The History of the ERAU Wright Flyer

Standing on the brink of flight, the Wright Flyer sculpture has been at the center of the Daytona Beach campus for two decades. 

“It is the focal point of the campus,” said Amy Vaughan, Associate Director -- Student Government & Leadership. “It is one of the first things you see on campus and it is a favorite photo spot for visitors and organizations.”

The Wright Flyer Monument has been a part of the Embry-Riddle landscape since 1990, and thousands of students and alumni consider it an integral part of the ERAU experience. Although originally designed with moving parts, the sculpture lost that ability years ago, but has recently been restored by ERAU Facilities personnel. 

“It moves slow,” said a member of the Facilities staff.  “A lot of people have asked about it and I tell them you just have to stand still and pay attention and you will see the propellers and rudder move.”

Sculptor Larry Godwin designed the monument in his Brundidge, Ala. Headquarters, ArtWurks, and accompanied it to Florida for installation in July of 1990.

The sculpture was dedicated that year during Homecoming in November to commemorate Embry-Riddle’s 25th year in Daytona and to acknowledge the university’s ties to aviation history. 

Representatives of the Embry-Riddle Class of 1988 which sponsored the project joined Godwin and Wilkinson Wright, great-nephew of Orville and Wilbur Wright, for the dedication.

Initially Godwin wanted to create the plane, a 90 percent scale model of the 1903 Wright Kitty Hawk, with wood and canvas, much like the original, but the Daytona Beach air was considered too corrosive.  He used varied textures of stainless steel in a basket-weave pattern over the wings and rudder to catch and reflect light.

The figures of the brothers are lost wax castings originally sculpted from clay. The final approved design for the sculpture was constructed in his workshop/warehouse and the ‘work drawings’ were painted actual size on the warehouse floor.

He said that in a News Journal interview that people often ask him where his original drawings are, and he tells them to look at the floor of his warehouse. The sculptor worked on the project for a period of close to a year with the assistance of his brother, Ronald.

The monument depicts the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903, as photographed by John T. Daniels. Orville Wright is at the controls of a Wright Brothers’ Model B Flyer and Wilbur Wright stands off to one side. 

Under the plane there are two extensions that support the plane and recreate the instant of lift-off.  A nearby plaque reads: “The Wright Flyer Monument/A Student - Inspired Project ...../Kitty Hawk, NC/11:35 A.M. on December 17, 1903/FIRST SUCCESSFUL POWERED FLIGHT.”

Godwin had previously designed similar monuments for the Air Force’s Air University in Montgomery Ala., a  full-scale interpretation of the Wright Brother’s 1910 flier. He has since completed two 1905 models for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and the city of Dayton, Ohio.

The cost of the monument in 1990 was about $110,000, but a comparison of similar works suggests that the  sculpture would be worth in the neighborhood of $250,000 in today’s market.

The monument is indeed valuable, but its monetary value pales in comparison with the value it has for prospective students, current students and the thousands of ERAU alumni around the world. On almost any day groups pose in front of it for pictures with family and friends, students hurry by it on the way to classes and visitors use it as a central landmark as they navigate the campus.

Whether they see the flyer move or not, there is no doubt that people are moved by it, and will continue to look to it as a tangible symbol of Embry-Riddle. “I think it represents what we are all about here,” said Senior Blake Futrell.  “It was one of the first things that caught my eye when I first came here, and it’s one of the things I’ll remember when I leave.”

By Anne Stokes
Campus Event Services Manager