As an introduction to this fabulous new American monument, please play this 5 minute video:
Soaring proudly over the intersection of I-70 and I-75, very near where the world's first practical airplane captured the imagination of that world and gave birth to the history-changing aviation/aerospace industry, this stunning iconic monument will memorialize the Wright Brothers' achievement of flight and Ohio's continuously prominent role in its evolution. It will attract world-wide attention and brand Ohio as the "Birthplace of Aviation" - the soul of our nation's aviation heritage and the heart of its aviation/aerospace industry.
Dayton area US Congressman Mike Turner introduced the Triumph of Flight to his colleagues in the House of Representatives this way:
(1.5 minute video)
This is the story we memorialize:
On October 5, 1905, Wilbur Wright, at the controls of what was then known as the Wright Flyer III, flew for 39.5 minutes, doing figure 8's and circles and climbs and dives, in front of a small group of awestruck observers on Huffman Prairie, near Dayton, Ohio. He landed only when the flyer was out of gas. This flight was the culmination of a development process that he and Orville had started in their bicycle shop in 1898, first demonstrated promise at Kitty Hawk in 1903, and continued through the next two years. It was longer than all the flights they conducted throughout '03 and '04 combined. The 1905 Wright Flyer was the first flying machine capable of taking off and flying through the air under its own power, rising, descending, and turning in any direction under the control of a pilot, and landing - without crashing - in any appropriate location.
This was the world's first practical airplane, the birth of aviation, and the birth of the
(The actual 1905 flyer was restored, from 1947 to 1950, with the help of Orville Wright and is still on display in Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio.)