NASA Langley Research Center, Full-Scale Wind Tunnel, 224 Hunting Avenue, Hampton, VA

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Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

2 drawings
26 b&w photos
24 data pages
3 photo caption pages

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TITLE:
NASA Langley Research Center, Full-Scale Wind Tunnel, 224 Hunting Avenue, Hampton, VA

CALL NUMBER:
HAER VA,28-HAMP,4A-

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:
[See Call Number]

MEDIUM:
Measured Drawing(s): 2 (24 x 36 in.)
Photo(s): 26 (4 x 5 and 5 x 7)
Data Page(s): 23 plus cover page
Photo Caption Page(s): 3

DATE:
Documentation compiled after 1968.

CREATOR:
Historic American Engineering Record, creator

NOTE:
Survey number HAER VA-118-A

National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 85002796

Significance: The facility allowed wind tunnel research into fields that could be most effectively investigated with full-scale models and actual aircraft. Until 1945 it was the largest wind tunnel in the world. "Drag cleanup tests" performed here on most World War II military aircraft significantly improved their performance. The facility was used to test a variety of vehicles including military aircraft, dirigibles and submarines. The original tunnel design proved to be versatile and as the study of aerodynamics advanced it was used to study handling problems of hypersonic aircraft and space reentry vehicles. In the 1960s and 1970s the tunnel was modified and equipped for dynamic free-flight model testing. When the facility was closed in September of 1995, it was NASA's oldest operating wind tunnel. Many achievements of the American aerospace industry can be traced to the aeronautical research performed in the full-scale tunnel.

SUBJECTS:
VIRGINIA----Hampton

OTHER TITLE:
Building No. 643

COLLECTION:
Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

REPOSITORY:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGID:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.va1794

CONTENTS:
Photograph caption(s):
1. VIEW LOOKING NORTH AT SOUTHEAST CORNER OF FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
2. VIEW LOOKING WEST-SOUTHWEST AT NORTHEAST CORNER OF FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
3. VIEW LOOKING SOUTH-SOUTHWEST AT FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
4. VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST AT FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
5. VIEW NORTH OF TEST SECTION IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL WITH FREE-FLIGHT MODEL OF A BOEING 737 SUSPENDED FROM A SAFETY CABLE.
6. VIEW OF EAST RETURN PLENUM IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL
7. VIEW WEST OF SCALE ROOM IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL; SCALES ARE USED TO MEASURE FORCES ACTING ON MODEL AIRCRAFT SUSPENDED ABOVE.
8. VIEW LOOKING EAST AT CONTROL PANEL FOR FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
9. VIEW LOOKING WEST AT TURNING VANES IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
10. MEDIUM CLOSE UP OF FAN IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
11. VIEW LOOKING EAST AT MODEL AIRCRAFT CONTROL ROOM; MODEL OF BOEING 737 AT TOP OF PHOTOGRAPH IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
12. Photocopy of photograph (original in Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L4496) AERIAL VIEW OF FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL UNDER CONSTRUCTION; c. 1930. NOTE SEAPLANE TOWING CHANNEL STRUCTURE IN BACKGROUND.
13. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (NACA 4655) VIEW LOOKING NORTH AT THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
14. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L4776) VIEW SOUTH THROUGH ENTRANCE CONE OF FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, SEPTEMBER 12, 1930.
15. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L4933) VIEW NORTHWEST OF THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL, c. 1932.
16. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L89-07075) AERIAL VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST AT THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL, 1989.
17. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L79-7343) AERIAL VIEW OF THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL, 1979.
18. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L83-8341) VIEW OF FANS IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL, c. 1960s.
19. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L5925) LOENING SCL-1 SEAPLANE IN THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL, OCTOBER 1931.
20. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L15337) DRAG-CLEANUP STUDIES OF THE BREWSTER BUFFALO IN THE FULL SCALE WIND TUNNEL, 1938.
21. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L-9850) ANNUAL AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING CONFERENCE IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL; GROUP PHOTOGRAPH OF PARTICIPANTS, mAY 23, 1934.
22. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L27056) LOCKHEED YP-38 IN THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL; THIS WAS THE PROTOTYPE OF THE P-38 (LOCKHEED LIGHTNING); c. 1941.
23. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L73-5028) MODEL OF SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
24. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L75-734) MODEL OF SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT IN FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL FROM ENTRANCE CONE.
25. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L81-7333) RUTAN'S VARI-EZE ADVANCED CONCEPTS AIRCRAFT IN THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.
26. Photocopy of photograph (original in the Langley Research Center Archives, Hampton, VA [LaRC]) (L64792) ALBACORE SUBMARINE DRAG TESTS IN THE FULL-SCALE WIND TUNNEL.

CONTROL #:
VA1794

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