1923

12-inch open jet / Bureau of Standards and General Electric Co.

.92

1926

2-inch open jet / Bureau of Standards and Army

Believed the first U.S. facility with a converging/diverging nozzle and supersonic capability.

.95,1.08

1930

11-inch open throat tunnel / NACA

Low supersonic speeds in some tunnel-empty tests. No published data.

1.0

1941

High-Altitude drop tests / German DVL

1.1

1942

16 x 21-inch semi-open / Guidonia

First reliable airfoil data at M>0.9, using semi-open configuration to avoid choking.

.94

1944

High-altitude drop tests / NACA

1.3

1944

Aircraft "Wing-Flow" / NACA

1.3

1944

2.7-meter (8.8-foot) tunnel / German DVL

First use of "small-model" technique to achieve M>0.9.

.92

1945

Contoured-wall tunnel / German, Ottobrun

7-foot tunnel with flexible wall to simulate flight streamlines at wall. Never used.

1.0

1945

8-foot closed-throat tunnel (repowered) / NACA

Used "small-model" technique and zero-blockage support systems. First large contoured axisymmetric supersonic nozzle, M, 1.20 in 1948.

.95,1.20

1945

Rocket Model Technique / NACA

Higher M's achieved in later programs.

1.6

1946

Wind tunnel bump / Lockheed, NACA

Eventually used primarily in Langley 7 x 10-foot and Ames 16-foot high-speed tunnels.

1.3

1946

D-558-1 research airplanes / Navy, NACA

Max. M in level flight, 0.83

.98

1946

Annular transonic tunnel / NACA

Single-blade airfoil mounted on rotor, annular channel.

1.0

1946

X-1 research airplane / USAF, NACA

First manned supersonic flight, October 14, 1947.

1.45

1947

12-inch model slotted tunnel / NACA

First successful slotted tunnel, used only for tunnel development.

1.26

1947

9 x 9-inch closed or open tunnel / NACA

Used only for tunnel development.

1.1

1948

4 x 19-inch semi-open tunnel / NACA

The facility in which Langley's systematic testing of airfoils was extended to Mach 1.

1.0

1948

4.5 x 6.25-inch slotted tunnel / NACA

Used for slot-shaped and porous-wall testing.

1.3

1949

Twin-stream technique / United Aircraft Corp.

Inner transonic stream controlled by varying outer subsonic stream. Problems: mixing disturbances, uncertain wall corrections, poor velocity distributions.

1.3

1949

10-foot high-speed tunnel at Wright Field / USAF

Throat air bleed and movable side-wall segments used to obtain and vary low supersonic flows.

1.2

1950

8-foot slotted-throat tunnel /NACA

First large operational transonic tunnel.

1.15

1950

16-foot slotted throat tunnel /NACA

Second large operational transonic tunnel.

1.08