NASA Meatball The First Century of Flight: NACA/NASA Contribution to Aeronautics blank graphic 2000–03 space shuttles image
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NACA logo

March 3, 1915—A rider to the Naval Appropriations Act established the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The Committee was instituted to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.”

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Group Picture of NACA Committee

April 2, 1915—President Woodrow Wilson appointed the first 12 members of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Orville Wright was a member from 1920 to 1948.

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Group Picture When NACA Called First Meeting of Aircraft Industry

1916–1917—NACA called the first joint meeting of the aircraft industry and Government agencies. This conference was instrumental in the creation of the Manufacturers Aircraft Association and in the recommendation for the formation of the Aircraft Production Board for WWI aircraft production.

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Langley Memorial Aeronautical Arial View—Picture

July 17, 1917—Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, the site for NACA’s first experimental aeronautical facility, was founded. These facilities and their successors contributed to the advancement of aeronautics and space flight for the indefinite future.

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Updated October 28, 2002
Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
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