HAYDEN - Although Coeur d'Alene sculptor Bryan Ross has never personally flown a plane, he has spent plenty of time in the cockpit.

"My whole family are pilots except for me because I'm colorblind," Ross said Thursday. "I would have flown, but I'd rather sculpt or create. I've flown with my son."

Ross' father was a fighter pilot who flew with the Army Air Corps during World War II. His son was a pilot for the Idaho Air Guard in Boise and now flies for Alaska Airlines. His mother is the proud military wife and grandmother of pilots.

"I'm from a family of fliers," Ross said.

His innate respect for those who fly and fight for their country is reflected in his 8.5-foot-tall, 1,800-pound bronze statue of WWII Marine Corps flying ace Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, which will be dedicated Saturday during a sunset ceremony at the Coeur d'Alene Airport-Pappy Boyington Field in Hayden.

"I wanted to honor the men and women of our military that gave up their lives during World War II," Ross said.

The statue took two and a half years to complete and three months to bronze. It sits on a 10-ton granite rock from Naples, Idaho, and will be illuminated by lights.

Ross used a combination of aviation research, live models and photographs to create a detailed likeness of North Idaho's flying war hero.

"Pappy was a stocky, wrestling kind of build," Ross said. "He wrestled in high school."

He even used headshots of Boyington's great-nephew because of their similar cranial shape.

"The research for his clothing I did at the air and space museum in Seattle," Ross said. "A gentleman there helped me go through the Boyington files. They actually had a mannequin in their museum with the actual jacket that Pappy would have worn."

Boyington was born in Coeur d'Alene in 1912, raised in St. Maries and Tacoma and graduated from the University of Washington with an aeronautical engineering degree in 1934. He became famous for volunteering with the Flying Tigers and leading the legendary VMF-214 Black Sheep Squadron in the Pacific. He is known for shooting down 26 enemy planes and was taken captive by the Japanese as a prisoner of war for 20 months. Boyington was awarded the prestigious Navy Cross and the Medal of Honor. He died in 1988.

"The statue is a very special work of art, and it is appropriately set at Pappy Boyington Field," said Marine Corps League Pappy Boyington Detachment spokesman Kevin Gonzalez. "This community can say that a Medal of Honor recipient was born here, and having the additional connection with aviation makes it unique."

The dedication ceremony is being organized by the Marine Corps League and will feature guest speakers, including Ross and Greg Boyington Jr., as well as a sunset lowering of the colors in recognition of National Flag Day. The ceremony begins at 8 p.m. Saturday and will take place in the Resort Aviation parking lot at Wyoming Avenue and Airport Road.