Transport: Kites to Bombers

(See Cover)

He was a husky, solemn, shock-headed kid of 6 when he first decided there was money to be made in the quantity production of flying machines. That was 47 years ago in wind-whipped Liberal, Kans., where his father, Clarence Martin, had set up one of the first hardware stores in the Sunflower State's southwest. Working from the time school was out until bedtime, Martin's son, Glenn Luther, methodically turned out biplane box kites at the rate of three a day, sold them for 25¢ apiece.

Last week the Kansas kite builder got...