© Committee on Public Information 



WINGS FOR THE AMERICAN BIRDMAN 



Upon the flawless strength of its parts may depend in some critical moment a precious piece 

 of information or the life of one of America's "Aces" 



the United States to take over the whole 

 spruce output as agent for the combined 

 Allied program and eliminate the ruin- 

 ous competition which had prevailed be- 

 tween the English, French, and Italian 

 governments. 



Despite every effort, however, the sup- 

 ply was still inadequate. There, was 

 neither the labor nor the mills to get out 

 the necessary cut. Consequently Uncle 

 Sam has had to go into the forests him- 

 self to supplement the present private re- 

 sources. Lumber squadrons of several 

 thousand men are being recruited to get 

 out the trees, and additional mills are be- 

 ing set up to saw the overflow which the 

 present mills cannot handle ; for the war 

 will not wait. 



But, even with our lumber all milled, 

 the task is but well started, for all the 

 detailed cutting to standardized sizes, the 

 construction into base units, such as wing- 

 spars and ribs, and the assembling into 

 completed sections of a plane still remain. 

 Now that planes must be built by thou- 

 sands, it is easy to see how vital it is to 

 simplify and standardize each part so as 



to decrease manual labor as much as 

 possible. It has, indeed, been no light 

 task to harmonize all the conflicting sizes 

 and shapes and bring them down to a 

 few simple forms, especially when types 

 are changing almost daily. 



FOLLOWING AN AIRPLANE WING THROUGH 

 ITS MANUFACTURE 



Let us follow an airplane wing, for 

 instance, through its various steps in 

 manufacture. It looks simple enough 

 as we see it all finished, with its slightly 

 polished covering and its ultra-simple 

 lines. Little does it show, as the face 

 of a watch fails to show the delicate 

 works within, that its making has neces- 

 sitated the mobilization of the best work- 

 ers and the best materials of America. 



The lumber, as we have seen, comes 

 to the factory roughly cut along standard 

 lines. Here, however, it must be rein- 

 spected and a large proportion thrown 

 out because of sap-pockets or deviations 

 in grain. It must also be further shaped, 

 reinforced in places of stress, hollowed 



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