National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

The **National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)** was a United States federal agency. It was founded on March 3, 1915. The agency researched flight technology and aircraft. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved. Its employees were moved to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

## Founding

NACA was founded on March 3, 1915. At that time, technology and culture were changing quickly. American flight technology was not as advanced as Europe's. The American public had mixed feelings about flight technology. Some people thought that flying was dangerous and foolish. Some thought that it was an important achievement in technology. But in Europe, people were more confident in flight technology.

When World War I started in Europe, the Europeans were already using advanced flight technology. The Germans used airships to bomb British cities. Airplanes were used to spy on enemies. This worried the Americans, who realized that their flight technology is behind Europe's. In response, the federal government of the United States created NACA on March 3, 1915.

## Research

By the 1920s, the NACA's mission was to promote military and civilian flight. The NACA did this by researching new flight technologies. To help this research, the NACA built many testing facilities. This included wind tunnels, test stands, and flight test facilities. The agency received a budget of $5000 in 1915.

### World War II

The NACA was involved in World War II. They helped research many flight technologies. A lot of the research that the NACA did before World War II was used to make American fighter planes fly better. They researched how to reduce drag. Drag slows down airplanes when moving in the air. They also researched how to stop the propellers of the plane from freezing.

## NASA

On November 21, 1957, Hugh Dryden, NACA's director, established the Special Committee on Space Technology. This committee was created to help develop a space program.

## Chairmen

|No.|Portrait|Name|Term|President||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1||Brig. Gen. George P. Scriven|1915–1916|rowspan=4|Woodrow Wilson|||
|2||William F. Durand|1916–1918|||||
|3||John R. Freeman|1918–1919|||||
|rowspan=3|4|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|Charles Doolittle Walcott|rowspan=3|1920–1927|
|rowspan=1|Warren G. Harding|||||||
|rowspan=2|Calvin Coolidge|||||||
|rowspan=3|5|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|Joseph Sweetman Ames|rowspan=3|1927–1939|
|rowspan=1|Herbert Hoover|||||||
|rowspan=3|Franklin D. Roosevelt|||||||
|6||Vannevar Bush|1940–1941|||||
|rowspan=3|7|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|Capt. Jerome C. Hunsaker|rowspan=3|1941–1956|
|rowspan=1|Harry S. Truman|||||||
|rowspan=2|Dwight D. Eisenhower|||||||
|8||Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle|1957–1958|||||

## Infobox (government agency)

- **agency name**: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
- **logo**: US NACA logo.svg
- **logo width**: 180px
- **logo caption**: Logo
- **seal**: NACA seal (cropped).png
- **seal width**: 140px
- **seal caption**: The official seal of NACA. It depicts the first flight by the Wright brothers.
- **formed**: March 3, 1915
- **dissolved**: October 1, 1958
- **superseding**: NASA
- **jurisdiction**: Federal government of the United States