Rich Cox Joins the National Aviation Heritage Area Board
We are proud to celebrate Rich Cox joining the National Aviation Heritage Area Board of Trustees, and to share the Dayton aviation story NAHA works to protect.
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DAS TeamPublished on
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6 min read
If you have ever driven past Huffman Prairie, stood under the wings at the Air Force Museum, or watched a small airplane climb out over the Miami River, you have already felt how close aviation history sits to everyday life in Dayton. This is the region where flying grew from an experiment into a practical skill, and that story still belongs to everyone who lives, works, and flies here.
Today you get to share in news tied directly to that story. Our founder, Rich Cox, has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the National Aviation Heritage Area (NAHA). It is a proud moment for Rich and for the team as a whole, and a chance to give something back to the heritage that shaped every pilot in this region, perhaps including you.
A Region Congress Recognized for Its Place in Aviation
In November 2004, Congress recognized the Dayton region’s leadership in aviation history by designating it the National Aviation Heritage Area. The area covers eight Ohio counties: Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Warren, Champaign, Shelby, and Auglaize. If you live anywhere from Wapakoneta to Lebanon, you live inside it too, and so does Moraine Airpark, where student pilots and renters fly every week.
The heritage area is managed by the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, a private nonprofit designated by Congress for the job. Its mission is to conserve, interpret, develop, and promote the region’s aviation heritage while sustaining the legacy of the Wright brothers. You can explore the sites and programs yourself at visitnaha.com.
NAHA ties together places that tell one continuous story. Its partners include Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Carillon Historical Park, the National Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Wright Brothers collection at Wright State University. NAHA also supports an aviation scholarship and an annual awards program that recognizes the people moving the region forward.
The Story Written in the Skies Above Dayton
The best-known chapter is Huffman Prairie Flying Field, now part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. In 1904 and 1905, the Wrights returned to that field again and again, working through the turns, climbs, and controlled landings that made a powered airplane practical. It was patient, repetitive work, and it changed the world.
Closer to Moraine Airpark, the Wright brothers once tested flying boats on the Miami River. If you have flown over that stretch of river, you have crossed their test area. The Dayton Aviation Services brand also takes inspiration from the 413th Flight Test Squadron and the region’s military flight test heritage.
That patient, one-flight-at-a-time approach still guides flight training in Dayton. It is the idea behind the motto “We Train. We Fly. We Train Again.” Every lesson flown from Moraine Airpark carries forward a little of what started in a Dayton pasture more than a century ago.
What This Appointment Means to Rich and the Schoolhouse
NAHA is led by a volunteer Board of Trustees drawn from partner organizations and the heritage area community, with liaisons from the National Park Service and other government partners. Rich will serve alongside people who have spent years caring for the museums, parks, and archives that hold this region’s aviation story, and the invitation is a significant honor.
Community outreach and promoting aviation, especially its history, is a core value at Dayton Aviation Services. You may have seen the team giving aviation talks, supporting local events, or encouraging the next generation of pilots. Rich has long shared historical aviation content with students and the wider flying community, hoping to help people see Dayton’s aviation heritage as living history they can still touch.
His own flying started here. Rich earned his private pilot certificate through the Wright-Patterson Aero Club in 1999 and has been instructing since 2001, later founding Dayton Aviation Services at Moraine Airpark in 2018. Serving on the NAHA board is a way of giving back to the region that first put him in the left seat.
Living History You Can Visit This Season
The best way to appreciate Dayton’s aviation story is to go see it. Many NAHA partner sites are a short drive from Moraine Airpark, and each one adds a different piece to the picture. If you are a pilot, visiting them gives your own logbook entries a little more meaning.
| Heritage site | What you will find there |
|---|---|
| Huffman Prairie Flying Field | The field where the Wrights made powered flight practical in 1904 and 1905 |
| Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park | The Wright Cycle Company, Hawthorn Hill, and the people behind the first airplane |
| National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | Aircraft and stories from the generations that followed the Wrights |
| Armstrong Air & Space Museum | The story of Neil Armstrong and Ohio’s place in spaceflight |
| Carillon Historical Park | Dayton’s history of invention, including the Wright Flyer III |
Questions & Answers
What is the National Aviation Heritage Area?
It is a congressionally recognized, eight-county region around Dayton that preserves and promotes the area’s aviation heritage, managed by the nonprofit National Aviation Heritage Alliance.
What does a NAHA trustee do?
Trustees are volunteers who help guide NAHA’s work with its partner sites and community. Rich’s role is a volunteer service to the heritage area, separate from his work running Dayton Aviation Services.
How can I learn more about NAHA?
The best starting point is NAHA’s own website, which lists partner sites, events, the aviation scholarship, and the annual awards. Visiting a few of the sites in person is the most rewarding way to see the history that surrounds Moraine Airpark.
Celebrate With Us at a Heritage Site Near You
The Wrights started with a pasture, a patient routine, and a willingness to go back up. More than a century later, that legacy is still alive in the museums, parks, and airports across these eight counties, and in every pilot who learns to fly here.
Please join us in congratulating Rich on his appointment to the National Aviation Heritage Area Board of Trustees. The best way you can celebrate is to visit Huffman Prairie or another NAHA heritage site this season and see the story for yourself.
