US Event: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

On March 3, 1915, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was founded to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautic research in the United States. By the early 1920s, it had adopted the new and more ambitious mission of promoting military and civilian aviation through applied research that looked beyond current needs. NACA researchers used their collection of wind tunnels, engine test stands, and flight test facilities to pursue their mission. Commercial and military clients were also permitted to use these facilities for their own research on a contract basis. By 1938, what began as a ten person committee with a budget of $5,000 per person had developed into a group of 426 researchers encouraged not only to complete formal assignments, but to pursue unauthorized "bootleg" research. The result was a number of breakthroughs and inventions that are still in use in aviation today. These include, but are not limited to, NACA engine cowl, NACA airfoil, and the "area rule" for supersonic aircraft. NACA also claims credit for having the first plane to break the sound barrier. The NACA project was significant because it provided a model for other European countries that would conduct similar research during World War II. Also, NACA airfoils are still used on planes that take off all over the world.


In 1958, the committee was dissolved. Its personnel and facilities were transferred to the newly created National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA). This decision was made in oder to keep up with the Soviet Union during the space race.

"It is of great urgency and importance to our country both from consideration of our prestige as a nation as well as military necessity that this challenge (referring to Sputnik) be met by an energetic program of research and development for the conquest of space

It is accordingly proposed that the scientific research be the responsibility of a national civilian agency working in close cooperation with the applied research and development groups required for weapon systems development by the military.
The pattern to be followed is that already developed by the NACA and the military services...


The NACA is capable, by rapid extension and expansion of its effort, of providing leadership in space technology." -Dr. Hugh Dryden, 1958,NASA Deputy Administrator