Dr. John B. Crane, instructor of Economics, proposed yesterday that a congressional investigation be made into the authenticity of the claim that Wright was the first man to fly an airplane.

After extensive research, Crane found that an Austrian, Gustave Whitehead, who at one time lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut, may have made a flight as early as 1900--three years before Wright.

The evidence on this subject is so conflicting that Crane would like to see Congress appoint a committee of aviation experts to sift the evidence and decide the issue once and for all.