[1]. NACA enabling legislation, March 3, 1915; see George W. Gray, Frontiers of Flight: The Story of NACA Research (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), pp. 9–13.
[2]. Roger E. Bilstein, The American Aerospace Industry (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996), pp. 14–15, 29–30.
[3]. Edward P. Warner and F.H. Norton, “Preliminary Report on Free Flight Tests,” NACA TR-70 (1920); F.H. Norton and E.T. Allen, “Accelerations in Flight,” NACA TR-99 (1921); F.H. Norton, “A Preliminary Study of Airplane Performance,” NACA TN-120 (1922); F.H. Norton, “Practical Stability and Controllability of Airplanes,” NACA TR-120 (1923); F.H. Norton and W.G. Brown, “Controllability and Maneuverability of Airplanes,” NACA TR-153 (1923); F.H. Norton, “A Study of Longitudinal Dynamic Stability in Flight,” NASA TR-170 (1924); F.H. Norton, “The Measurement of the Damping in Roll of a JN-4H in Flight,” NACA TR-167 (1924).
[4]. Max M. Munk, “General Biplane Theory,” NACA TR-151 (1922).
[5]. Roger E. Bilstein, Flight Patterns: Trends of Aeronautical Development in the United States, 1918–1929 (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1983), p. 63.
[6]. Donald M. Pattillo, A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998), pp. 5–44; and Tom D. Crouch, “General Aviation: The Search for a Market, 1910–1976,” in Eugene M. Emme, Two Hundred Years of Flight in America: A Bicentennial Survey (San Diego: American Astronautical Society and Univelt, 1977), Table 2, p. 129. For Wichita, see Jay M. Price and the AIAA Wichita Section, Wichita’s Legacy of Flight (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003).
[7]. Fred E. Weick and James R. Hansen, From the Ground Up: The Autobiography of an Aeronautical Engineer (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988).
[8]. Jones’s seminal paper was his “Properties of Low-Aspect-Ratio Pointed Wings at Speeds Below and Above the Speed of Sound,” NACA TN-1032 (1946).
[9]. Fred E. Weick and Robert T. Jones, “Response and Analysis of NACA. Lateral Control Research,” TR 605 (1937).
[10]. Weick and Hansen, From the Ground Up, pp. 137–140. Jones kept his Ercoupe at Half Moon Bay Airport, CA; recollection of R.P. Hallion, who knew Jones.
[11]. Eastman N. Jacobs; Kenneth E. Ward; and Robert M. Pinkerton, “The Characteristics of 78 Related Airfoil Sections from Tests in the Variable-Density Wind Tunnel,” NACA TR-460 (1933); see also Ira H. Abbott and Albert E. von Doenhoff, Theory of Wing Sections, Including a Summary of Airfoil Data (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1949), p. 112.
[12]. Ira H. Abbott, Albert E. von Doenhoff, and Louis S. Stivers, Jr., “Summary of Airfoil Data,” NACA TR-824 (1945), p. 1.
[13]. W.D. Hayes, “Linearized Supersonic Flow,” North American Aviation, Inc., Report AL-222 (18 Jun. 1947).
[14]. Richard T. Whitcomb, “A Study of the Zero-Lift Drag-Rise Characteristics of Wing Body Combinations Near the Speed of Sound,” NACA Report 1237 (1956).
[15]. Whitcomb’s work is covered in detail in other essays in these volumes. For the technological climate at the time of his work, see Albert L. Braslow and Theodore G. Ayers, “Application of Advanced Aerodynamics to Future Transport Aircraft,” in Donely et al., NASA Aircraft Safety and Operating Problems, v. 1; re the Citation X, see Mark O. Schlegel, “Citation X: Development and Certification of a Mach 0.9+ Business Jet,” in Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 1997 Report to the Aerospace Profession (Lancaster, CA: Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 1997), pp. 349–368.
[16]. Robert J. McGhee, William D. Beasley, and Richard T. Whitcomb, “NASA Low- and Medium-Speed Airfoil Development,” in NASA Langley Research Center Staff, Advanced Technology Airfoil Research, v. 2, NASA CP-2046 (Washington, DC: NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1979), pp. 1–23.
[17]. Joseph R. Chambers, Concept to Reality: Contributions of the NASA Langley Research Center to U.S. Civil Aircraft of the 1990s, NASA SP-2003-4529 (Washington, DC: GPO, 2003), pp. 22–25.
[18]. Bruce J. Holmes, “Flight Evaluation of an Advanced Technology Light Twin-Engine Airplane (ATLIT),” NASA CR-2832 (1977).
[19]. G.M. Gregorek and M.J. Hoffman, “An Investigation of the Aerodynamic Characteristics of a New General Aviation Airfoil in Flight,” NASA CR-169477 (1982). For the GA/ADAC, see G.M. Gregorek, K.D. Korkan, and R.J. Freuler, “The General Aviation Airfoil Design and Analysis Service—A Progress Report,” in NASA LRC Staff, Advanced Technology Airfoil Research, v. 2, NASA CP-2046, pp. 99–104.
[20]. Chambers, Concept to Reality, pp. 27–30; Roy V. Harris, Jr., and Jerry N. Hefner, “NASA Laminar-Flow Program—Past, Present, Future”; Bruce E. Peterman, “Laminar Flow: The Cessna Perspective”; J.K. Viken et al., “Design of the Low-Speed NLF (1)-0414F and the High-Speed HSNLF(1)-0213 Airfoils with High-Lift Systems”; Daniel G. Murri et al., “Wind Tunnel Results of the Low-Speed NLF(1)-0414F Airfoil”; and William G. Sewall et al., “Wind Tunnel Results of the High-Speed NLF(1)-0213 Airfoil,” all in NASA Langley Research Center Staff, Research in Natural Laminar Flow and Laminar-Flow Control, Pts. 1-3, NASA CP-2487 (Hampton, VA: Langley Research Center, 1987).
[21]. Richard Eppler and Dan M. Somers, “A Computer Program for the Design and Analysis of Low-Speed Airfoils,” NASA TM-80210 (1980); B.J. Holmes, C.C. Cronin, E.C. Hastings, Jr., C.J. Obara, and C.P. Vandam, “Flight Research on Natural Laminar Flow,” NTRS ID 88N14950 (1986).
[22]. Michael S. Selig, Mark D. Maughmer, and Dan M. Somers, “An Airfoil for General Aviation Applications,” in AIAA, Proceedings of the 1990 AIAA/FAA Joint Symposium on General Aviation Systems (Hampton, VA: NASA LRC, 1990), pp. 280–291, NTRS ID N91-12572 (1990); and Wayne A. Doty, “Flight Test Investigation of Certification Issues Pertaining to General-Aviation-Type Aircraft With Natural Laminar Flow,” NASA CR-181967 (1990).
[23]. Richard T. Whitcomb, “A Design Approach and Selected High-Speed Wind Tunnel Results at High Subsonic Speeds for Wing-Tip Mounted Winglets,” NASA TN D-8260 (1976); and Stuart G. Flechner, Peter F. Jacobs, and Richard T. Whitcomb, “A High Subsonic Speed Wind-Tunnel Investigation of Winglets on a Representative Second-Generation Jet Transport Wing,” NASA TN D-8264 (1976). See also NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, “Winglets,” TF-2004-15 (2004).
[24]. See Neil A. Armstrong and Peter T. Reynolds, “The Learjet Longhorn Series: The First Jets with Winglets,” in Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 1978 Report to the Aerospace Profession (Lancaster: SETP, 1978), pp. 57–66.
[25]. Richard T. Whitcomb, “A High Subsonic Speed Wind-Tunnel Investigation of Winglets on a Representative Second-Generation Jet Transport Wing,” NASA TN D-8264 (1976); and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, “Winglets,” NASA Technology Facts, TF 2004-15 (2004), pp. 1–4. Another interesting project in this time period was the NASA AD-1 Oblique Wing, whose flight test was conducted at Dryden. The oblique wing concept originated with Ames’s Robert T. Jones. The NASA Project Engineer was Weneth “Wen” Painter and the Project Pilot was Tom McMurtry. The team successfully demonstrated an aircraft wing could be pivoted obliquely from 0 to 60 degrees during flight. The aircraft was flown 79 times during the research program, which evaluated the basic pivot-wing concept and gathered information on handling qualities and aerodynamics at various speeds and degrees of pivot. The supersonic concept would have been design with a more complex control system, such as fly-by-wire. The AD-1 aircraft was flown by 19 pilots: 2 USAF pilots; 2 Navy pilots; and 15 NASA Dryden, Langley, and Ames research pilots. The final flights of the AD-1 occurred at the 1982 Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) annual exhibition at Oshkosh, WI, where it flew eight times to demonstrate it unique configuration, a swan song watched over by Jones and his old colleague Weick.
[26]. For engine-and-cowling, see James R. Hansen, “Engineering Science and the Development of the NACA Low-Drag Engine Cowling,” in Pamela E. Mack, ed., From Engineering Science to Big Science: The NACA and NASA Collier Trophy Research Project Winners, NASA SP-4219 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1998), pp. 1–27; for propellers, see John V. Becker, The High-Speed Frontier: Case Histories of Four NACA Programs, 1920–1950, NASA SP-445 (Washington, DC: NASA Scientific and Technical Information Branch, 1980), pp. 119–138.
[27]. Virginia P. Dawson, Engines and Innovation: Lewis Laboratory and American Propulsion Technology, NASA SP-4306 (Washington: NASA, 1991), p. 140.
[28]. Gilbert K. Sievers, “Overview of NASA QCGAT Program,” in NASA Lewis Research Center Staff, General Aviation Propulsion, NASA CP-2126 (Cleveland, OH: NASA Lewis Research Center, 1980), p. 1; and Pattillo, A History in the Making, pp. 122–126.
[29]. Aerophysics Research Corporation, “GASP—General Aviation Synthesis Program,” NASA CR-152303 (1978).
[30]. And are treated in other case studies. For Lewis and NASA aero-propulsion work in this period, see Dawson, Engines and Innovation, pp. 203–205; and Jeffrey L. Ethell, Fuel Economy in Aviation, NASA SP-462 (NASA Scientific and Technical Information Branch, 1983), passim.
[31]. Gilbert K. Sievers, “Summary of NASA QCGAT Program,” in NASA Lewis RC, General Aviation Propulsion, NASA CP-2126, pp. 189–190; see also his “Overview of NASA QCGAT Program” in the same volume, pp. 2–4.
[32]. See William C. Strack, “New Opportunities for Future, Small, General-Aviation Turbine Engines (GATE),” in NASA Lewis RC, General Aviation Propulsion, NASA CP-2126, pp. 195–197.
[33]. For example, James H. Doolittle, “Accelerations in Flight,” NACA TR-203 (1925); Richard V. Rhode, “The Pressure Distribution Over the Horizontal and Vertical Tail Surfaces of the F6C-4 Pursuit Airplane in Violent Maneuvers,” NACA TR-307 (1929); and Richard V. Rhode, “The Pressure Distribution Over the Wings and Tail Surfaces of a PW-9 Pursuit Airplane in Flight,” NACA TR-364 (1931).
[34]. Paul A. Hunter, “Flight Measurements of the Flying Qualities of Five Light Airplanes,” NACA TN-1573 (1948), pp. 1–2, 8–9, 19–20.
[35]. C.H. Dearborn and Abe Silverstein, “Drag Analysis of Single-Engine Military Airplanes Tested in the NACA Full-Scale Wind Tunnel,” NACA WR-489 (1940).
[36]. R.R. Gilruth, “Requirements for Satisfactory Flying Qualities of Airplanes,” NACA TR-755 (1943) [previously issued as Wartime Report L-276 in 1941—ed.], p. 49.
[37]. For Soulé, see his “Flight Measurements of the Dynamic Longitudinal Stability of Several Airplanes and a Correlation of the Measurements with Pilots’ Observations of Handling Characteristics,” NACA TR-578 (1936); and “Preliminary Investigation of the Flying Qualities of Airplanes,” TR-700 (1940). For Gough, see his note, with A.P. Beard, “Limitations of the Pilot in Applying Forces to Airplane Controls,” NACA TN-550 (1936).
[38]. R.R. Gilruth and M.D. White, “Analysis and Prediction of Longitudinal Stability of Airplanes,” NACA TR-711 (1941).
[39]. R.R. Gilruth and W.N. Turner, “Lateral Control Required For Satisfactory Flying Qualities Based on Flight Tests of Numerous Airplanes,” NACA TR-715 (1941).
[40]. R.R. Gilruth, “Requirements for Satisfactory Flying Qualities of Airplanes,” NACA TR-755 (1943).
[41]. Alan H. Wheeler, “. . . That Nothing Failed Them:” Testing Aeroplanes in Wartime (London: G.T. Foulis and Co., Ltd., 1963), pp. 2–3. Wheeler, a distinguished British test pilot, notably relates some of the problems caused the lack of established standards of measurement in this fine memoir.
[42]. George E. Cooper and Robert P. Harper, Jr., “The Use Of Pilot Rating In The Evaluation Of Aircraft Handling Qualities,” NASA TN D 5153 (1969).
[43]. For background of this rating, see George Cooper, Robert Harper, and Roy Martin, “Pilot Rating Scales,” in Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 2004 Report to the Aerospace Profession (Lancaster, CA: Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 2004), pp. 319–337.
[44]. Crouch, “General Aviation: The Search for a Market,” p. 126.
[45]. John A. Harper, “DC-3 Handling Qualities Flight Tests: NACA—1950,” in Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 1991 Report to the Aerospace Profession (Lancaster, CA: SETP, 1991), pp. 264–265; also Arthur Assadourian and John A. Harper, “Determination of the Flying Qualities of the Douglas DC-3 Airplane,” NACA TN-3088 (1953).
[46]. Anshal L. Neilhous, Walter L. Klinar, and Stanley H. Scher, “Status of Spin Research for Recent Airplane Designs,” NASA TR-R-57 (1960).
[47]. William H. Dana, “Pilot’s Flight Notes, Test of Debonair #430T,” 30 Dec. 1964, in file L1-8-2A-13 “Beech Model 33 Debonair” file, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Archives, Edwards, CA. The “C” rating, it might be noted, reflected pilot rating standards at that time, prior to the issuance and widespread adaptation of the Cooper-Harper rating.
[48]. Marvin R. Barber, Charles K. Jones, and Thomas R. Sisk, “An Evaluation Of The Handling Qualities of Seven General-Aviation Aircraft ,” NASA TN D 3726 (1966).
[49]. Barber et al., “An Evaluation of the Handling Qualities of Seven General-Aviation Aircraft,” p. 1.
[50]. Barber et al., ”An Evaluation of the Handling Qualities of Seven General-Aviation Aircraft,” p. 16.
[51]. Barber et al., “An Evaluation of the Handling Qualities of Seven General-Aviation Aircraft,” p. 18.
[52]. Paul C. Loschke, Marvin R. Barber, Calvin R. Jarvis, and Einar K. Enevoldson, “Handling Qualities of Light Aircraft with Advanced Control Systems and Displays,” in Philip Donely et al., NASA Aircraft Safety and Operating Problems, v. 1, NASA SP-270 (Washington, DC: NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1971), p. 189. NASA has continued its research on applying sophisticated avionics to civil and military aircraft for flight safety purposes, as examined by Robert Rivers in a case on synthetic vision systems in this volume.
[53]. Discussed in a companion case study in this series by Peter Merlin.
[54]. Marvin P. Fink and Delma C. Freeman, Jr., “Full-Scale Wind-Tunnel Investigation of Static Longitudinal and Lateral Characteristics of a Light Twin-Engine Aircraft,” NASA TN D-4983 (1969); Chester H. Wolowicz and Roxanah B. Yancey, “Longitudinal Aerodynamic Characteristics of Light Twin-Engine, Propeller-Driven Airplanes,” NASA TN D-6800 (1972); and Chester H. Wolowicz and Roxanah B. Yancey, “Lateral-Directional Aerodynamic Characteristics of Light, Twin-Engine Propeller-Driven Airplanes,” NASA TN D-6946 (1972).
[55]. Afterwards, Wolowicz and Yancey expanded their research to include experimental determination of airplane mass and inertial characteristics. See Chester H. Wolowicz and Roxanah B. Yancey, “Experimental Determination of Airplane Mass and Inertial Characteristics,” NASA TR R-433 (1974).
[56]. Frederick O. Smetana, Delbert C. Summey, and W. Donald Johnson, “Riding and Handling Qualities of Light Aircraft—A Review and Analysis,” NASA CR-1975 (1972).
[57]. William F. Milliken, Jr., “Progress is Dynamic Stability and Control Research,” Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, v. 14, no. 9 (Sep. 1947), pp. 493–519; Harry Greenberg, “A Survey of Methods for Determining Stability Parameters of an Airplane from Dynamic Flight Measurements,” NACA TM-2340 (1951); Marvin Shinbrot, “On the Analysis of Linear and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems From Transient-Response Data,” NACA TN-3288 (1954); Randall D. Grove, Roland L. Bowles, and Stanley C. Mayhew, “A Procedure for Estimating Stability and Control Parameters from Flight Test Data by Using Maximum Likelihood Methods Employing a Real-Time Digital System,” NASA TN D-6735 (1972); and William T. Suit and Robert L. Cannaday, “Comparison of Stability and Control Parameters for a Light, Single-Engine, High-Winged Aircraft Using Different Flight Test and Parameter Estimation Techniques,” NASA TM-80163 (1979).
[58]. William T. Suit, “Aerodynamic Parameters of the Navion Airplane Extracted from Flight Data,” NASA TN D-6643 (1972).
[59]. Richard E. Maine and Kenneth W. Iliff, “A FORTRAN Program for Determining Aircraft Stability and Control Derivatives from Flight Data,” NASA TN D-7831 (1975); and Kenneth W. Iliff and Richard E. Maine, “Practical Aspects of a Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method to Extract Stability and Control Derivatives from Flight Data,” NASA TN D-8209 (1976).
[60]. Russel R. Tanner and Terry D. Montgomery, “Stability and Control Derivative Estimates Obtained from Flight Data for the Beech 99 Aircraft,” NASA TM-72863 (1979).
[61]. Barber and Fischel, “General Aviation: The Seventies and Beyond,” pp. 317–332.
[62]. Barber and Fischel, “General Aviation: The Seventies and Beyond,” p. 325.
[63]. NASA Flight Research Center, Flight Programs Review Committee, “NASA Flight Research Center: Current and Proposed Research Programs” (Jan. 1973), “Development of Flight Systems for General Aviation” slide and attached briefing notes, NASA DFRC Archives.