Every visitor who comes through should find one person who they can get excited about."

Hall focuses on people

The hall is a separate entity from the Air Force Museum, Ms. Potts noted.

"We like to say we keep track of the people who actually made the history," she said. "The Air Force Museum keeps the planes; we celebrate the people who flew the planes."

The Combs Research Center offers five interactive computer kiosks, which provide biographical information and photographs. Another eight interactive displays help depict the periods, and "we will add to them as we go along," Ms. Engel said.

The center is named for the flight pioneer who, at age 16 in 1929, built and tested a sport biplane. He went on to form Combs Aircraft and start a flying school.

But even Mr. Combs didn't fully appreciate the magic connection that Ohio had with the Wright Brothers and early flight until Neil Armstrong gave him a copy of the Wrights' papers.

"Like a lot of people, I thought the Wrights were two weirdo bicycle mechanics who got lucky," Mr. Combs said.

"I mean, this is a real eye-opener ... this is a piece of our national heritage."