I spent some of my growing up years in Dayton, Ohio. When I was real young, my father put me in the car and we parked at the end of the runway at Wright Patterson. I sat in awe and watched the final landing of the XB-70 when it came in to be part of the museum. I spent the next several years visiting the Air Force Museum and Carillon Park. Carillon Park had the Wright bicycle shop and one of the original gliders.
We moved to Wisconsin when I was about 13. Back in those days, the EAA HQ was still in Milwaukee and I would visit there often, the going to Airventure in my teen years.
But it all began with that Valkyrie. What a sight to behold.