250 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 5 



In October 1916 the Committee recommended that the War Depart- 

 ment (which alone had fmids available) purchase land about 4 miles 

 north of Hampton, Va., for use by the Army and Navy as an aircraft 

 proving ground. Named Langley Field, this site became the home 

 of NACA's first research center. The War Department used it for 

 pilot training during World War I. Aircraft development work of 

 both the Army and Navy was centered elsewhere. 



Lacking its own facilities, the NACA took prompt steps to contract 

 for research to be performed for it by others. The first annual re- 

 port included seven reports, as follows : 



No. 1. Report on behavior of aeroplanes in gusts, by tlie Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology. 

 __ Part 1. Experimental analysis of inherent longitudinal stability 



for a typical biplane, by J. C. Hunsaker. 

 Part 2. Theory of an aeroplane encountering gusts, by E. B. Wilson. 

 No. 2. Investigation of pitot tubes, by the United States Bureau of 

 Standards. 

 Part 1. The pitot tube and other anemometers for aeroplanes, by 



W. H. Herschel. 

 Part 2. The theory of the pitot and venturi tubes, by E. 

 Buckingham. 

 No. 3. Report on investigations of aviation wires and cables, their fastenings 



and terminal connections, by John A. Roebling's Sons Co. 

 No. 4. Preliminary report on the problem of the atmosphere in relation to 



aeronautics, by Prof. Charles F. Marvin. 

 No. 5. Relative worth of improvements on fabrics, by the Goodyear Tire & 



Rubber Co. 

 No. 6. Investigations of balloon and aeroplane fabrics, by the United States 

 Rubber Co. 

 Part 1. Balloon and aeroplane fabrics, by Willis A. Gibbons and 



Omar H. Smith. 

 Part 2. Skin friction of various surfaces in air, by Willis A. 

 Gibbons. 

 No. 7. Thermodynamic efficiency of present types of internal-combustion 

 engines for aircraft, by Columbia University. 

 Part 1. Review of the development of engines suitable for aero- 

 nautic service, by Charles E. Lucke. 

 Part 2. Aero engines analyzed with reference to elements of process 

 or function, by Charles E. Lucke. 



"What has already been accomplished by the Committee has shown 

 that although its members have devoted as much personal attention 

 as practicable to its operations, yet in order to do all that should be 

 done technical assistance should be provided which can be continu- 

 ously employed," the Committee said in its first Annual Report. 



For the fiscal year 1917 the NACA asked for and received $85,000. 

 Of the funds available, $68,957.35 (all that was not spent otherwise) 

 went toward construction of the new laboratory at Langley Field. 

 Its total cost was estimated at $80,000, a figure that later was revised 

 upward. 



