SECTION III 

 1. RESEARCH IN AERONAUTICS 



By J. C. Hunsaker 

 Professor in C:harge, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technologj', Cambridge, Mass. 



ABSTRACT 



Tlie rapid development of an important industry 

 from the Wright Brothers' original invention is attrib- 

 uted to the increasing usefulness of the airi)lane as 

 successive improvements took place. These improve- 

 ments residted from research largely controlled by the 

 Government. Research, conducted at Government 

 expense, has supplied the industry with general infor- 

 mation from which industry's own applied research has 

 developed improved aircraft. The airworthiness and 

 safety requirements of the Civil Aeronautics Authority 



and the competition fostered by the Anny and Navy 

 procurement policies have the effect of directing applied 

 research along lines desired by the Government. 

 Competition for superior i)erfonnance has tended to 

 concentrate the mainifacture of airplanes and engines 

 in flic iiands of a few large concerns that mainfain out- 

 standingly able engineering and research organizations. 

 There is nothing in the patent situation to restrict tlie 

 number of concerns in the industry. 



General Discussion 



Historical 



The aeronautical industry which has grown to adult 

 stature in one generation is a romantic example of 

 technological change profoundly affecting communica- 

 tions, transportation, and national defence. By the 

 begimiing of the century, applied science had prepared 

 the ground for the airplane and all of its elements had 

 been experimented with by the pioneers. They knew 

 about the monoplane glider, the trussed biplane glider, 

 the internal combustion engine, the screw propeller, 

 and the launching catapult. While the pioneers had 

 experimented with various means to control flight in a 

 heavier-than-air vehicle, it remamed for the Wright 

 Brothers to apply the fiiaal and necessary control about 

 the three axes of space required to perfect a practical 

 flying machine. 



The Wright airplane, demonstrated for the first time 

 in public in 1908, was a 40-mile-per-hour biplane able 

 to fly with two men for barely an hour. Its safety was 

 precarious and its utility of an extremely low order. 

 No one then inquired about safefy. Today transport 

 planes cruise at 200 miles per hour with large loads of 

 passengers and mails, and air-transport lines span 

 oceans and continents with a high degree of safety, com- 

 fort, and reliability. Air transportation has become an 

 important business, employing thousands of men 

 directly, and many more in the manufacturing industry 

 that supplies its equipment. The parallel development 

 of the airplane in the national defense, has produced 



pursuit airplanes that exceed 400 miles per hour in 

 speed, and military bombers that can carry a ton or 

 more of bombs at 300 miles per hour. Naval aircraft 

 include high-performance fighting and observation air- 

 planes carried on vessels of the fleet and large flying 

 boats operating independently as a striking force. 



The least thoughtful must observe that air transpor- 

 tation is profoundly changing the geographical factor 

 in our social and political isolation, while the military 

 use of the airplane has created the new concept of air 

 power. 



The first chart shows the chronological increase of 

 speed of specially built racing planes since 1910, with 

 a forecast of what may be possible in the next 5 years. 

 These world's records seemed fantastic when fii'st set 

 up, but today's transport planes fly faster than the 

 world's record in 1921, and pursuit planes now exceed 

 in speed the world's record of 1932. 



The improvement of the airplane has gone on con- 

 stantly since the first Wright biplane. No other tech- 

 nological innovation ever had such public support. 

 AVhile the airplane became the object of intensive study 

 and experimentation by governments, young men witli 

 the vision of things to come learned to fly and to build 

 improved airplanes. Teachers of science encouraged 

 their students to investigate the new art. Societies 

 were formed to encourage the exchange of information 

 and to promote research and experiment. 



The growth of the aeronautical industry in its manu- 

 facturing aspect is shown in table 1 in which war fears 

 after Mimich are clearly reflected. The charts fol- 



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