Draft:Wright Brothers busts
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This article was started from a graduate's recollection. Location, sculptor, dates, and photographs need to be added by contributors. New to USAFAPedia? See how to contribute.
Bronze busts of Orville and Wilbur Wright on the campus of the United States Air Force Academy are the focus of a small but enduring cadet tradition: cadets polish the brothers' bronze noses, an act called "brown-nosing" in keeping with the cadet humor tradition of finding double meaning in any opportunity.[citation needed]
The busts
To be added: location of the busts on campus, sculptor, year installed, dimensions, the official dedication context.
The brown-nosing tradition
The polishing of the noses is a long-standing informal cadet practice. The pun on "brown-nosing" — military slang for ingratiating behavior toward a superior — gives the act its enduring appeal: a cadet polishing the bust's nose is, in a sense, "brown-nosing" the founders of powered flight, while also producing a visible bronze shine that distinguishes the noses from the rest of the patina-darkened busts.
Has the bust ever been refinished or restored? Have specific class years or squadrons made a tradition of polishing the noses on a particular occasion? Photos welcome.
