The list of Ohio's contributions to aviation history is vast. The Wright Brothers, Eddie Rickenbacker, Neil Armstrong, and many more, but one lesser-known contributor often goes unmentioned.

Known as the father of the aircraft lighting industry, Warren Grimes was born in rural Montgomery County, Ohio in 1898. At the age of nine, his father passed away and he went to live in an orphanage. After finishing the ninth grade, Warren ran away and went to work for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. There, he was instrumental in designing and developing the first lights for the Ford Tri-Motor airplane.

In 1930, Grimes moved to Urbana, Ohio and brought his small lighting fixture company, Grimes Manufacturing, with him. He invented the familiar red, green and white navigation lights found on the wing tips and tails of aircraft, and also developed landing, instrument and interior lights.

In the late 1930s, Warren Grimes bought a parcel of land on the north side of Urbana to build a home and an airport on. The following decade, in 1943, Grimes field was presented to the City of Urbana. The Grimes Company used the airport to test lights for aircraft, but it also offered charter service and flight instruction.

During World War Two, virtually every American made airplane was equipped with Grimes lights. Grimes Field was a center for civilian flying, and played an integral role in making Urbana one of the most air-minded communities in the country and the model for other cities planning municipal airports.

Warren Grimes has since been inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Today, Grimes Field is still a center for civilian flying and is also part of the National Aviation Heritage Area. The airport is home to a flight school and three different aviation related museums, each of which is dedicated to preserving aviation history for future generations.