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#OnThisDay in 1939, the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory (@nasaames) was established as part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). In 1958, NACA was absorbed into the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA. In the 1940s, the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory was leading wind tunnel research in high-speed aeronautics. Ames was the second laboratory created by NACA after the establishment of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia in 1917. Named in honor of Joseph Sweetman Ames, a leading physicist and one of the founding members of NACA, NASA’s Ames Research Center remains a world-leading wind tunnel facility for testing aircraft components, models, and airframes. See our photography essay on the Ames Research Center, “Pushing the Envelope: NASA’s Ames Research Center Wind Tunnels” on display, pre-security, in the Aviation Museum and Library. https://bit.ly/NASAAmesWind This image was posted on December 20, 2022.