Show performance of U Us S fighting planes best in world wo ald thanks to advisory committee for aeronautics tests and research keep america ahead in grim competition by BARROW LYONS washington correspondent american facilities for developing ve new models of mill military airplanes are being enlarged and new personnel is being added to avoid a tragic thing that has happened on oil several occasions new models of planes have been sent into battle before they were thoroughly tested in the laboratories of the national advisory committee for aeronautics one of the government agencies least known because most of its work has been secret but one which has made as great a contribution toward winning the ward war as any civilian agency in a determined effort to gate gain mastery ot of the air and save thousands of lives by hastening victory by further im improving provin g the performance of american hit aircraft craft the NACA soon will increase its present staff of about technicians by 1500 additional men and women the staff at langley field va which has the largest staff will be increased by about the cleveland laboratory will get about new employees and the research staff at moffett field calif near palo alto will be increased by about I 1 more technicians th the nation depends upon the men and nd women who staff these laboratories more than any others to keep ahead odthe off the nazi scientists in designing deigning s aircraft that w will I 1 il take and hold control of the skies it if the germans were to design aircraft that could and outshoot our own and those responsible for american aircraft design declare that possibility exists the war in the air over europe might come to a stalemate the army and navy have recognized them the supreme importance of these laboratories by giving their employees special draft consideration they are inducted into the army and then transferred as inactive reservists they are always on call for active duty but they do not lot wear uniforms and they receive civilian lv illan pay and united states civil service status junior engineers needed at present there are needed aeronautical mechanical and electrical engineers of junior grade they receive 2400 a year physicists mathematicians and naval architects of the same grade are needed craftsmen such as instrument makers tool makers electricians met al smiths pattern makers and airplane mechanics are needed they receive prevailing rates of government pay on an annual basis women may qualify for a variety of positions those with skill in mathematics and physics are assigned to research projects while those with training tig as stenographers typists and clerks are also needed but the committee is not looking today for just ordinary help the projects which these people are working on are among the most vital to war success and the committee is looking only for unusual young men and women who can be advanced as vacancies occur people whose loyalty and intelligence and ability can be depended upon the committee commett ee was born in the last war from the necessity of our armed services for airplanes that could compete with those of the enemy when war broke out in europe in 1914 leadership in aircraft development had passed from american hands in march 1915 congress authorized zed an advisory body to be appointed by the president ind and to serve without compensation membership increased from 12 to 15 in 1929 included heads beads of military naval and civil aeronautical organizations of the government of the bureau of standards the weather bureau and the smithsonian institution and specially qualified juall fied members from civil life the chairman is elected annually the paid staff Is headed by dr george W lewis director of aeronautical research and by john F victory secretary of the committee who directs its administrative work the first appropriation was a year for five years with that meager start the committee set about regaining for america a position of leadership in military flying dying the NACA emerged from world war I 1 with a research laboratory building at langley field and with its it first wind tunnel under construction with appropriations of about III a year in the era ol of disarmament and peace treaties this laboratory laid the foundation tor for the new science of aeronautics which again brought leadership to america nazi Re research bearch expanded but when hitler came to power in 1633 1933 he recognized that he must have the strongest air force in the tha world if he wis was to 0 o subdue the world with foresight and intelli intelligence ger many began by concentrating upon scientific research german laboratories were expanded and multiplied until at the time of the pact of munich the german aeronautical re search establishment had become five times the size ot of that of the united states but not until germany was convinced that it could make aircraft superior to that ot of any other nation did it go into mass production the NACA recognized the menace and in 1937 started a study of the relation of its organization to national defense in time of war the result was a doubling of the research facilities at langley field and the authorization by congress of two additional dit ional lonal major research centers the ames aeronautical laboratory at moffett field in 1939 and the aircraft engine research laboratory at cleveland in 1940 these are operated in close teamwork with the military services and the aircraft industry it works like this suppose the army air forces want a certain aircraft manufacturer to produce a new type of pursuit plane the design engineers at the factory confer with experts ol of the materiel matet lil command of the air forces at dayton ohio and agree tentatively upon general design and specifications both groups then confer with NACA experts at langley field to incorporate the latest knowledge e gained through research NACA checks new models the program calls tor for the factory to go into production by a certain date the manufacturer assembles tools and material and makes contracts for sub assemblies the army materiel command plans and provides the military equipment including instruments armor and armament the NACA responsibility involves first making of dynamically balanced small flying models tor or experimentation in its free spin ning hing wind tunnel and in the free flight wind tunnel the free ti spinning pinning wind tunnel is a vertical tube 20 feet wide with a propeller mounted on the top and IN THE SMALL wind tunnel tests are made on new models many of them highly secret I 1 drawing air upward into the ae middle of this ascending column of air the airplane model is tossed with its controls set to continue to spin the controls operated by remote electromagnetic force are moved just as a pilot would move chem to bring the plane out of the spin if the controls are effective the airplane recovers by going in isto to a dive and is caught in a ac acet lf 11 the controls are not effective the model continues ilig adjustments are made in the control surfaces faces tur until satisfactory control Is attained information to avise the design deign of the controls is relay relayed edat at once to the army and to the manufacturer and Is used to correct t I 1 the he design A second model I 1 is a prepared with similar card care and Is tested in the free flight tunnel that Is a wind tunnel 1 12 feet in diameter inclined at an angle angla which will permit the model to glide forward through a moving stream of air the model Is equipped with delicate electrical mechanisms which operate the controls and which enable the research staff to determine what changes are necessary to assure in advance of production that the new design will be easily maneuvered and controlled band and will have stability A A FIGHTER PLANE the brewster 1 Is shown mounted ou on struts in the full scale wind tunnel ready for testing test lne the th trull struts are re connected to instruments Instrument i in the room below the th platform pl torm which record the various barlous stresses which theolane the tk plane undergoes in this largest wind tunnel in in the world arld all pictures picture are re official photographs released by the national advisory committee for aeronautics when these tests have been made and the necessary information obtained the NACA makes larger and sturdier models with solid steel cores to be firmly mounted on recording balances in wind tunnels operating at air speeds u up to miles an hour these tunnels measure the lift and drag as well as the pitching rolling roiling and yawing movements of the plane at various angles of 0 attack add 20 miles allies per hour when the first full siz sized ed plane la is produced it Is placed on the NACA full scale wind tunnel to determine how to increase further its speed by reducing the drag through better streamlining or removing or reshaping protuberances in such tull full scale tunnel tests the NACA has never failed to add at least 20 adal additional miles per hour to the speed of a plane about to go into production special tests are provided tor for particular types of planes for high speed fighters aerodynamic experiments are conducted in low air pressures such as are encountered at high altitudes in a huge domed structure pressures are created to simulate air conditions at altitudes up to feet taking oft off and landing abilities of seaplanes sea planes are tried out in a basin feet long containing seawater A large scale model of a seaplane or of the floats boats only Is towed behind an electrically powered crane at speeds up to 80 miles per hour experimental planes are flight tested under carefully controlled conditions and a record Is made of its performance on movie film the test pilot is given orders by radio telephone from the ground and he performs the turns loops dives climbs and other maneuvers one of the recent outstanding contributions of the ames laboratory has been the use of exhaust het heat from airplane engines to reat heat the leading edges wings tall tail surfaces and windshields wind shields of airplanes to prevent the formation of ice this has permitted safe flight under conditions that otherwise would have grounded planes the ice hazard has been eliminated but the list ot of advances which have been made applies to virtually every component of the airplane more than once the NACA laboratories have saved the comme commercial 1 1 life of some aircraft company by giving it the necessary scientific information to bring into practical use advances in design the company had made but which tell fell short of military requirements the success 0 the flying fortress design was wai made possible by scientific knowledge deve developed lobed in NACA laboratories after the war when america Ar perlea enters an era of great commercial aviation expansion the NACA laboratories 1 expect to continue to provide the basic scientific research upon which american air supreme supremacy is based it now has a plant worth some which at least east equals the research facilities of the gea Ger it probably will continue to td be in competition with german and facilities but our armed forces hoda congress ewer again will let it fall ju hi staff and equipment AN E v E R T felsl wark f carefully chines zata I 1 toll to M aw HIGHLY t rained specialists read the Z complicated di I 1 E that indicate I 1 e suits of the varlo tests |