[79] This history of flight research beginning at the NACA's Ames Aeronautical Laboratory in 1940 and continuing to this day at NASA's Ames Research Center has covered a wide range of technical areas that include icing research; transonic model testing; aerodynamics research; flying qualities, stability and control, and performance evaluations; variable stability aircraft; gunsight tracking and guidance and control displays; in-flight thrust reversing and steep approach research; boundary-layer control research; STOL and V/STOL aircraft research; and rotorcraft research. The flight research came about in many cases as the result of a progressive development of ideas through stages of analyses, wind tunnel, and ground-based simulator tests in Ames facilities. In fact, the collaborative efforts using this combination of facilities led to a more substantive result than would have been the case had the flight experiments been conducted in isolation. Several national awards were presented to Ames pilots and engineers in recognition of their achievements in pursuit of these research objectives. The significant contributions that came about as a result of these various programs are listed below.

• Prototypes of the Ames anti-icing system were evaluated in the B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers from the WWII era. A substantive program on the C-46 Commando icing research aircraft led to the definition of icing-system design criteria.
• Qualitative aerodynamic data in the transonic regime were obtained through tests of small wing-mounted and drop models.
• The effects of compressibility on aerodynamics, including pitch-up, shock-induced buffet, and aileron buzz were established.
• The YF-93A aircraft was the first to use flush NACA engine inlets and was tested extensively with both scoop and flush inlets.
• Drag characteristics of tailless delta winged aircraft were documented in flight and compared with wind tunnel data.
• Results from flight tests of the Ogee wing planform were provided to the Anglo-French team that was in the process of designing the Concorde supersonic transport, giving them assurance that the configuration was suitable for that aircraft.
• Data from wake-vortex penetration tests were generalized to form the basis for the FAA's separation criteria for aircraft landing behind large, heavy aircraft.
• Extensive results were obtained concerning the stability and control characteristics that influence the acceptable approach speed, providing an understanding of the selection of approach speed for high-performance aircraft.
• A standardized system for rating flying qualities was developed that accounted for the demands of the flight task and the behavior of the aircraft and pilot in accomplishing the task to the expected degree of precision. The Cooper-Harper rating scale has been one of the enduring contributions of flying-qualities research over the past 40 years.
• [80] The world's first variable stability aircraft was developed and, along with several successors, contributed extensive data for use in defining flying qualities design criteria, as well as in assessing the flying qualities of numerous individual aircraft designs.
• A head-up guidance display was demonstrated at Ames in a Boeing 727-100 transport airplane and was subsequently adapted by the industry and certificated for civil transport operations.
• In-flight thrust reversing was evaluated with the F-94C Starfire fighter. The thrust-reversing concept was applied eventually to DC-8 transport aircraft to achieve the rapid descent capability required for commercial transport certification.
• A direct lift-control system was demonstrated to engineers and pilots of the airline industry. The design was incorporated as part of the Lockheed L-1011 commercial airliner's flight control system, and was particularly effective in achieving excellent automatic landing performance for that aircraft.
• Flight tests with the JF-104 Starfighter developed steep approach profiles now used by the space shuttle.
• Approach and landing tests provided basic design data for the space shuttle configuration control and the guidance and navigation systems, a demonstration of digital autopilot technology, and supported the decision to remove air-breathing engines from the final shuttle design.
• Extensive data on fully blown leading-edge and trailing-edge flaps were obtained in flight tests of the F-100A Super Sabre. The experience gained from this testing went into blown flap systems used on the F-104 Starfighter and the F-4 Phantom II.
• The Augmentor Wing Jet STOL Research Aircraft, the first jet STOL transport, was used in a joint NASA/Canadian Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce project to demonstrate the concept in the low-speed regime and in terminal-area operations. The aircraft was also used for evaluating flying qualities criteria, augmented controls, flight director concepts, and an automatic approach and landing system that allowed pilots to exploit the vehicle's unique STOL capabilities in terminal-area operations. The Augmentor Wing performed a flight demonstration of a nonlinear inverse control concept applied to a full flight envelope autopilot.
• The Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft (QSRA) design used upper-surface blowing to achieve short-field takeoff and landing performance. The aircraft documented stable flight at lift levels three times those generated on conventional aircraft and demonstrated operations aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk without need for launch catapults or landing arresting gear. The aircraft was also used to evaluate integrated flightpath/airspeed controls and displays for making precision instrument approaches and landings. The Air Force developed flying qualities specifications for the C-17 long-range, heavy transport based on the results of the earlier Ames Augmentor Wing and QSRA research.
• [81] Extensive flight testing was carried out on the X-14 jet vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft to investigate a range of flying qualities in hover and transition flight and to evaluate lateral thrust vectoring control. Research with this aircraft contributed to the military's V/STOL flying qualities specification and played an important role in the control system development of the Harrier prototype.
• The XV-15 tilt rotor was the first proof-of-concept vehicle built entirely to Ames' specifications. This aircraft became the subject of a series of technology development activities over the next decade. The work included flying qualities and stability and control evaluations, control law development, side-stick controller tests, performance evaluations in all flight modes, acoustics tests, flow surveys, and documentation of its loads, structural dynamics, and aeroelastic stability characteristics. The XV-15 provided the foundation necessary for the initiation of the V-22 Osprey program for the Marines and for current development of the Bell 609 civil tilt rotor.
• Research with the modified YAV-8B Harrier was used to develop flying qualities criteria and control system and display concepts for future STOVL fighter aircraft as part of the Joint Strike Fighter program. It also demonstrated display technology that is being implemented in the AV-8B Harrier II for shipboard operation. Its complex digital, fly-by-wire control system was designed, developed, and installed in the YAV-8B by an Ames team.
• The X-36 unmanned scale model tailless fighter demonstrated excellent stability and maneuverability up to stall angle of attack.
• The UH-1H helicopter was used to develop and evaluate control systems that would permit fully automatic flight for helicopters. The first demonstration of automatic control laws for a helicopter, developed using nonlinear inverse methods was conducted on the aircraft. Flying qualities experiments provided criteria used in the Army's helicopter flying qualities specification that was developed primarily at Ames, as well as control and display requirements for civil instrument flight operations.
• The CH-47B Chinook was used by the Army and NASA as a variable stability helicopter. The in-flight simulation capability permitted a wide variety of flight experiments that ranged from investigations in support of the Army's flying qualities specification to the evaluation of advanced multi-input, multi-output control laws.
• A UH-60 Black Hawk with sophisticated blade instrumentation was used to acquire extensive rotor-load data. Approximately 30 gigabytes of data were obtained and installed in an electronic database that was immediately accessible to the U.S. industry.
• A JUH-60A Black Hawk helicopter, known as RASCAL, was modified to incorporate extensive vehicle and rotor-system instrumentation, a digital research flight control system, a real-time stereo-video passive ranging system, and a sophisticated on-board image generation system. A principal focus of the RASCAL helicopter work is to develop advanced flight control designs to improve the agility of military [82] rotorcraft, while also providing the pilot with carefree maneuvering within an automatically protected flight envelope.
• Two Cobra helicopters hosted Ames crew station and human factors flight research experiments. One of these aircraft has been used extensively in joint NASA/Army human factors research in the area of visual and auditory displays.
• A YO-3A aircraft, modified by the Army and NASA to allow accurate in-flight measurement of rotorcraft impulsive noise, contributed to the source selection of two Army helicopter programs. A second YO-3A was used extensively by NASA for rotorcraft acoustics research.

At this writing, most areas of flight research have once again been transferred to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. An exception to this directive has allowed rotorcraft flight research to continue at Ames with aircraft operated by the U.S. Army. Three aircraft will continue in the Ames inventory to carry on the flight research tradition at the Center. These are the two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters (NASA 748 and 750) and the NAH-1S Cobra (NASA 736). Research in the future will be conducted as part of a joint NASA/Army rotorcraft technology program and will focus on advanced controls and cockpit interfaces with these aircraft. NASA 750 will continue to serve in the role as an in-flight simulator as well.

To conclude this history, we would like to recognize the three Ames aeronautical research pilots who lost their lives in carrying out their professional duties. Ryland Carter, Rudy Van Dyke, and Don Heinle were all highly accomplished pilots who were fearless in pursuit of their test objectives. They were respected and appreciated by their colleagues of the day and are remembered today as men who made significant contributions to aeronautical technology through their skill and daring.

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