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Wright-Patterson Air Force Base lies just east of Dayton, Ohio, straddling Greene and Montgomery counties, and is one of the largest and most historically significant installations in the United States Air Force. Formed from the merger of the original Wright and Patterson Fields, it traces its aviation lineage directly back to the Wright brothers' early test flights over Huffman Prairie, and today offers a sim pilot two long, ILS-equipped runways set within an active military airfield.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (KFFO) sits just east of Dayton, Ohio, and is operated by the 88th Air Base Wing under Air Force Materiel Command. It incorporates the historic Wright and Patterson Fields and hosts the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the Space Force's National Space Intelligence Center, and the 445th Airlift Wing, among more than sixty associate units. For a simulator pilot, its appeal lies in its deep aviation heritage - running from the Wright brothers' earliest flights to Cold War test programmes - combined with a long, ILS-served main runway typical of a major military airfield.
The base lies just east of Dayton, Ohio, within Greene and Montgomery counties. Wright Field, the northern portion of the complex, is about eight kilometres (five miles) northeast of Dayton, while Patterson Field, to the southeast, is around sixteen kilometres (ten miles) northeast of the city.
Wright-Patterson has two parallel hard-surfaced runways. The main runway, 05L/23R, is 12,582 feet long, lit, and served by an ILS. The parallel runway, 05R/23L, is 6,991 feet long and also lit, but without an instrument approach. Field elevation is 810 feet.
Aerodrome/departure services are provided on 118.85 MHz, with the ATIS broadcast on 124.475 MHz. Ground movements are handled on 121.8 MHz, and the tower, using the callsign Patterson Tower, operates on 126.9 MHz. The 445th Airlift Wing's Air Force Reserve command post can be reached on 122.85 MHz.
Aircraft operations on the land now occupied by Wright-Patterson began in 1904-1905, when Wilbur and Orville Wright used an 84-acre plot of Huffman Prairie for experimental test flights with the Wright Flyer III, returning with their flying school between 1910 and 1916. The site's military development began on 22 May 1917 with the establishment of Wilbur Wright Field, followed by McCook Field in November of that year, both raised by the Aviation Section of the US Signal Corps as First World War installations; McCook served as a testing field for aviation experiments until its functions transferred to Wright Field in 1927. Wilbur Wright Field and an adjoining supply depot merged after the war to form the Fairfield Air Depot, and in 1924 a locally raised campaign funded the purchase of over 4,500 acres northeast of Dayton, including the original Wright Field and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field, which were presented to President Calvin Coolidge for a new aviation engineering centre. The eastern portion of Wright Field was redesignated Patterson Field in 1931 in honour of Lieutenant Frank Stuart Patterson. Wright Field, Patterson Field, Dayton Army Air Field and Clinton Army Air Field were merged in December 1945 to form the Army Air Forces Technical Base, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base itself was established in 1948 from the union of Wright and Patterson Fields. In 1995 the base hosted the negotiations that produced the Dayton Agreement, ending the Bosnian War and establishing Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign state of two entities.
Wright-Patterson remains an active US Air Force installation under Air Force Materiel Command, hosting the 88th Air Base Wing as host unit alongside the 445th Airlift Wing and major intelligence organisations including the National Air and Space Intelligence Center and the National Space Intelligence Center. As a military airfield it is not open for general civil use, and any visiting flight would require prior permission through the appropriate military channels rather than informal PPR arrangements. The base continues to host the annual US Air Force Marathon, reflecting its ongoing role as a major operational and ceremonial Air Force site.
