The N.A.C.A.'s Role in Guided Missile Research

Abstract

THE role of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the present national effort devoted to the development of guided missiles is quite similar to the role the N.A.C.A. has taken for many years in connexion with piloted aircraft. This role, as specified by Congress in 1915, is to ‘supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution’. While the advent of guided missiles has naturally introduced some new aerodynamic problems, many of the problems are the same as those of piloted aircraft. The chief job of the N.A.C.A. is to find solutions to these problems and to supply the information necessary for the scientific design of aeroplanes and missiles. The present interest in both types of aircraft covers subsonic speeds, transonic speeds, and supersonic speeds. The N.A.C.A. has three laboratories devoted to this research. These laboratories are located at Moffett Field, Calif.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Langlcy Field, Va. Each of these laboratories has wind tunnels and other facilities devoted to the guided missile effort. Since the wind‐tunnel work of the N.A.C.A. is well known, 1 would like to review a lesser‐known programme being conducted by the N.A.C.A.'s Langley Laboratory by means of rocket‐propelled test models at its Pilotless Aircraft Research Station at Wallops Island, Va.

Citation

Shortal, J.A. (1953), "The N.A.C.A.'s Role in Guided Missile Research", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 96-100. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb032278