Aviation research and development has flourished in Dayton, Ohio where large flying fields were established in 1917. First, McCook Field was built at what is now the intersection of State Route 4 and Interstate 75. Then Wilbur Wright Field was established where the present runway is. In 1924, Wright Field was established on land donated by the community.

On July 6, 1931, Wilbur Wright Field was renamed Patterson Field after Lt. Frank Patterson, who had been killed there in the crash of a DH-4 while flight testing the synchronization of machine gun and propeller. In 1948, the fields became one installation, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Today, as in the early 1900s, Wright-Patterson is where weapon systems of the future are conceived, tested, modified, and tested again until worthy of acceptance as part of the most responsive deterrent force in the history of military aviation.

Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow. That is what Wright-Patterson is all about. A heritage of a legendary past spurs aerospace logisticians, engineers, and scientists in a quest to "keep’em flying", faster, higher, further, and safer than man has ever flown before.

Recently, Wright-Patterson AFB has become very well-known among UFO researchers and theorists due to its connection with the Roswell incident of July 1947. This is one of the locations, alongside the Groom Lake/Area51 installation in Nevada, where wreckage of a crashed UFO as well as alien bodies were shipped. Wreckage of the craft was shipped directly to Ohio aboard a B-29 after the mysterious crash and placed in the infamous Hangar 18.

The crash of a 100ft in diameter saucer with 16 dead aliens aboard near Aztec, New Mexico in 1948, had its remains sent to Wright-Patterson AFB shortly thereafter.

Wright-Patterson has become a haven for UFO folklore and stories, mainly due to its history with the controversial subject of alien landings, sightings and government conspiracy.

From 1947 to 1969, the Air Force investigated Unidentified Flying Objects under Project Blue Book. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was terminated 17 December 1969. Of a total of 12,618 sightings reported to Project Blue Book, 701 remained "unidentified."

Some believe Wright-Patterson to be a top-secret UFO monitoring and research station, which considering its past programs, doesn't seem unreasonable at all.

Interesting points relating to Wright-Patterson AFB

• In a book by Jean-Charles Fumoux in 1981 entitled "Preuves Scientifiques OVNI", the author relates how Leon B. Visse, an alleged expert on histons (elements connected with cellular genetic material) was invited in 1959 to a military compound at Wright-Patterson AFB, where he was asked to perform an experiment on the histonic weight of particular cells. Visse was later taken into a special room where he viewed two humanoid corpses.
• A researcher known as Tommy Blann interviewed a Colonel "X" who said, "In the earlier years they had taken some bodies to this base, but later it depended on where they were found. They had a hell of a time setting up procedures for this operation, as well as getting craft out of the area without it being observed. Usually this was done at night time." Colonel"X" also told Blann that he believed that in more recent years the bodies were flown outside the U.S. to a secret naval installation on an island in the Pacific.
• Senator Barry Goldwater was denied access into a building at Wright Patterson AFB because it was classified Above Top Secret