Page 35 - Volume 13 Number 4

The first production NS-1 was captured on film soon after rolling off the final as- sembly line Dec. 6, 1934. The large metal covers in front of the Wright J5 radial engine were intend- ed to protect the magne- tos from exposure to wet conditions. Note mesh- type air filter attached to the carburetor.
(Kansas Aviation Museum)
$23 million for new armaments, including contracts to build bombers, fighters and transports, but the chiefs of the air and sea knew those appropriations fell woefully short of what the Army and Navy required to properly prepare for the next global conflict. As one newspaper put it: “Despite an unexpected increase of nearly 500 aircraft this year, War Department officials see little hope of materially increasing the Air Corps’ strength until larger appropriations are made or funds allotted from other sources.”4
To make matters worse, by 1936 it was becoming increasingly obvious to President Roosevelt, senior members of Congress and high-ranking military officers that the world was on the verge of becoming an unsafe place once again. There was little hope that the impotent League of Nations, born out of the
horrors of World War I, would be able to defuse any potential flashpoints before they ignited World War II.
As the crippling economic crisis in American began to fade, Wichita’s aviation industry, and particularly the Stearman Aircraft Company, were poised for a manufacturing renaissance unequaled since the reckless days of the “Roarin’ Twen- ties.” As the late 1930s unfolded, the city’s aeronautical chieftains, Walter Beech, Dwane Wallace and Julius Schaefer, could not have
imagined the part each would play in making America the “Arsenal of Democracy.” KA
Notes:
1 Dwane Wallace and his engineers also designed a cantilever, fixed main landing gear for the new Cessna Model C-34, and other light aircraft of the day also featured similar configurations.
2 Wichita Eagle, May 17, 1934, Page 5. 3 Wichita Eagle, Sept. 18, 1934, Page 5. 4 Wichita Eagle, July 4, 1935, Page 5.
Ed Phillips, now retired and living in the South, has researched and written eight books on the unique and rich aviation history that belongs to Wichita, Kan. His writings have focused on the evolution of the airplanes, companies and people that have made Wichita the “Air Capital of the World” for more than 80 years.
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