Dawn Patrol Rendezvous
One of the few places where you can see WWI aircraft in the air is at the semi-annual Dawn Patrol Rendezvous held at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.
The boys and I have attended all three previous events. At the 2003 event, Chad and I dressed up in period costume, and had a blast! We had my Nieuport project on display, and even though it was the least-finished aircraft on the field, we had tons of interest.
DP05 Update
We had a GREAT time at Dawn Patrol 2005! Here are some highlights:
There were quite a few 1920s and older cars at the event, complete with people in period clothing...
Unfortunately, the opening day of flying quickly stopped when a Nieuport 28 replica had an engine failure on takeoff. The pilot busted his nose, but was otherwise unhurt. The airplane is in the center of the photo, flipped up on it's back. Tyler caught the whole thing on video, here (QuickTime, 1.2MB).
Here's the reason we go: tons of WWI replicas, most of them flying every day.
Here's a genuine WWI-vintage rotary engine on a Fokker Triplane replica.
And here we are, all packed up and ready to head back home after a great time!