Wings Wendall

Captain “Wings” Wendall was an aviator for the U.S. Army Intelligence. He wore a costume and mask only for three issues, and was created by Vernon Henkel, who put his other creation, Chic Carter, through a similar temporary transformation.

In one of his earliest adventures Wings battled a masked villain called the Hooded Terror (Smash #3) , and another in a golden mask. On this case, Wings also began using his signature plane, the Bullet-plane, designed by mechanic pal Spinner Benson. (#18)

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The first adventure took place on a giant clipper ship, which was overtaken by a masked gunman. stealing military secrets.  Cap[tain Wendall was sent to find the ship which had gone silent. rescued the ships captain and signalled the Army to take out the raiders. (Smash #1)

new kind of military plane when it crashes the earthbound adventure . teases the Hooded Terror (#2) find him he did when he was sent to foil a sabotage of the Panama Canal. has a sub Wendall knocked him out and wore his mask to command his crew into sabotage of his own.  (#3)  FDR appears reiterating America’s commitment to staying out of the war in Euyrope (#6)

date with Diane who later helps him with his case 15 more expionage like no flying afrter the Peace-Maker in Europe exposed him as Zaroff notorious spy 20

In one of his earliest adventures Wings battled a masked villain called the Hooded Terror (Smash #3), and another in a golden mask. On this case, Wings also began using his signature plane, the Bullet-plane, designed by mechanic pal Spinner Benson. (#18)

“Wings” never revealed his true first name. He took to wearing a costume by circumstance one day when intelligence discovered an invisible enemy air base. Using the Bullet-plane, Wings took down one of their planes. On the ground, he donned the enemy’s hood and goggles, which he found allowed him to see their invisible floating hangar. Wearing the rest of the blue-and-yellow costume, he infiltrated to destroy their organization from the inside. (#24)

Wendall must not have liked the outfit, because it only lasted for a short time. He met Captain Krawl whom Wendall captured with his great clouds of sleep-gas. (#25) Wings must have realized that the costume gave him no special advantages, and he abandoned it after this adventure.

In 1942, Wings battled another notable villain called the Red Menace (this, in pre-Cold War times) over the course of Smash Comics #30-32. Their fanged leader was depicted with vaguely Asian features. Issue #31 is notable for containing the early depiction of an atomic bomb in a comic book. This story would have been written before Pearl Harbor. Newspapers in America proclaimed that the Red Menace had created the atomic bomb, and was threatening San Francisco. As Wings made his way to the West Coast, the city was blown up, leaving a “gigantic pit!” Fortunately, by story’s end, Wings blew up the Menace’s stockpile of A-bombs. 

He met one other masked foe, the Nazi femme fatale, Izan. (#35)