The importance of the Zahm/Hunsaker report was emphasized by the rapid advances made in aviation after the European war broke out in 1914. Walcott made efforts to obtain the necessary legislation for an American aeronautical center in 1914, but was not successful. In 1915, however, his proposals attracted the attention of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who attached the request as a rider to the Naval Appropriation Bill of March 3, 1915.
William H. McAvoy, one of the LMAL’s earliest civilian test pilots. NASA image
A budget of $5,000 was established to form an advisory committee that would review, assess, and coordinate work already under way, with a charter “to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solutions.” Twelve distinguished men, each a leader in his own field, were selected as committee members, and held their first meeting on April 23, 1915, in the office of Secretary of War Lindley M. Garrison. They included Professor Joseph S. Ames, Johns Hopkins University; Capt. Mark L. Bristol, Director of Naval Aeronautics; Professor William F. Durand, Stanford University; Professor John F. Hayford, Northwestern University; Dr. Charles F. Marvin, Chief, U.S. Weather Bureau; the Honorable Byron R. Newton, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Professor Michael I. Pupin, Columbia University; Lt. Col. Samuel Reber, Army Signal Corps, in charge of Aviation Section; Holden C. Richardson, naval instructor; Brig. Gen. George P. Scriven, Chief Signal Officer, War Department; Dr. Samuel W. Stratton, Director, National Bureau of Standards; and Walcott, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
While the NACA legislation did not specifically authorize the building or operation of a lab, on Nov. 22, 1916, committee members formally recognized that an independent laboratory was a necessity.
Most of the men were unknown to each other personally, but each had an established reputation. They represented a powerhouse of intellectual achievement in a wide variety of fields, all most appropriate to an aeronautical research center. While the committee met as a whole only twice a year, there was extensive correspondence among them. An “executive committee” was formed of the seven who lived in the Washington area who took care of dispensing the advice. These naturally tended to be the members from the War and Navy departments.
The fifth production Thomas-Morse MB-3 fighter spent the greater part of 1923 undergoing testing at the NACA’s Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Study into the pressure distribution over wings in flight was the main focus of study. This was a major concern, as the effort was aimed at preventing fabric from ripping or bursting apart under flight loads. NASA image
With America’s entry into the war in 1917, more funds were available for projects on which the NACA advised. The NACA also settled the long patent dispute between Curtiss and the Wright Brothers. The industry was pressured to form a cross-licensing organization known as the Manufacturers Aircraft Association, which satisfied both Curtiss and Orville Wright.
While the NACA legislation did not specifically authorize the building or operation of a lab, on Nov. 22, 1916, committee members formally recognized that an independent laboratory was a necessity. They worked, initially with the U.S. Army, to develop a new $290,000 airfield near Norfolk, Virginia, where there was easy access to water and plenty of flat land for an airfield. After three years of work, and the Army’s decampment from the project in favor of building its own laboratory at McCook Field in Ohio, the formal dedication took place on June 11, 1920. It was named Langley Field, known today as Joint Base Langley-Eustis.
The youthful engineer-in-charge, Henry J.E. Reid sits at his desk, April 1928. NASA image
The Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (LMAL) was provided an initial staff of 11 people, including the NACA’s first hire, the aptly named John F. Victory. Small as it was, it was split into five divisions: Aeronautical and Aerodynamic; Power Plants; Technical Service; Flight Operations; and Property and Clerical. In 1919, it received two Curtiss JN-4Hs as equipment, along with a small wind tunnel, and borrowed lab equipment. In the same year, George W. Lewis was hired as Director of Research.
The NACA was blessed by timing. The industry was booming and manufacturers were grateful for research data.
In retrospect, this sounds like a prescription for disaster. It had a non-specific charter with the 12 board members already overworked in their own field. In addition, there was a tiny budget and a facility as well suited to a garage band as science, but burdened with five broad divisional goals. Somehow it was a good start to a great institution.