Joy of reading takes flight at Howland aviation museum
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HOWLAND -- As part of the month of October's Trumbull County Reads celebration with the theme of flight, Warren Trumbull County Public Library hosted Library Day at Ernie Hall Aviation Museum on Saturday.
All area libraries read the book, “To Slip the Bonds of Earth," by Akron writer Amanda Flowers. The main character in the book is Katherine Wright, the sister of Orville and Wilbur Wright. The setting is in Dayton where the family lived. The time period is when the brothers were working in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where they achieved flight.
"This was an opportunity for people to visit the museum who may not have been here before and for the library to assist with crafts and the bookmobile. This fit perfectly with our theme," said Cheryl Bush, marketing and public relations manager at Warren Trumbull County Public Library. If guests showed their Trumbull County library card entrance to the museum was half price.
The site worked with the library’s premise. The man for whom the museum was named, Ernie Craft Hall, met the Wright Brothers.
" Hall was born in 1890 in Gustavus, Ohio. His family moved to the Packard House in Warren. He was interested in flight, and he built gliders while living there," said museum tour guide Bob Griffin of Warren.
Hall purchased a kit for the French plane, Bleriot and flew it on August 30, 1911.
Through newspaper articles, he became aware of the Wright brothers and their successful flights. So, Hall went to Dayton to meet them.
"He befriended them and purchased their plane, the Model G Seaplane. He then began a pilot school with that plane in Conneaut, Pennsylvania,” said Griffin.
The federal government hired Hall to train military pilots in Texas for World War I flying missions.
Upon his return to the Mahoning Valley, he purchased land near Howland Township and continued training pilots.
Griffin said, "The Wright Brothers inspired him. Hall received patents for landing gear and aviation devices." The Wright Brothers were known for acquiring patents to protect their inventions.
The five members of the Witt family of Warren visited the museum on Library Day.
"The boys (her sons, Jayden,11 and Kasen, 9) are very interested in flying," said their mother, Kristina Witt.
Her three children, including her daughter, attended WTCPL's Homeschool Detectives' Paper Airplane Science workshop last week.
WTCPL Community Engagement Associate Trish Fatoben and Lori Faust, community engagement manager, greeted museum guests at the bookmobile on the front lawn offering the opportunity to sign up for a library card or check out a book.
This was an additional chance for Howland residents to interact locally with the library while their branch is renovated. It is closed until next spring.
Warren Library Friends offered crafts and book marker giveaways while Adult Services Manager Alyse McMullen and Adult Services Associate Madison Diefenderfer provided flight- themed activities.
Witt, who homeschools her children after moving here from Missouri three years ago, said, "I am always looking for educational opportunities for the children."
Griffin not only provided information about the refurbished and replica airplanes in the museum, but he also gave the children the opportunity to sit in the planes and experience what it was like to travel in a vintage plane.
One plane on display was a 1947 Piper 12 that was Hall's personal travel plane.
Library Day provided information to local residents about the importance of Ohio residents to the advancement of flight and to know that some of those people came from Trumbull County.