National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency that conducted aeronautical research from 1915 until its functions transferred to NASA in 1958.

Langley Research Center: A NASA research center in Hampton, Virginia, founded as NACA’s first laboratory in 1917. Its laboratories and wind tunnels formed the center of NACA’s research program.
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Act: The 1915 U.S. law that created the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Congress established NACA through this act during the early years of powered flight.
Hugh L. Dryden: An American aerospace scientist who directed NACA research and later became NASA’s deputy administrator. Dryden led NACA through its final years and helped guide its transfer to NASA.
Area rule: A design principle that reduces transonic drag by smoothing changes in an aircraft’s cross-sectional area along its length. NACA’s discovery explained how aircraft shaping could reduce drag near the speed of sound.
NASA: The U.S. federal agency responsible for civilian space exploration and aeronautics research. NASA took over NACA’s functions, facilities, and much of its workforce in 1958.
NACA airfoil: An airfoil profile defined by parameters in a NACA numbering system. NACA research translated aerodynamic measurements into widely used wing profiles.
Smithsonian Institution: A U.S. research and museum institution founded by an act of Congress in 1846. Smithsonian secretary Charles D. Walcott became NACA’s first chairman.
John Stack: An American aeronautical engineer whose work at NACA advanced high-speed flight research. Stack led research that helped establish the aerodynamic benefits of swept wings.
Supercritical airfoil: An airfoil designed to delay drag rise and improve performance near the speed of sound. NACA research by Richard Whitcomb produced a practical wing shape for transonic aircraft.
NASA Langley Research Center: A NASA research center in Hampton, Virginia, continuing aeronautics and space research at the former NACA Langley laboratory. Its present-day identity shows how a NACA laboratory persisted inside NASA.

Linked from 9 pages