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RECORD GROUP 255

 

RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

 

DESCRIPTION OF RECORDS

 

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National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

03/13/1915-09/30/1958

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GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: Langley, VA; Moffett Field, CA; Cleveland, OH; Edwards, CA

 

PERSONAL NAME REFERENCE (WITH APPLICABLE DATES): Dr. William F. Durand (Chairman, 1916-1918); Dr. Charles Doolittle Walcott (Chairman, 1919-1927); Dr. Joseph S. Ames (Chairman, 1927-1939); Dr. Vannevar Bush (Chairman, 1939-1941); Jerome C. Hunsaker (Chairman, 1941-1956); James H. Doolittle (Chairman, 1956-1958); Dr. George W. Lewis (Scientist, 1919-1947)

 

SUCCESSOR ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT (WITH DATES AND SPHERE OF ACTIVITY TRANSFERRED): National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (09/30/58), all activities.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY:

 

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was created by an act of Congress on March 3, 1915 (38 Stat. 930, as amended; 50 U.S.C. 151). Previously, the United States government had paid little attention to the science of aviation. As a result, the development of the airplane in the United States was dependent largely upon research accomplished by amateur inventors. Because of the lack of Federal interest it was not clear what aeronautical research was then in progress, either under Government auspices or by private organizations. NACA was charged with the duties of conducting scientific aeronautical research and coordinating the research needs of aviation, both civil and military. NACA was to carry out these duties for the rest of its forty-three years of existence.

 

 

NACA was originally comprised of twelve members, seven Federal officials concerned with aeronautics and five persons who were aware of the needs of aeronautical science. This entire Advisory Committee was to meet only semi-annually. Therefore, an Executive Committee (which met regularly throughout the year), composed of seven of the twelve Advisory Committee members, was given the care of the administration of NACA and the general supervision of research. The responsibilities for the administrative functions of NACA were further delegated to three men, the Director, the Executive Secretary, and the Associate Director for Research, with the Director taking a leadership position. By 1958, at the end of NACA's history, the Main Committee had grown from twelve to seventeen members, and was supported by five technical committees and twenty-three subcommittees which pursued research and development in such topics as: Aerodynamics, Vibration and Flutter, Automatic Stabilization and Control, Helicopters, Compressors and Turbines, Internal Flow Flight Safety, and Rocket Engines.

 

NACA expanded both monetarily and geographically throughout its tenure. At its inception, NACA was given $5,000 and the position of one paid clerk. NACA's one research facility consisted of improvised quarters in the Army's Aviation Section. By 1958, NACA had been provided by Congress with research equipment and facilities worth approximately $300 million, grown to encompass four principal research facilities as well as several field offices, and employed a staff of approximately 7,600 persons.

 

NACA was responsible for many advances in aeronautical research, as well as coordinating research throughout the civil and military aviation industries. NACA was also lauded for its role in disseminating information concerning technological advances to the aviation world at large. NACA sponsored annual technical conferences and tours of NACA laboratories. These conferences sought to give the aviation industry and military services a comprehensive view of technical progressions. Additionally, NACA's Paris office, between 1919 and 1950 acted as a liaison between the NACA and European aeronautical research organizations except during the Second World War. NACA also began an Office of Aeronautical Intelligence which gathered and disseminated aviation information from around the world.

 

On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act which created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NACA was incorporated into this new agency on September 30, 1958, and provided NASA a base of technology and personnel from which to expand.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY CITATION(S): W. Cunliffe, H. Goldbeck, "A Special Study on the Records of the National Advisory committee for Aeronautics" (Washington, D.C., NARA, 1973); J.C. Hunsaker "Forty Years of Aeronautical Research" in the Forty-Fourth Annual Report of NACA 1959 (Final Report) (Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958) pages 3-31.

 

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