WINGS FOR TEANSPORTATION^ (RECENT DEVELOP- 

 MENTS IN AIR TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT) 



By Theodore P. Wbight, D. Sc. 

 Vice President and Director of Engineering, Curtiss-WrigJit Corp. 



[With 14 plates] 



During the past few years, we have been forced to think of the 

 airplane's future more in terms of "air power" than "air transport." 

 Starting with Munich, air power assumed a dominant rcle in inter- 

 national affairs. It is fortunate that we, in this country, have been 

 able to maintain a better balance between military and commercial 

 aviation so that we can continue to appreciate that the ultimate role 

 of the airplane is to serve peaceful purposes. 



It is not intended to imply that we can, for an instant, relax our 

 efforts in building up our air force ; we cannot play the role of the lamb 

 in a world of wolves. But in spite of this necessity for military avia- 

 tion to receive such great attention, it is still essential to look into the 

 future and study the possibilities and objectives of air transportation. 

 This is important now and will be more so after the present conflict 

 is ended. 



TRANSPORTATION 



"The very pace of life depends upon the speed with which matter 

 can be converted into energy available for transportation." Let us 

 consider transportation in general : the carrying of goods or persons 

 from one place to another. We constantly seek to reduce the effective 

 size of the earth and to increase the effective span of human life. Prog- 

 ress in this field has been marked by a succession of improvements 

 paralleling the development of civilization itself: First by walking, 

 "leg power"; then by domesticated animals; by the invention of the 

 wheel ; by the application of steam and the internal combustion engine 

 to the railroad and the automobile and the steamboat ; and now finally 

 by the airplane. In each case, ourselves or our goods move from where 



* Presented at a joint meeting of The Franklin Institute and the Philadelphia Chapter 

 of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences held Wednesday, December 6, 1939. Reprinted 

 by permission from the Journal of the Frtuiklin Institute, vol. 229, No. 4, April 1940. 



563 

 430577 — 42 37 



