256 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



carrying during World War II, George Lewis gave devoted and effec- 

 tive leadership to the staff of the Committee. 



Wliile the Committee vras acquiring the equipment at Langley 

 necessary for the research programs envisioned, use was made of facili- 

 ties available elsewhere for certain investigations. Before the end of 

 World War I Dr. Durand was conducting most valuable research on 

 air propellers at Leland Stanford University, and at M. I. T. the 

 availability of a wind tunnel and staff made possible fundamental aero- 

 dynamic research on stability and control and on the characteristics 

 of wing sections. 



The National Bureau of Standards worked on aeronautical prob- 

 lems at the request of the NACA and with its financial support. The 

 Bureau developed apparatus for the study of combustion problems 

 under simulated conditions of high altitude and later equipped 

 itself with wind tunnels for fundamental research on turbulence and 

 boundary-layer problems. 



The aeronautical experimentation carried on at the Navy Yard in 

 Washington and at McCook Field in Dayton was correlated with a 

 comprehensive plan which the NACA formulated and which was 

 kept up to date as military and industry needs changed. The pioneer- 

 ing work by Naval Constructor Richardson on seaplane hulls, and 

 the later researches directed by Chief Constructor David W. Taylor, 

 contributed significantly to the advancement of naval aviation. At 

 McCook Field (later moved and enlarged to become Wright 

 Field) the availability of a wind tunnel caused the NACA to detail 

 one of its first technical employees, Dr. George de Bothezat (best 

 known, perhaps, for his later work with helicopters) to Dayton to 

 assist with aeronautical research there. 



In 1920 the NACA's first wind tunnel was put to work. With 

 relatively minor exceptions, this first major piece of equipment was 

 patterned after one at the British National Physical Laboratory. The 

 work that could be done with this tmmel was essentially no different 

 from that which could be accomplished at the Navy Yard, McCook 

 Field, M. I. T., or other locations where conventional wind tunnels 

 were located. 



In June 1921, the executive committee decided to build a new kind 

 of wind tunnel. Utilizing compressed air, it would allow for "scale 

 effects" in aerodynamic model experiments. This tunnel represented 

 the first bold step by the NACA to provide its research persoimel with 

 the novel, often complicated, and usually expensive equipment neces- 

 sary to press forward the frontiers of aeronautical science. It was 

 designed by Dr. Max Mmik, formerly of Gottingen. 



The value of the new timnel was explained in 1922 by Dr. Ames : 



When a new desigrn of airplane ... is made. It Is nustomary to construct a 



model of it, one-twentieth the size or less, and to experiment upon this. The 



