The Air Horse

Transportation is essentially a matter of horses. First the two-legged human horse; then the four-legged horse; then the iron horse; now the air horse. Conspicuous ' among air horses is the Wright Whirlwind motor, which propelled Lindbergh, Chamberlin, Levine,'Byrd, Maitland & Hegenberger, Brock & Schlee across sundry oceans and continents. A tactless person once asked the designer of the Wright motor why he did not receive more glory for making this horse for heroes. The designer's answer was brief: "Whoever heard of the name of Paul Revere's horse?" Not for his modesty but for "the greatest achievement in aviation in America . . . demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year," the National Aeronautic Association awarded the Collier Trophy last week to Charles Lanier Lawranee, designer of the Wright Whirlwind motor, president of the Wright Aeronautical Corp.

The Man. Schooled at fashionable Groton and graduated at Yale in 1905, Mr.

Lawrance developed a sporting interest in racing automobiles. With two classmates, he built the BLM cars which experts said were efficient and powerful, but which did not win the Vanderbilt Cup races. Then he studied three years at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, learning more about airplanes than art. During the War he was assigned by the Navy to research work in the Aircraft Engine Division, where he produced the three-cylinder, 60-horse-power, air-cooled Lawrance motor. This motor was the forerunner of the famed Wright J5 Whirlwind, designed in 1921, taken over by the Wright Aeronautical Corp. in 1924 along with Mr. Lawrance.

The Motors. The Wright J5 is a 200-horsepower motor with nine cylinders arranged like the spokes of a wheel around the propeller shaft. The cylinders are cooled by the rushing air, but do not themselves revolve (as in other types of air-cooled motors). The significant qualities of the Wright J5 are lightness of weight, simplicity, durability, practical foolproof-ness. It drives almost any airplane at a contented speed of 100 m.p.h., can do 130 m.p.h., depending on the plane and flying conditions. Mr. Lawrance has recently perfected a 525-horsepower, nine-cylinder, air-cooled motor--big brother to the Wright J5.

The Company is the successor to the name, organization and traditions of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who made the first successful mechanical flight in 1903-- at Kittyhawk, N. C. (See col. 2.) They could get no financial backing in the U. S.

So Wilbur Wright went to France. There, after more successful flights, he sold the French patents for $100,000. In the U. S., money then became available. The brothers built their Wright Aeronautical Laboratories at Dayton, Ohio, where they had started business as bicycle dealers. Wilbur Wright was the laboratories' director until his death in 1912. Orville Wright has been director since. At Dayton, Orville Wright, now 56 and well-to-do, leads a quiet life. He keeps an office in the downtown section.

Apart from the laboratories was the Wright Aeronautical Co., with Orville Wright as chief engineer. In 1915 the company sold its patents to a group of New York financiers, who organized the present corporation. Its assets are now well over $2,000,000. With its factory at Paterson, N. J., it makes no airplanes, only motors for airplanes.