 This week marked the 100th anniversary of the NACA, the incredibly historically important organization that you've probably never heard of, but historically important means that it's perfect fodder for vintage space. There's some lingering controversy over who actually made the first heavier-than-air flight, but history does say that the Wright brothers did make a heavier-than-air flight in 1903 on December 17th. In the 10 years after that flight, aviation progressed extremely rapidly. Engineers streamlined designs and added closed fuselages, and when the First World War started in 1914, airplanes were already part of armies. The first military flights were reconnaissance missions, but by 1915, armed navigators and guns on the front of airplanes were turning them into combat planes. And yet the United States, home to the Wright brothers, was falling behind this development of aviation. It was European engineers who were making the most significant developments in the early and mid-1910s. Unwilling to be outdone by its European counterparts, and worried about having a lesser air power in future wars, the United States sought to catch up. And so, attached as a writer to enable appropriations bill on March 3rd of 1915, Congress founded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The new organization's mission was beautifully summed up in its credo. It shall be the duty of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution. The NACA's beginnings went almost unnoticed, and that's because the organization didn't exactly start with the erection of crazy new buildings and a massive workforce. The original NACA was just a 12-person committee, all volunteers, none of them paid, that are answered directly to the President of the United States. As the name suggests, the committee served in an advisory capacity only, coordinating ongoing research efforts already underway nationwide. But it wasn't long before the NACA took on a more central and engaged role. Its first research and testing site was established in Virginia in 1920, the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory. The addition of the new site saw the NACA's workforce expand as well. When the lab opened, it had 11 technicians and four professionals. By 1925, Langley had more than 100 employees. Langley hit its stride in the 1920s, and a lot of its success could be chalked up to its resources. Langley had some of the best wind tunnels in the world, as well as the first variable density wind tunnel, a wind tunnel that can allow for very accurate testing with small-scale model aircraft. This early testing led to some major advances in aviation, like the engine cowling, an aerodynamic fairing that's used to streamline radial engines and reduce overall drag. Before long, Langley became too small for the NACA's activities and there was need for a second research site. In 1939, California was selected to host what is now the AIMS Research Laboratory. In 1941, a third laboratory, the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory, was established in Cleveland. The Second World War proved to be possibly the most important event to strike the NACA. The NACA helped develop airfoil shapes for wings and propellers, types of things that ended up informing Second World War-era fighters like the P-51 Mustang. It was also a massive period of growth for the NACA. The Langley Laboratory had about 460 employees in 1938. By the end of the Second World War in 1945, there were more than 3,000 people working at that site in Virginia. After the Second World War ended, the NACA's role shifted just a little bit. The American military was becoming increasingly interested in things like jet and rocket-powered aircraft and even supersonic flight. The military may have native these aircraft, but it was the NACA that had the research knowledge and the facilities to figure out the problems associated with all of these high-speed flight profiles. It was in this post-war era that a new NACA center joined the fold. The high-speed flight station at the Air Force, Maroc Field, later renamed the Edwards Air Force Base. It was here that the NACA worked very closely with the US Air Force and Bell Aircraft to create the X-1, the aircraft in which Czech Yeager broke the sand barrier in 1947. This eventually became a very familiar arrangement. If the military needed an aircraft, it would call in the NACA to do the research to bring that aircraft to life. The second event that rocked the NACA was the launch of Sputnik in 1957. The US military might have had the missiles to launch things, but it was the NACA that had been developing capsules that would be able to carry men into space. In the period immediately after Sputnik's launch when every military branch and industry contractor had an idea for a manned spaceflight program, it was President Eisenhower that decided to create an entirely civilian agency with the goal of getting a man and a satellite into orbit. On October 1st of 1958, the NACA ceased to exist, replaced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The NACA formed the backbone of the new NASA and inherited some 8,000 employees and $3 million worth of research facilities, not to mention the NACA's outstanding reputation. So really, the centennial of the NACA is kind of like NASA's 100th anniversary. So how many of you guys have actually heard of the NACA before? Let me know in the comments below. And for old-timey space updates every day of the week, be sure to follow me on Twitter as AST Vintage Space and with new updates every Tuesday and Friday, subscribe right here so you never miss an episode.