National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was established by Congress in 1915 to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight.” The NACA created the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory at nearby Langley Field in 1917. Overseen by an advisory committee including Orville Wright and Charles Lindbergh, the laboratory created and used specialized wind tunnels and facilities to research and accelerate aeronautic technologies during peacetime and wartime from the 1920s to the late 1950s. In 1958, the NACA was superseded by the modern NASA and the laboratory was renamed the Langley Research Center.