Okay, so I'm an overgrown kid, tooOrville and Wilbur's Other Airfield
When the Wright Brothers are mentioned, people immediately think of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It is not widely known that in 1909 they started an airport in College Park, Maryland, to train the first military pilots.
The airport is now the College Park Aviation Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, located near the University of Maryland's main campus. Visitors are greeted by a talking mannequin of Wilbur Wright, who moves, blinks, and rolls his eyes, and there are two levels of aviation exhibits. It was fascinating to read that in those early days of flying, a pilot could solo after three hours of instruction, and interesting, too, to see how quickly aeronautical engineering progressed between 1909 and World War I.
This is a very kid-friendly museum: there are hands-on exhibits, arts and crafts, and play areas where children can dress up as pilots and sit in toy planes.
