National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency. It was founded on March 3, 1915. The agency researched flight technology and aircraft. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved. Its employees were moved to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
| National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics | |
|---|---|
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| The official seal of NACA. It depicts the first flight by the Wright brothers. | |
| |
| Logo | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | March 3, 1915 |
| Dissolved | October 1, 1958 |
| Superseding agency | NASA |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
Founding
NACA was founded on March 3, 1915. At that time, technology and culture were changing quickly. American flight technology was not as advanced as Europe's. The American public had mixed feelings about flight technology. Some people thought that flying was dangerous and foolish. Some thought that it was an important achievement in technology. But in Europe, people were more confident in flight technology. [1]
When World War I started in Europe, the Europeans were already using advanced flight technology. The Germans used airships to bomb British cities. Airplanes were used to spy on enemies. This worried the Americans, who realized that their flight technology is behind Europe's. In response, the federal government of the United States created NACA on March 3, 1915.[2]
Research
By the 1920s, the NACA's mission was to promote military and civilian flight. The NACA did this by researching new flight technologies. To help this research, the NACA built many testing facilities. This included wind tunnels, test stands, and flight test facilities. The agency received a budget of $5000 in 1915. [1]
World War II
The NACA was involved in World War II. They helped research many flight technologies. A lot of the research that the NACA did before World War II was used to make American fighter planes fly better. They researched how to reduce drag. Drag slows down airplanes when moving in the air. They also researched how to stop the propellers of the plane from freezing. [3]
NASA
On November 21, 1957, Hugh Dryden, NACA's director, established the Special Committee on Space Technology. This committee was created to help develop a space program.
Chairmen
| No. | Portrait | Name | Term | President serving under |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Brig. Gen. George P. Scriven (United States Army) |
1915–1916 | Woodrow Wilson |
| 2 | 
|
William F. Durand (Stanford University) |
1916–1918 | |
| 3 | _(14582235378).jpg)
|
John R. Freeman (Consultant) |
1918–1919 | |
| 4 | 
|
Charles Doolittle Walcott (Smithsonian Institution) |
1920–1927 | |
| Warren G. Harding | ||||
| Calvin Coolidge | ||||
| 5 | 
|
Joseph Sweetman Ames (Johns Hopkins University) |
1927–1939 | |
| Herbert Hoover | ||||
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | ||||
| 6 | .jpg)
|
Vannevar Bush (Carnegie Institution) |
1940–1941 | |
| 7 | .jpg)
|
Capt. Jerome C. Hunsaker (Navy, MIT) |
1941–1956 | |
| Harry S. Truman | ||||
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | ||||
| 8 | 
|
Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle (Shell Oil Company) |
1957–1958 |
National Advisory Committee For Aeronautics Media
The inscription on the wall is NACA's mission statement: "...It shall be the duty of the advisory committee for aeronautics to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution ..." By an Act of Congress Approved March 3, 1915
The first meeting of the NACA in 1915
The NACA Test Force at the High-Speed Flight Station in Edwards, California. The white aircraft in the foreground is a Douglas Skyrocket.
An engineer makes final calibrations to a model mounted in the 6-by-6-foot (1.8 × 1.8 m) supersonic wind tunnel.
NACA wind test on a human subject (1946)
The NACA XS-1 (Bell X-1)
The NACA Scientific and Engineering Staff at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View California shortly before the dissolution of NACA and the formation of NASA in 1958.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bilstein, Roger E.; Anderson, Frank Walter (1989). Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Management, Scientific and Technical Information Division. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ↑ "The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics". NASA. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ↑ "U.S. Aviation Research Helped Speed Victory". NASA. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
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