NASA Langley Research Center, 8-Foot High Speed Wind Tunnel, 641 Thornell Avenue, Hampton, Hampton, Virginia

Significance: The facility was authorized in July 1933 and built by the Public Works Administration for $26,000. It tested complete models of aircraft and aircraft components in a high-speed airstream approaching the speed of sound. Originally capable of testing at Mach 0.75, it was repowered in the 1940s and early 1950s to have a Mach 1.2 potential. The most important contribution of the HST was defining the causes and cures for the sever adverse stability and control problems encountered in high-speed dives. This tunnel also produced the high-speed cowling shapes used in World War II aircraft, and efficient air inlets for jet aircraft. The first 500-MPH analyses of propellers were made here early in the war. After repowering, the 8-Foot Tunnel produced precise transonic data up to Mach numbers as high as 0.92 for such aircraft as the X-1, D-558, and others. Its final achievement was the development and use in routine operations of the first transonic slotted throat. The investigations of wing-body shapes in this tunnel led to Richard Whitcomb's discovery of the transonic area rule. The HST developed an impressive record in aviation history as an example of accomplishment by imaginative researchers.

Survey number: HAER VA-118-B

Building/structure dates: 1936 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1944 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1945 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1950 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1946 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1966 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1985 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 2011 Demolished

sussex at hampton nasa langley research nasa langley research center high wind tunnel wind tunnel thornell thornell avenue hampton virginia wind tunnels aeronautics reinforced concrete construction motors offices art deco architectural elements testing works progress administration richard k anderson john becker chris cunningham donald m durst david h dutton hardlines design and delineation dean a herrin historic american engineering record manley j hood eastman n jacobs matthew r laird langley memorial aeronautical laboratory george w lewis jet lowe national advisory committee for aeronautics national aeronautics and space administration michael newbill william orlin public works administration virgil s ritchie russell g robinson john stack robert c stewart charissa y wang richard whitcomb ray h wright ultra high resolution high resolution industrial history library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html