The 1909 Wright military flyer was the machine on which the first U.S. Army aviators learned to fly . Lieutenant Foulois accompanied the airplane to Fort Sam Houston, near San Antonio, Texas, where the machine was thoroughly tested and extensively modified. After it was shipped back to the Wright factory in Dayton for rebuilding in 1911, company officials advised the Army that it could not be restored to safe flying condition. The aircraft was then donated to the Smithsonian Institution. It remains on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C to this day.