Museum director talks aviation history of Ohio
NEW BREMEN — David Tillotson III, the director of the National Museum of the United States Air Force located at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, was the speaker on Tuesday at the New Bremen New Knoxville Rotary Club meeting.
Bringing with him nearly 50 years of experience in the Air Force, Tillotson manages the world’s oldest and largest military aviation museum, which has one million square feet of exhibition space and 350 aerospace vehicles.
A 1975 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Tillotson has been with the museum since November 2018.
In his talk, which he loosely titled “The Air Force and Ohio and You,” Tillotson spoke about the importance of aviation and the relationship it shares with the state of Ohio, as many flying firsts took place in the Buckeye State.
“The reason we’re a very old museum is that Wright Field, that part of the base that the museum sits on, was the development center for aviation for the U.S. Army for most of its early life — just until after the end of World War II,” said Tillotson. “It was right here in Ohio. When the Army wanted to send some pilots to get trained, there were two dudes they had to see — and there names were Orville and Wilbur [Wright] and they ran a flight school.”
Tillotson spoke of Captain Edward Ward, who was the first enlisted airman. Ward enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1901.
In 1907, he and Pfc. Joseph Barrett were sent to Leo Stevens’ balloon factory where the pair learned the basics of balloon maintenance. Later, they were sent to the Aeronautical Division under the command of Capt. Charles D. Chandler.
Ward become a licensed balloon pilot and played a pivot role in the early days of aviation.
“At the end of his career, Ward helped install the first largescale wind tunnel for NASA at Langley, Virginia,” said Tillotson.
Tillotson spoke of the Kettering “Bug,” which was a self-propelled aerial torpedo — “the first drone,” he said.
Charles F. Kettering invented the torpedo in 1917.
“It sets a heading, it flies at altitude, it calculates the distance,” said Tillotson. “That’s the start of autopilot.”
Tillotson spoke about aviation played a large role in mapping the United States.
“Hap Arnold, who later commands the Air Force, led B-10s on a mapping expedition to Alaska to map the territory,” said Tillotson. “All of this comes about as a result of ef
forts by the Department of Defense. The core of engineers is still very active in the United States in things like irrigation control, water control, dredging rivers, dam projects. They’re still an essential part of the way the U.S. addresses issues.”
Tillotson also spoke of ballon experiments that were conducted in the 1920s and 1930s to better understand elevation and what problems may arise at high altitudes.
“What happens when someone gets up very high? What happens to breathing? How do you survive those altitudes?” were all questions posed by Tillotson to club members. “They used balloons to get to those high altitudes.”
Harry George Armstrong, a major general in the Air Force, is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of aviation and gave his name to the “Armstrong Limit,” which is the altitude which water boils at the temperature of the human body, and it’s set at 63,000 feet.
“Based on experiments in an altitude chamber, that’s the altitude as which the liquid in your blood starts to evaporate because the air pressure is so low. If you’re going to survive above 63,000 feet, you have to have a pressure suit,” said Tillotson.
“Kind of important knowledge to have if you’re going to f ly at very high altitudes and later on, if you’re going to go into space. All that research was done in Dayton at Wright Field.”
Tillotson said the XC-35, which was the world’s first plane with a pressurized cabin, was built in 1931 at Wright Field. He added that he’s currently trying to get the plane from the Smithsonian to be displayed at the Air Force Museum.
He finished his talk and said that while he’s not originally from Ohio — calling himself an Air Force brat — he’s happy to be in the position he’s at.
“I will tell you, in 47 years in the Air Force, this is the first job I ever asked for and got,” Tillotson joked.
“So for the record, I’m here because I want to be here and I enjoy being here. It’s a great opportunity to come out and talk to folks.”