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Show Performance of U. S. Fighting Planes Best in World, 1 Thanks to Advisory Committee for Aeronautics & 000 a year in the era of disarmament disarma-ment and peace treaties, this laboratory lab-oratory laid the foundation for the new science of aeronautics, which again brought leadership to America. Amer-ica. Nazi Research Expanded. But when Hitler came to power in 1933, he recognized that he must have the strongest air force in the world if he was to subdue the world. With foresight and intelligence, Germany Ger-many began by concentrating upon scientific research. German laboratories labora-tories were expanded and multiplied, until at the time of the Pact of Munich Mu-nich the German aeronautical re- I army and to the manufacturer, anc 1 is used to correct the design. A second model is prepared witi similar care and is' tested in tin free-flight tunnel. That is a wint tunnel 12 feet in diameter inclinec at an angle which will permit tht model to glide forward through s moving stream of air. The mode! is equipped with delicate electrical mechanisms which operate the controls, con-trols, and which enable the research staff to determine what changes art necessary to assure, in advance of production, that the new design wll be easily maneuvered and controlled and will have stability. i - V "a3v ; J I ' ""l-l 1 ; P , C " - """ t i I ' V ' ' ill s " ' I A FIGHTER PLANE, the Brewster XF2A 1, is shown mounted on struts In the full scale wind tunnel, ready for testing. The struts are connected con-nected to instruments in the r,pom below the platform, which record the various stresses which the plane undergoes in this largest wind tunnel in the world. (All pictures are official photographs released by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.) Tests and Research Keep America Ahead In Grim Competition By BARROW LYONS WNU Washington Correspondent American facilities for developing de-veloping new models of military mili-tary airplanes are being enlarged, en-larged, and new personnel is being added to avoid a tragic thing that has happened on several occasions. New models mod-els of planes have been sent into battle before they were thoroughly tested in the laboratories lab-oratories of the national advisory ad-visory committee for aeronautics, aero-nautics, one of the government govern-ment agencies least known because most of its work has been secret, but one which has made as great a contribution toward winning the war as any civilian'agency. In a determined effort to gain mastery of the air and save thousands thou-sands of lives by hastening victory, by further improving the performance perform-ance of American aircraft the NACA soon will increase its present staff of about 5,000 technicians by 1,500 additional men and women. The staff at Langley Field, Va., which has the largest staff, will be increased in-creased by about 750. The Cleveland Cleve-land laboratory wiD get about 550 new employees, and the research staff at Moffett Field, Calif., near Palo Alto, will be increased by about 250 more technicians. The nation depends upon the men and women who staff these laboratories labora-tories more than any others to keep ahead of the Nazi scientists in designing de-signing aircraft that will take and hold control of the skies. If the Germans were to design aircraft that could outfly and outshoot our own and those responsible for American aircraft design declare that possibility possibil-ity exists the war in the air over Europe might come to a stalemate. The army and navy have recognized recog-nized the supreme importance of these laboratories by giving their employees special draft consideration. considera-tion. They are inducted into the army, and then transferred as inactive in-active reservists. They are always on call for active duty; but they do not wear uniforms and they receive civilian pay and United States Civil Service status. Junior Engineers Needed. At present there are needed aeronautical, aero-nautical, mechanical and electrical engineers of junior grade. They receive re-ceive $2,400 a year. Physicists, mathematicians and naval architects archi-tects of the same grade are needed. Craftsmen, such as instrument makers, mak-ers, tool makers, electricians, met-asmiths, met-asmiths, pattern makers and airplane air-plane "mechanics are needed. They receive prevailing rates of government govern-ment pay on an annual basis. Women may qualify for a variety of positions. Those with skill in mathematics and physics are assigned as-signed to research projects, while those with training 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 ad-vanced as vacancies occur people whose loyalty and intelligence and ability can be depended upon. The committee was born in the last war from the necessity of our-armed our-armed services for airplanes that could compete with those of the enemy. ene-my. When war broke out in Europe in 1914, leadership in aircraft development devel-opment had passed from American hands. In March, 1915, congress authorized au-thorized an advisory body to be appointed ap-pointed by the President and to serve without compensation. Membership, increased from 12 to 15 in 1929, included heads of military, mili-tary, naval and civil aeronautical organizations of the government, of fthe bureau of standards, the weather bureau, and the Smithsonian institution, insti-tution, and specially qualified members mem-bers fromfcivil 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 $5,000 a year for five years. With that meager start the committee set about regaining for America a position posi-tion of leadership in military flying. The NACA emerged from World War I with a research laboratory building build-ing at Langley Field, and with its first wkid tunnel under construction. With appropriations of about $200,- search establishment had become five times the size of that of the United States. But not until Germany Ger-many was convinced that it could make aircraft superior to that of any other nation did it go into mass production. The NACA recognized the menace, men-ace, 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 ad-ditional 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 team-work with the military services and the aircraft industry. It works like this: Suppose the army air forces want a certain aircraft manufacturer manufactur-er to produce a new type of pursuit pur-suit plane. The design engineers at the factory confer with experts of the materiel command of the air forces at Dayton, Ohio, and agree tentatively upon general design and specifications Both groups then confer con-fer with NACA experts at Langley Field to incorporate the latest knowledge knowl-edge gained through research. NACA Checks New Models. The program calls for the factory to go into production by a certain date. The manufacturer assembles tools and material and makes contracts con-tracts for sub-assemblies. The army materiel command plans and provides pro-vides the military equipment, including in-cluding instruments, armor and armament. ar-mament. The NACA responsibility involves, first, making of dynamically dynami-cally balanced small flying models for experimentation in its free-spinning wind tunnel and In the free-flight free-flight wind tunnel. The free spinning wind tunnel is a vertical tube 20 feet wide with a propeller mounted on the top and When these tests have been made, and the necessary information obtained, ob-tained, the NACA makes larger and sturdier models with solid steel cores to be firmly mounted on recording re-cording balances in wind tunnels operating op-erating at air speeds up to 600 miles an hour. These tunnels measure the lift and drag, as well as the pitching, pitch-ing, rolling and yawing movements of the plane at various angles of attack. Add 20 Miles Per Hour. When the first full-sized plane 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 re-shaping protuberances. In such full-scale full-scale tunnel tests, the NACA has never failed to add at least 20 additional addi-tional miles per hour to the speed of a plane about to go into production. produc-tion. . Special tests are provided for particular par-ticular types of planes, For high speed fighters, aerodynamic experiments experi-ments are conducted in low air pressures, pres-sures, such as are encountered at high altitudes. In a huge domed structure, pressures are created to simulate air conditions at altitudes up to 12,000 feet. Taking off and landing abilities of seaplanes are tried out in a basin 600 feet long, containing seawater. A large scale model of a seaplane, or ofthe floats only, is towed behind be-hind 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 con-tributions of the Ames laboratory has been the use of exhaust beat from airplane engines to heat the leading edges, wings, tail surfaces, and windshields of airplanes to prevent pre-vent the formation of ice. This has permitted safe flight under conditions condi-tions that otherwise would have grounded planes. The ice hazard has been eliminated. But the list of advances which have been made applies to virtually every component of the airplane. More than once the NACA laboratories labora-tories have saved the commercial life of some aircraft company by giving it the necessary scientific information in-formation to bring into practical use advances in design the company had made, but which fell short of military mili-tary requirements. The success of the Flying Fortress design was made possible by scientific knowledge knowl-edge developed in NACA laboratories. labora-tories. After the war, when America enters en-ters an era of great commercial aviation expansion, the NACA laboratories lab-oratories expect to continue to provide pro-vide the basic scientific research upon which American air supremacy suprema-cy is based. It now has a plant worth some $70,000,000, which at least equals the research facilities of the Germans. It probably will continue to be in competition with German scientists and facilities, but our armed forces hope congress never nev-er again will let it fall behind in staff and equipment. I 1 f t 4 r I -If:- IN THE SMALL wind tunnel, tests are made on new models, many of them highly secret. drawing air upward. Into the mid- die of this ascending column of air , the airplane model is tossed with its j controls set to continue to spin. The controls operated by remote electromagnetic electro-magnetic force, are moved just as a pilot would move them to bring the plane out of the spin. If the controls are effective, the airplane recovers by going into a dive and is caught in a net. If the controls are not effective, the model continues spinning. Adjustments are made in the control surfaces until satisfactory control is attained. Information In-formation to revise the design of the controls is relayed at once to the AN EXPERT metal worker carefully m a -chines a metal air J Toil to exact spe- I cifications . . - " ' - 1 I : ' ' til u HIGHLY trained . : specialists read the . ... x ..s .-. . complicated dials that indicate re- ; v.: i suits of the various " , , ' V f AN EXPERT f . '!., V ) metal worker , . : " -''- - "" carefully mm- t -j," .--A ":",, '. g chines a metal air t ,-" --, J roil to cact spe- t s ''''". "7 i cifications , - I 1 HIGHLY trained specialists read the complicated dials that indicate r e - suits of the various i tests. |
