NASA Langley Research Center, Full-Scale Wind Tunnel, 224 Hunting Avenue, Hampton, Hampton, Virginia

Significance: The facility allowed wind tunnel research into fields that could be most effectively investigated with full-scale models and actual aircraft. Until 1945 it was the largest wind tunnel in the world. "Drag cleanup tests" performed here on most World War II military aircraft significantly improved their performance. The facility was used to test a variety of vehicles including military aircraft, dirigibles and submarines. The original tunnel design proved to be versatile and as the study of aerodynamics advanced it was used to study handling problems of hypersonic aircraft and space reentry vehicles. In the 1960s and 1970s the tunnel was modified and equipped for dynamic free-flight model testing. When the facility was closed in September of 1995, it was NASA's oldest operating wind tunnel. Many achievements of the American aerospace industry can be traced to the aeronautical research performed in the full-scale tunnel.

Survey number: HAER VA-118-A

Building/structure dates: 1929-1931 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1977 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1984 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 2010 Demolished

sussex at hampton nasa langley research nasa langley research center full scale wind tunnel full scale wind tunnel hampton virginia wind tunnels motor generator sets motors steel structural frames asbestos siding testing aeronautics machine shops offices hangars richard k anderson chris cunningham clinton h dearborn smith j defrance donald m durst david h dutton harry j goett hardlines design and delineation dean a herrin historic american engineering record matthew r laird langley memorial aeronautical laboratory jet lowe national advisory committee for aeronautics national aeronautics and space administration michael newbill old dominion university bill salyer abraham silverstein robert c stewart charissa y wang frank h whenham photo ultra high resolution high resolution library of congress wind tunnel engineering

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

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