Dayton aviation park set to grow
Superintendent leaving venue in good shape as he heads to retirement.
Dean Alexander, superintendent at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, is retiring today, and he leaves behind a national park poised to get bigger.
Tony Sculimbrene, executive director at the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, the national park’s Dayton-based nonprofit partner, said the alliance hopes to gain control of the former Wright Airplane Factory — between U.S. 35 and Third Street near Home Avenue — possibly as soon as the next 30 days.
“We are very much engaged” on raising funds to acquire the former factory, Sculimbrene said Thursday.
The alliance is negotiating with Home Avenue Redevelopment, the private entity that owns the factory buildings and surrounding 54 acres of property.
Alexander said the National Park Service has the authority to acquire the complex.
“The plan is, once that’s secured, the federal government would go in and purchase the historic Wright Brothers buildings,” Alexander said.
As Alexander retires, Sculimbrene said he was a natural fit for the community when he was appointed in 2009.
“I think probably the greatest strength and the greatest contribution that Dean has made to the park has been to share his extensive knowledge of aviation that he had before he even came to this location,” Sculimbrene said.
Park leaders knew that Alexander had strong knowledge of aviation’s early days, and that fact was a “driver” for his selection, Sculimbrene said.
“He knows his history inside and out,” he said.
The Dayton park had 98,533 visitors last year, up from 73,588 the year before. In recent years, the Dayton park has benefited from David McCullough’s 2015 book, The Wright Brothers, Alexander said.
“We got a huge boost from