Large Wright Flyer statue may have a new home

The full-scale statue was installed more than two decades ago along East Monument Avenue, across from RiverScape MetroPark.

But the sculpture was removed and placed into storage in 2020 to make way for a new apartment project called the Monument.

The proposed property transfer will support the display and preservation of Dayton’s aviation history, says a memo from Todd Kinskey, Dayton’s director of planning, neighborhoods and development.

The statue will have a podium and lighting and will be a “first-class gateway” into the Wright Dunbar neighborhood and the Dayton aviation heritage national park sites, the memo states.

The artwork depicts the Wright brothers’ first flight with the 1905 Wright Flyer III.

The 5,000-pound sculpture is a stainless steel and aluminum model, and the display also features bronze statues of Wilbur Wright at the controls and Orville Wright running alongside the plane.

The real, historic Wright Flyer III is on display at Carillon Historical Park.