Full-Scale Tunnel, Mercury Spacecraft, 1959
In 1959, a full-sized, boilerplate Project Mercury spacecraft is set up for testing. It was called the "cave of the winds" - and no wonder. 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) - NASA's predecessor - 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. The tunnel was used to test virtually every high-performance aircraft used by the United States in WWII. For much of the war, when it was operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the full-scale tunnel was the only tunnel in the free world large enough to perform these tests. After the war, many types of aircraft were tested in the tunnel including the Harrier Jump Jet fighter, the F-16, the American supersonic transport, the Space Shuttle and Lunar Landing Test Vehicle. The wind tunnel was in use through the 2000s, modified to allow new testing procedures, such as free-flight and high angle of attack. 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.
Size: 4500px × 3125px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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