Deeds Point features Legacy Plaza, an aviation heritage site. The Plaza includes two life-sized statues of Dayton’s own Wright Brothers that commemorate the very beginnings of aircraft control. The statue captures Orville twisting a bicycle inner tube box as Wilbur explains his scheme for warping wings.
The statue was dedicated on July 3, 2003 as part of "Inventing Flight: The Centennial Celebration", a month-long event honoring the centennial of the Wright Brother's first flight. The artist was Mark Henn. The life-size statue is bronze and was cast at Sun Foundry in Burbank, California.
The following is from a story about the sculptor from the Los Angeles Times in 2002:
His detailed sculpture is a tribute to the Wright brothers' ingenuity.It depicts Wilbur, dressed in a three-piece suit, his hands raised, as he explains to Orville his theory of "wing warping," which occurs when a pilot adjusts the angle of a plane's wing -- much like a rudder -- to control the pitch and roll of an aircraft. With his bowler hat pushed back on his head, Orville listens intently as he twists the ends of a small cardboard box, simulating how each wing of an aircraft would change position in relation to the wind.
"Twisting the wings was the answer they had been looking for," Henn said. "This was their breakthrough."
