At Peel Common roundabout between Lee-on-the-Solent and the naval base HMS Collingwood. This is a statue of Daedalus standing eight metres high on the grounds of what used to be the Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent, also known as HMS Daedalus.



In Greek mythology. Daedalus constructed wings for his son, Icarus, from feathers of various sizes, thread, and beeswax – he shaped them to resemble a bird’s wings. When both were prepared for flight, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, because the sun’s heat would melt the beeswax holding his feathers together, Icarus disobeyed his father and began to soar upward toward the sun. Without warning, the sun melted the wax and they fell off. Icarus kept flapping his “wings”. But he realized he had no feathers left. He was only flapping his featherless arms. The feathers fell like snowflakes, and down, down, and down he went to this death into the sea.
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