The U.S. Navy Brewster XF2A-1 Buffalo (BuNo 0451) in the full scale wind tunnel at the NACA Langley Research Center, Virginia (USA), May 2, 1938. NACA Langley's drag-cleanup studies of the Brewster F2A in 1938 were so productive that the U.S. Army and Navy sent most of their prototype and production aircraft to the NACA laboratory for similar examination afterwards. It was called the cave of the winds. For eight decades the Full-Scale Tunnel stood as a fixture of NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, its 30- by 60-foot test section used to try out every imaginable aircraft design, the Mercury spacecraft and even a submarine. Constructed in 1930 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) the wind tunnel was 434 feet long, 222 feet wide and 97 feet tall at its highest. Twin four-bladed wood propellers could move air through the entire volume at speeds up to 125 mph with the help of a 4, 000 horsepower electric motor. | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / NASA / Science Source |
Bildgröße: | 4200 px × 3350 px |
Modell-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Eigentums-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Restrictions: | - |