Environmental Assessment: Provide New Hangar Space for the Wright B Flyer, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act -.TEPA 40 Code of Federal Regulations CFR 1500-1508, the 88 Air Base Wing Civil Engineer, Environmental Management Division has conducted an Environmental Assessment EA of probable consequences for providing new hangar space for the Wright B Flyer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base WP AFB, Ohio. The Valentine Wright B Flyer, a replica of a 191 I Wright Brothers airplane, has been designated as a legacy piece in conjunction with the Dayton Aviation Heritage Historical Park and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field HPFF, a National Historic Landmark that is a key component of the park. The flyer replica is currently stored from May-Oct in Building 30145, Area C, WPAFB. This building is situated on the East Ramp flight line of Patterson Field. The project need is to eliminate serious constraints associated with the current flyer storage scenario at Building 30145. The first problem is use of premium flight line space for a non-flight line related activity, including limiting the potential uses of Building 30145 when the Wright B Flyer is not at WP AFB Nov-Apr. The second problem involves transporting the plane along the active flight line, which requires security, airfield operations, plane owners and HPFF coordination. These considerations require manpower from Base Operations, Security Forces, Wright B Flyer, Inc. and the National Park Service. And lastly, the current storage site is remote from the purpose and context of the Wright B Flyer, which is in relationship to the HPFF.