266 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



happy to give you credit, that the remarkable progress for many years in the im- 

 provement of the performance, efficiency, and safety of American aircraft, both 

 military and commercial, has been dne largely to your own inspiring leadership 

 in the development of new research facilities and in the orderly prosecution of 

 comprehensive research programs. 



The Committee's resolution, tendered to Dr. Ames in Baltimore by 

 a special delegation, said : 



When aeronautical science was struggling to discover its fundamentals, his 

 was the vision that saw the need for novel research facilities and for organized 

 and sustained prosecution of scientific laboratory research. His was the pro- 

 fessional courage that led the Committee along scientific paths to important 

 discoveries and contributions to progress that have placed the United States in 

 the forefront of progressive nations in the development of aeronautics. His 

 was the executive ability and far-sighted policy of public service that, without 

 seeking credit for himself or for the Committee, developed a research organiza- 

 tion that holds the confidence of the governmental and industrial agencies com- 

 cerned, and commands the respect of the aeronautical world. Withal, Dr. Ames 

 was an inspiring leader of men and a man beloved by all his colleagues because 

 of his rare qualities. 



In July 1941, the President appointed Dr. Bush director of the newly 

 established Office of Scientific Kesearch and Development, and he re- 

 signed as chairman of the NACA. The writer was elected chairman, 

 an honor he has been privileged since to hold. 



WORLD WAR II AND AFTER 



The war years for the NACA were plagued by the necessity for 

 rapid expansion of the civil-service staff from hardly 500 in 1939 to 

 more than 6,800. Trained engineering personnel were unavailable. 

 Consequently, it was mandatory that professionals be spread ever 

 thinner, while loom fixers, toymakers, mechanics, blacksmiths, and 

 women school teachers were recruited for jobs they could do or for 

 which quick instruction could be given. 



Especially in the matter of skilled management of research pro- 

 grams, the NACA might have been expected to be sorely weak. And 

 yet, somehow, with each expansion of effort, new leaders were found 

 from within the permanent NACA staff. No sooner did Henry J. E. 

 Reid, director of the Langley Laboratory, see some of his best men on 

 their way to build the new laboratory at Moffett Field — named in 1944 

 in honor of Dr. Ames — than the process of designating the leaders of 

 the new engine laboratory — named in honor of Dr. Lewis in 1948 — was 

 begun. Smith J. DeFrance was named director of the Ames Aero- 

 nautical Laboratory, and later Edward R. Sharp became director of 

 the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. Both of these men were 

 senior members of the permanent staff at Langley. 



NACA's war effort was of necessity devoted very largely to applied 

 research, the business of finding "quick fixes" to make existing aircraft 



