Industrial Research 



137 



extremely effective in supplymjr the cnf^ineerinp; and 

 research personnel needed for the expansion of the 

 aeronautical industry between 1930 and 1940. 



Projects started by the fund which have had a 

 significant effect were: Research on ice formation 

 (W. C. Geer); model airway weather service and 

 introduction of air mass methods in meteorology (C. G. 

 Rossby); blind-landing research (J. 11. Doolittle); 

 Safe Aircraft Competition ($100,000 prize to Curtiss 

 Tanager); publication of the Encyclopedia of Acro- 

 djmamic Theory (W. F. Durand). 



University Laboratories 



The part of university research is an important 

 though secondary one in the growth of the industry. 

 University laboratories train the research workers who 

 staff both Govermncnt and industrial research orgaiii- 

 zations. University laboratories dealing with problems 

 of aerodynamics, radio, acoustics, physics, metallurgy, 

 chemistry, electrical engineering, meteorology, struc- 

 tures, materials, fuels, lubricants, engines, etc., are 

 frequently employed by the industry or by the Gov- 

 ernment to work on special projects. There are also, 

 as woidd be expected, somewhat infrequent spon- 

 taneous contributions from imiversity laboratories 

 which prove of some importance. For example, 

 university laboratories have made valuable contribu- 

 tions to current methods of analysis both m aerody- 

 namics and structures, methods of vibration elimmation, 

 and instrumentation for the precise measurement of 

 many phenomena from fuel detonation to propeller 

 stresses. 



In general, research in university laboratories is not 

 so closely coordinated as is the case in Britain or Ger- 

 many, but no doubt in time of war the N. A. C. A. 

 could effect the necessary organization to utilize the 

 available personnel and facilities effectively. The 

 principal difficulty seems to lie in the fact that the 

 university research worker does not often know the 

 relative importance of the many problems of scientific 

 interest, nor which problems are already being worked 

 on elsewhere, and cannot be allowed to know the status 

 of many problems of importance to the national defence. 



Independent Workers 



The university laboratories should remain free to 

 work independently on research problems of their own 

 selection without censorship or regimentation. Too 

 close control, enforced in an effort to effect close co- 

 ordination, can result in such regimentation that a 

 research project may be suppressed completely. If 

 the coordinating office be prejudiced or lacking in 

 imagination, progress can be greatly delayed. The 

 air-cooled engine, when first proposed, was of no interest 



to one branch of the Government, but, fortunately, 

 another branch insisted on its development. Individ- 

 ual workers, in the aeronautic field as in others, have 

 been the source of many good ideas. We need only to 

 recall the fundamental work of Lanchester or Bryan in 

 England and of Prandtl in Germany. In this country, 

 especially, we should never forget that the airplane 

 itself came from two completely independent persons, 

 the Wright brothers. 



In more recent times organized research has built up 

 the basic information from which inventions develop. 

 The practice of the N. A. C. A. in publishing its research 

 results makes a great store of knowledge available not 

 only to the technical groups in the industry but also to 

 the university laboratory and the individual scientist. 



Conclusion 



Government research is largely responsible for re- 

 markable progress in the development of the airplane, 

 but it alone could not have made the improvements 

 from which a healthy industry has developed. Basic 

 research results had first to be extended and applied 

 by the research groups in the industry, incorporated in 

 designs, and tested in competition with the existing art. 



While Government research and requirements have 

 dominated the growth of the industry, in its general 

 effects the (ioveinmeut's activity has been wholesome, 

 probably because the industry was left with plenty to 

 do for itself, and also because airplanes and engines 

 are not designed by the Goverimient. There is no 

 Government competition with industry. The Govern- 

 ment sets standards of quality and offers help in the 

 form of research information toward attaining such 

 standards, and money prizes in the form of purchase 

 orders for the survivors of competition. 



By a combination of circumstances, but principally 

 because of the importance of improved airplanes to the 

 national defense, the function of research in the aero- 

 nautical industry has been paramount. The lesson 

 seems to be that where research is so placed, technical 

 progress is rapid and commercial success follows. 



Evidence of sound progress is given by the downward 

 trend of rates charged for service rendered as shown on 

 figures 28 and 29. Passenger fares have dropped from 

 12 to 5 cents per mile, while the rates paid by the Post 

 Office for the carriage of air mail dropped 75 percent. 

 The result is a profitable industry, able to create further 

 improvements and more business. 



Progress from Improvements 



To seek the cause of the rapid progress of the aero- 

 nautical industry it is only necessary to trace the 

 improvement of the airplane in performance and utihty. 

 The obvious steps in this improvement have sometimes 



