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THE HIGH SPEED FRONTIER

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- Foreword -

 

 

 

[v] It is refreshing as well as unusual to find such an account as this of past technical programs that were so important to aeronautical progress. The author deals not only with the research in which he was intimately involved but also with the personalities of the participants and the doubts, false starts, and misconceptions that occurred before the final solutions were achieved.

 

In my view, the flavor imparted to these case histories by the very personal impressions of the impact of certain of the key players is a necessary ingredient in getting to the bottom line of how and why things worked the way they did in the prime years of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

 

Each of the four programs described grew from small beginnings in the third and fourth decades of this century to become substantial elements of the NACA contribution to the achievement of high-subsonic and transonic flight. All of the programs had been essentially completed by the time of the termination of NACA in 1958 and the transition to NASA.

 

WILLIAM S. AIKEN, JR.

Office of Space Technology

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

 

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