National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
	The official seal of NACA, depicting the Wright Flyer and the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
	Logo
Agency overview
Formed	March 3, 1915
Dissolved	October 1, 1958
Superseding agency	NASA;
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research.^[1] On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets and personnel were transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NACA is an initialism, i.e., pronounced as individual letters, rather than as a whole word^[2] (as was NASA during the early years after being established).^[3]

Among other advancements, NACA research and development produced the NACA duct, a type of air intake used in modern automotive applications, the NACA cowling, and several series of NACA airfoils,^[4] which are still used in aircraft manufacturing.

During World War II, NACA was described as "The Force Behind Our Air Supremacy" due to its key role in producing working superchargers for high altitude bombers, and for producing the laminar wing profiles for the North American P-51 Mustang.^[5] NACA also helped in developing the area rule that is used on all modern supersonic aircraft, and conducted the key compressibility research that enabled the Bell X-1 to break the sound barrier.

^ "NACA Overview". history.nasa.gov. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
^ Murray, Charles, and Catherine Bly Cox. Apollo. South Mountain Books, 2004, p. xiii.
^ Jeff Quitney (May 17, 2013). "Creation of NASA: Message to Employees of NACA from T. Keith Glennan 1958 NASA". Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2018 – via YouTube.
^ Abbot, Ira H. "Summary of airfoil data NACA report 824" (PDF). engineering.purdue.edu/. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
^ "NASA - WWII & NACA: US Aviation Research Helped Speed Victory". www.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on December 18, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2018.

[1] "NACA Overview". history.nasa.gov. Retrieved April 20, 2022.

[2] Murray, Charles, and Catherine Bly Cox. Apollo. South Mountain Books, 2004, p. xiii.

[3] Jeff Quitney (May 17, 2013). "Creation of NASA: Message to Employees of NACA from T. Keith Glennan 1958 NASA". Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2018 – via YouTube.

[4] Abbot, Ira H. "Summary of airfoil data NACA report 824" (PDF). engineering.purdue.edu/. Retrieved April 20, 2022.

[nasa.gov-5] "NASA - WWII & NACA: US Aviation Research Helped Speed Victory". www.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on December 18, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2018.

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