I think a similar idea was used by the Wright brothers. That had a biplane wing built like a somewhat-flexible box in a manner with some resemblance to flexatube. By performing a sort of helical twist to that box, you controlled the airplane. The Wright brothers did not use flaps on their wings, they used "wing warping" of the "box" shaped biplane wing. Now actually, I think their solution was simpler and maybe more robust than flaps, at least for early biplanes. Even though the Wrights later switched to flaps and the whole wing warping idea is no longer used, one should admire its elegance. And maybe(?) you could argue the idea still is in heavy use -- by birds.