The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)’s elaborate Inspections were an opportunity to brief representatives from the military, aeronautical industry, universities, and the press on the NACA’s latest research efforts and its state-of-the-art test facilities.
Introduction
Congress created the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1915 to coordinate the Nation’s aeronautical research. The committee established the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1920 to conduct research of its own. In the 1920s the NACA began holding annual industry conferences to connect the Nation’s military, government, university, and industry aeronautical community with the work being performed at Langley. NACA researchers gave presentations on their efforts as the visitors toured the test facilities. The conferences were suspended at the onset of World War II.
At that time the NACA also added two new research sites: the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory and the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. The conferences, now referred to as “Inspections,” resumed in 1946 as multiday events at all three laboratories. The Inspections were very important to the NACA, and great efforts were expended to ensure they were carried out flawlessly. Every detail of the visit was thoroughly planned—from the research presentations and the tour schedules to the cigarette breaks and lunch. The NACA Inspections always received rave reviews.
The Inspection planning materials—including invitation lists, schedules, correspondence, transcripts of the talks, and photographs of the exhibits and charts—were then collected and bound in a single volume that was permanently stored in the Lewis library. This Web site is designed to share these materials from the majority of the Inspections. The Glenn Research Center created the site in 2015 to mark the NACA’s Centennial.
History of the Inspections
Descriptions of the NACA, preparations required for each Inspection, and the evolution of the Inspections from interactive conferences in the 1920s to the elaborate showcases of the 1940s and 1950s and the sporadic NASA events in the 1960s and 1970s.
1947 Lewis Inspection
The first Inspection at the Cleveland laboratory, held in October 1947, emphasized issues pertaining to post-war development of the turbojet engine.
1948 Ames Inspection
The July 1948 Inspection at the Ames Laboratory highlighted the facility’s new wind tunnels and work on heat transfer and aircraft control systems.
1948 Lewis Inspection
During the September 1948 Inspection, the NACA renamed its Cleveland laboratory in honor of the recently deceased George W. Lewis.
1949 Langley Inspection
Langley’s biennial Inspection in May 1949 featured its recent work in high-speed aerodynamics, particularly in the transonic stage.
1949 Lewis Inspection
At the September 1949 Inspection, the NACA unveiled Lewis’ recently completed 8-by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel and a new style of presenting the technical information in a more understandable manner.
1950 Ames Inspection
The July 1950 biennial Inspection at the Ames Laboratory’s took place shortly after the onset of the Korean War and signaled the beginning of the NACA’s transition into missile and rocket research.
1951 Langley Inspection
Langley’s 1951 biennial Inspection addressed tools necessary for transonic research and efforts to transition from manual data computations to mechanical and digital computers.
1952 Ames Inspection
Increasing Cold War security concerns led to a reduction of technical information on display during the July 1952 Inspection at Ames.
1953 Langley Inspection
The Langley Laboratory featured its helicopter research during the biennial Inspection in May 1953.
1954 Lewis Inspection
The Lewis Laboratory’s June 1954 Inspection emphasized the NACA’s role in the Cold War, while demonstrating the new Propulsion Systems Laboratory and its growing rocket research.
1955 Ames Inspection
The talks at the June 1955 Inspection of the Ames Laboratory revealed that the more advanced aircraft of the future required the same type of NACA research as previous generations.
1956 Lewis Inspection
The May 1956 Inspection was dedicated entirely to the Lewis Laboratory’s new Unitary Plan Tunnel (the 10- by 10-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel).
1957 Lewis Inspection
The October 1957 Inspection at the Lewis Laboratory ushered the NACA into the space age and signaled the beginning of the end for the agency.
1958 Ames Inspection
The July 1958 Inspection at Ames was both the laboratory’s final Inspection and the final Inspection of the NACA era.
1964 Langley Inspection
NASA’s first Inspection, held at Langley in May 1964, emphasized the role the former NACA labs were playing in the new Office of Advanced Research and Technology (OART).
1966 Lewis Inspection
Lewis Research Center held an Inspection in October 1966 to mark its 25th anniversary and demonstrate both its space research and resurgent aeropropulsion work.
1973 Lewis Inspection
NASA’s final Inspection, held at Lewis in September 1973, sought to demonstrate a wide variety a civilian applications for NASA technology.
NASA History Program's website devoted to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Includes a history, links to NACA laboratory histories, oral histories, and NACA-related articles.
O3U-1 (Corsair) Airplane in Langley Full Scale Wind Tunnel. (this view shows an engineer standing in front of the airplane in nose on position. 5553 published in Orders of Magnitude A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990, by Roger E. Bilstein, 1989. NASA SP-4406. Page 17. (this view is a side on view of the plane and testing stations with personnel visible).
