Existing comment:
The NACA and the Modern Airliner
Roscoe Turner Airplane
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was largely responsible for developing many technologies that led to the creation of modern airliners.
A revolutionary new generation of airliners began appearing in the early 1930s. Fast and efficient, they featured all-metal, monocoque and stressed-skin construction, cantilevered wings, retractable landing gear, cowled air-cooled engines, and variable-pitch propellers-technologies developed by the NACA, the military, and private industry.
The first of these modern airliners was the Boeing 247, one of which hangs in the America by Air exhibition.
High-pressure tunnel. Opened in 1939, this tunnel was the first to combine large size and high pressure in one facility. Engineers used it to develop a new generation of high-performance military aircraft. |