WOOD ON THE WING 



By BRISTOW ADAMS 







OMBS from a foreign airplane were employed in 

 a bombardment of the White House on Saturday, 

 September 22, 1917. That the bombs were floral 

 and that the airplane carried the colors of a 

 friendly nation are merely incidental. The important 

 fact is that the bombardment took place and was wit- 

 nessed by thousands of interested spectators. 



On a brisk autumn morning an ivory-tinted airplane 

 gleamed against the bluest sky that ever domed the City 

 of Washington. The sky was essentially Italian, im- 

 ported especially for the purpose of welcoming the ivory 

 tinted biplane which had been piloted by an Italian flyer 

 from Norfolk to the banks of the Potomac. Thousands 

 of people awaited the arrival of the plane and greeted 

 the visitor with the enthusiasm born of international 

 brotherhood in arms. Hardly had the aviator received 

 the cordial welcome of sky and populace when up from 

 the horizon swept another and larger biplane; silver- 

 gray, to be followed shortly afterwards by the great 

 Italian war-tractor carrying a dozen or more persons. 



It was during the flight over the city that the flora: 

 bombs were dropped on the Executive Mansion. 



Less than ten years before a group of watchers had 

 looked toward the same Southern horizon for the appear- 

 ance of another biplane. This machine had passed the 

 preliminary tests and was on its final supreme trial be- 

 fore acceptance by the United States Government. The 

 supreme trial was an overland flight from the parade 

 ground at Fort Myer, just across the Potomac from 

 Washington, down to Alexandria all of seven miles 

 away and back again to the starting place. As the 

 wind died down with the setting sun, this Wright ma- 

 chine, started by means of the pulley-and-weight launch- 

 ing device, made a few preliminary circlings and then 

 sailed away over the tree-tops out of sight to the South. 



The wait for its return seemed interminable; watches 

 were consulted ; it had been gone ten minutes. "I'm 

 afraid it won't get back !" said one ; "probably couldn't 

 make the turn," said another ; "maybe he hit a tree he 

 was flying rather low." This was the tenor of the com- 



Copyright 1917 by Underwood & Underwood, New York. 



BUILDING AMERICA'S GREAT AIR FLEET FOR USE IN THE WAR 

 The extent to which wood enters into airplane construction is attracting the attention of foresters and lumbermen. The Government's program calls 

 for the construction of 23,000 airplanes within twelve months. This call for 20,000,000 feet of lumber for propellers alone. For the aviation school 

 cantonments the need is 120,000.000 feet and for coastal airplane stations 22,000,000 feet. This picture shows one of the processes in building the planes 

 in a factory which ia turning out large numbers for the Government. It illustrates the construction of the frame of a plane. 



S83 



