Existing comment:
Early Aircraft Technology
Aircraft performance improved rapidly between 1911 and 1927, but aviation technology was still fairly primitive. To boost aeronautical research, the U.S. government created the NACA.
The airplane was only 15 years old when air mail service began in 1918. Airplanes were still essentially wood and cloth machines that performed inefficiently. Most were biplanes. Concerned that the United States was rapidly falling behind Europe in aeronautical technology,
Congress formed the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1915 to supervise and direct American aeronautical research. By the end of the 1920s, the NACA's efforts were bearing fruit. |