The following timeline was provided by GE Aviation, and corroborated with Dayton History.
1909: The Wright Brothers formed the Wright Company in Dayton to build airplanes and engines.
1912: Wilbur Wright dies.
1915: Orville Wright sells his interests in the Wright Company.
1916: Wright Company is merged with Glenn L. Martin Co. of California to become Wright-Martin.
1917: U.S. enters World War I and establishes military installations at Wright flight testing fields in Dayton. After World War II, the flight test fields of Wright Field and Patterson Field were merged into Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
1919: Wright-Martin becomes Wright Aeronautical, an aircraft maker and engine supplier, based in New Jersey.
1929: Wright Aeronautical and Curtiss Aeroplane Motor Company are merged into Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Wright Aeronautical remains a division and produces piston engines.
1940: Lockland, Ohio, is selected by the government for the massive piston engine plant of Wright Aeronautical. Key factors: Proximity to Wright and Patterson flight test fields, and abundance of area skilled mechanists.
1941: In April, production of Wright Cyclone piston engines begins. These engines power the B-17, B-25, and B29 bombers among other aircraft.
1941: In June, Orville Wright is a featured guest of a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Wright Aeronautical plant. When the ceremony was to begin, Orville was wandering the plant.
1945: With the World War II over, the Wright Aeronautical plant in Lockland is closed.
1948: General Electric Company establishes a military jet engine operation in government-owned buildings in the old Wright plant (a large portion of the complex was later incorporated into the Evendale suburb).
1948: Orville Wright dies in Dayton.
1970s: New buildings were added over time, and the Evendale operation becomes the headquarters for GE Aviation. GE now owns all of the buildings on the complex.
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