...aluated aeronautical queries from the Army, conducted experiments and ran engine tests. From the beginning the NACA as not a military organization, hoever its research ork hile orld ar I focused on military affairs and the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory as built on a US Army Base. Soon a small airfield and a ind tunnel for aerodynamics testing ere set up. Although after the ar, the Army transferred its research facilities to Dayton, Ohio, military influence at Langley remained high. In 1920 the NACA oned a airfield, a ind tunnel, a small dynamometer lab, a arehouse and a administration building. ith a total staff of 11 people there as plenty room to gro. The Universities over the country began to offer education in aeronautics theory and engineering. Young engineers joined the NACA and the Langleys staff ent up to 100 in 1925. During the 20s and 30s, NACA research turned the art of aeronautics into a disciplined engineering profession. Military and private airplane designs greatly benefited from NACAs research, hich led to improved ing shapes and engines and retractable landing gears. ith more and more commercial airlines in business, the research also concentrated on maximum passenger safety and comfort.After a hile, a ne field of aeronautical research emerged Rocketry. Inspired by Jules Verne and others, scientists around the orld became increasingly interested in Rocketry. NACA conducted some rocket experiments, hich not only led to the use of rockets by the United States armed services in orld ar II, but later also led to the development of jet propulsion engines, hich replaced the older propeller engines. The NACA - born in response to European progress in aeronautics - benefited through the employment of Europeans, and profited from a continuous interaction ith the European community.Hitlers Germany stopped to share its research results in expectation of the second orld ar. The Verein fr Raumschiffahrt, hich employed the famous ernher von Braun, as very successful in developing rockets and jet propulsion and therefore the Germans ere the only nation, hich used ground to ground rockets during the ar The V-2 rocket, Vengance-2. They also put the only II jetfighter plane in the skies, the Messerschmitt Me-262 - in 1945, shortly before Germanys surrender and therefore too late to play an active role in the european air ar.For the NACA, the ar as a pretty good reason to let the government multiply their resources and fundings. For example the NACA counted 426 staff at Langley in 1938. After the ar, in 1945 total personnel at Langley exceeded 3000 people. In 1941 a second Laboratory, the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory in California, folloed in 1942 by the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Ohio ere established. NACAs success in producing fast and manoeuvrable planes gave the US Air Force the deciding edge in aerial combat during II.In October 1942, Americas first jet plane, took to the air over a remote area of the California desert. There ere no official NACA representatives present. The NACA, in fact, did not even kno the aircraft existed, and the engine as based entirely on a top secret British design. After the ar, the failure of the United States to develop jet engines and supersonic designs as generally blamed on the NACA. Critics argued that the NACA, as Americaspremier aeronautical establishment one hich presumably led the orld in successful aviation technology had someho alloed leadership to slip to the British and the Germans during the late 1930s and during orld ar II. The US secret service initiated the Operation Paperclip, a high-level government plan to scoop up leading German scientists and engineers during the closing months of orld ar II.Folloing the ar, the NACA, ith German scientists kno-ho, increasingly focused on jet propulsion and the attainment of even higher altitudes and speeds. In 1947 the NACA X-1 eXperimental jet-1 as the first plane to brake the sound barrier and go supersonic Mach 1 equals the speed of sound. The designation is named after the Austrian physicist, Ernst Mach. Helicopters, introduced into limited combat service at the end of orld ar II, entered both military and civilian service in the postar era. The value of helicopters in medical evacuation as demonstrated in Korea, and a variety of helicopter operations proliferated in the late 1950s. The NACA flight-tested ne designs to help define handling qualities. Using ind tunnel experience, researchers also developed a series of special helicopter airfoil sections, and a rotor test toer aided research in many other areas. All of this postar aeronautical activity received respectful and enthusiastic attention from press and public. Although the phenomenon of flight continued to enjoy extensive press coverage, events in the late 1950s suddenly caused aviation to share the limelight ith space flight. Among the legacies of orld ar II as a glittering array of ne technologies spaned by the massive military effort. Atomic energy, radar, radio telemetry, the computer, the large rocket, and the jet engine seemed destined to shape the orlds destiny in the next three decades and heavily influence the rest of the century. The orlds political order had been drastically altered by the ar. Much of Europe and Asia ere in ashes. On opposite sides of the orld stood the United States and the Soviet Union, nely made into superpoers. It soon became apparent that they ould test each others mettle many times before a balance of poer stabilized. And each nation moved quickly to exploit the ne technologies. The atomic bomb as the most obvious and most immediately threatening technological change from orld ar II. Both superpoers sought the best strategic systems that could deliver the bomb across the intercontinental distances that separated them. Jet-poered bombers ere an obvious extension of the artime and both nations began putting theminto service. The intercontinental rocket held great theoretical promise, but seemed much further don the technological road. Atomic bombs ere bulky and heavy. A rocket to lift such a payload ould be enormous in size and expense. The Soviet Union doggedly ent ahead ith attempts to build such rockets. The US Army imported ernher von Braun and the German engineers ho had created the artime V-2 rockets to help to develop the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile, a project that had been dormant for four years. Fiscal 1953 sa the Department of Defense for the first time spend more than 1 million on missile research. By the mid-1950s NACA had modern research facilities that had cost a total of 300 million, and a staff totaling 7200.Against the background of the Cold ar beteen the United States and the USSR and the national priority given to military rocketry, the NACAs sophisticated facilities inevitably became involved. ith each passing year it as enlarging its missile research in proportion to the old mission of aerodynamic research.As part of the US particip...
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