In 1959, a full-sized, boilerplate Project Mercury spacecraft is set up for testing. 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. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985, but despite this designation and the efforts of some aviation historians, demolition of the tunnel began in 2010. It was documented before its demolition, with the fan blades being salvaged for display. |