Evening star., 1936-05-10

fic Jumped 20 per cent and during the
first week Of the enlarged service has
continued high.
The washington-New York route
always has been one Of the most heav-
lily Travelled air transport routes In the
world. 1t was on this run that
Ludington Air Lines, since absorbed by
Eastern, opened with the slogan Of
service "every hour on the hour" and
made good in the face Of universal
scoffing on the part of airline opera
tors.
Conf1ning its operations to daylight
hours, Ludington worked up 10 a max
imum of IL round trips day on reg
ular schedule, with not infrequent
double headers" On one day it
reached a record of % flights between
the two cities, with virtually every
seat occupied.
On three of its runs Eastern carries
airmail. On all of the others, as well
as on the airmail runs, passengers and
express are flown.
There now are three round trips
day operated by Eastern between
Washington and Richmond, two a day
to Miami and two to New Orleans.
THE fact is not generally known
that the compound wing en-
| ployed by the National Advisory Com
mtttee for Aeronautics on the radical
new Weick light airplane now under
test at Langley Field, Va, is the in
vention of Washingtonian. The COM
pound wing system invented by the
local aeronautical engineer has been
adopted extensively in Europe; it is
standardized in Germany, and is used
under license agreement in Italy.
The inventor, Charles A. Wragg, a
native of Australia, has been living in
Washington for many years and holds
number OF patents on the compound
wing, which he developed in Australia
very soon after the Wright brothers
made their first airplane flights in
Washington. He tested the wing in
the first wind tunnel built in Australia
and one of the first in the world. The
tunnel he developed himself for the
tests. The compound wing was put
through a series of tests at Catholic
University here by L. H. Crook in 1925.
The Wragg wing consists Of an
auxiliary airfoil which to all intentS
and purposes is a smaller wing,
mounted behind and below the trailing
N % 0oiY Of osr
and fitted with device for changing
its angle with relationship to the main
wing.
This compound wing has been under
test for several years at the Langley
Field laboratories of the National Ad-
visory Committee and has been dis
cussed in its technical reports, without
credit being given to the inventor. AL
though the N. A. c. A. has not for
mally given credit to Wragg, his name
| is universally coupled with the device
| IN Italian and other European tech
nical publications. The N. A. C. A. has
informally given Wragg credit for the
compound wing in correspondence and
demonstrations at Langley Field.
The Weick airplane is a develop
ment of a model designed and built
privately at Langley Field by Fred
| Weick, one of the members of the N.
A. &. A. research staff. The airplane
showed such exceptional performance
that it was redesigned to meet Bureau
OF Air Commerce specifications in the
search for a type of airplane suitable
for the use Of the average laynan.
During the course of reconstruction,
carried on at the Fairchild plant in
Hagerstown, Nd, it is said, the plane
was fitted with the Wragg compound
wing, greatly improving its perform
| ance.
SELECTION of New York City for
the 1887 National Aviation Show
has been announced here by Leighton
w. Rogers, president of the Aeronauti-
cal Chamber of Commerce. The show
will be held January % to February 6,
Ihe big annual indoor exposition.
expected to be the largest and most
comprehensive presentation of flying
progress in the history of the aircraft
auspices Of Aviators' Post, No. 743,
American Legion, of which G. S.
Casey" Jones is commander, with the
sanction and support of the aircraft
| industry.
New York has not entertained the
National Aviation Show for seven
years. In that time great progress has
been made in all phases of flying. In.
cluding increases in speed, safety, re-
liability, range and luxuriousness of
civil aircraft.
mot only IS this greatest Of all
aviation shows aimed to acouaint
Americans with modern progress
Rogers explained, but visitors are
also being invited from South America,
Europe and Asia, where one-third of
American-made flying equipment finds
markets"
MAJ. DEVEREUX M. CHIEF"
MYERS, formerly on duty at
Boiling Field, recently gave officers and
men at Hamilton Field, Calf, an ex-
citing demonstration of precision
AeAAANAA6 "AACAA AAC b1Ou6IAI III q UlS b-16
high-speed bombardment airplane
without wheels.
The major. now commanding officer
OF the 10th Service Squadron, was on
his way to Hamilton Field from Delno,
Calf, on a night mission, when he
found that the left landing gear cable
had broken, jamming the gear.
Contracting the ground by radio, he
reported his predicament to Lieut.. Col.
c. L. Tinker, Hamilton Field COM
mander, and announced that he in
tended to land on the grass of the
hard landing area. AS he came in,
the floodlights were on and fire ap-
paratus and ambulances stood by.
Gliding In out of the darkness. Mai.
Myers set the big plane down neatly
on its belly and it slid to a grinding
ctnyH ny1lIy cIioI,fIv,