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NASA Glenn: 1946–1951

Turbojets and Supersonic Research: The laboratory reorganized itself immediately after the end of the war to devote almost all of its resources to improving the emerging jet engine technology. The NACA also added new, more powerful test facilities to address the turbojet and high-speed flight. The laboratory, renamed the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, also began a wide-ranging study of ramjet engines for missile applications. The icing research program had begun during the war but did not really come to fruition until the mid-1940s. Researchers used the Icing Research Tunnel to study different ice-prevention devices and specially equipped bomber aircraft to study the formation of ice in clouds. The lab's fuels researchers turned their attention to high-energy propellants that could be used with another new technology, rocket engines.

A 20-inch diameter ramjet installed in the Altitude Wind Tunnel at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight...
On March 22, 1946, 250 members of the Institute of Aeronautical Science toured the NACA’s Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory. NACA...
Researcher Robert Miller led an investigation into the combustor performance of a German Jumo 004 engine at the National Advisory...
A man and woman stand next to a Jumo jet engine.
General Dwight Eisenhower addressed the staff of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory during an...
Dwight Eisenhower speaks at a podium
This fleet of military aircraft was used in the 1940s for research at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)...
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio as seen from the west in...
Machine Shop technicians in the Technical Service Building at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory....
A view of the machine shop at the NACA's Lewis Flight Propulsions Laboratory in the 1940s, with numerous technicians working.
A Consolidated B-25M Liberator modified for icing research by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory....
A mechanic works on a General Electric I-40 turbojet at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion...
A man looks at a cylinder that is seated in a tube that is part of the General Electric I-40 turbojet
A Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet aircraft on the tarmac at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) NACA Lewis...
A National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) photographer films the test of a ramjet engine at the Lewis Flight Propulsion...
Kneeling photographer films ramjet engine firing at night.
A General Electric TG-100A seen from the rear in the test section of the Altitude Wind Tunnel at the National...
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory obtained a Northrop P-61 Black Widow in October 1945...
A Bell P-59B Airacomet sits beside the hangar at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory....
The NACA’s Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory used a Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a testbed for ramjet investigations in the late...
A NACA researcher prepares a 16-inch diameter and 16-foot long ramjet for a launch over Wallops Island in July 1947....
A NACA researcher prepares a ramjet for launch over Wallops Island in July 1947.
In 1946 the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory became the NACA’s official icing research center. In addition to the Icing Research...
A General Electric TG-180 turbojet installed in the Altitude Wind Tunnel at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis...
One of the two altitude simulating-test chambers in Engine Research Building at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis...
Researcher John Sloop briefs visitors on his latest rocket engine research during the 1947 Inspection at the National Advisory Committee...
Lewis Rodert, then of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, receives the Collier Trophy from...
Lewis Rodert receives the Collier Trophy from President Harry Truman
A technician prepares a metal component for a high-temperature bake in the Heat Treatment Shop at the National Advisory Committee...
A mechanic watches the firing of a General Electric I-40 turbojet at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis...
The 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory was...
Operators in the Engine Research Building’s Central Control Room at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion...
The sign near the entrance of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory. The name was...
Sign at the entrance of the United States National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory
The NACA’s Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory used a Boeing B‒29 Superfortress as a testbed for ramjet investigations in the late...
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory conducted an extensive icing research program in the late...
Woman working at manometer boards in the 18 x 18 inch Supersonic Wind Tunnel at Lewis Field (now the main...
Woman working at manometer boards in the 18 x 18 inch Supersonic Wind Tunnel
A technician at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory examines one of the massive axial-flow...
The XF-82 is prepared for takeoff with an experimental ramjet missile underneath its right wing on April 22, 1949.
Aircraft with two pilots inside, propellers in motion, watch as ground crew guide them on taxiway.
A 3670-horsepower Armstrong-Siddeley Python turboprop being prepared for tests in the Altitude Wind Tunnel at the National Advisory Committee for...
The spray bar system introduces water droplets into the Icing Research Tunnel’s air stream at the National Advisory Committee for...
Technician at work adjusting an unidentified mechanical computing device.
Engineers calibrate one of three small supersonic wind tunnels that were collectively referred to as the “Stack Tunnels” at the...
Aerial view of the 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel in its original configuration at the National Advisory Committee for...
Reverend Birkenhauer, a seismologist, and E.F. Carome, an electrical technician, from John Carroll University measure ground vibrations during the 8-by...
Three men bend over instruments in the back of a truck
Researchers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory conducted an extensive investigation into the composition...
A technician at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory cleans the pitot tube on a...
Technician cleans a pitot tube on a ramjet in a wind tunnel
The 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory was...