This Federal Laboratory has played a pivotal role in creating our modern air traffic control system. Established as the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center in 1958, the Technical Center’s research and engineering achievements, and its direct support to airports and FAA air traffic control facilities have led to the highest level of safety in air transportation.
USA
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2008
Known as the birthplace of Naval Aviation, North Island was the site of the first successful seaplane flight and the first amphibious flight in the U.S., both made by Glenn Curtiss. The first Naval pilot, Lt. T.G. Ellyson, was trained here at the Curtiss Aviation Camp. A flight school established here by Ellyson trained the next Naval aviators as well as the Navy’s first aviation maintenance personnel. North Island was also the site of the first night flight, and the home of the first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley.
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Image Caption: USS George Washington and USS Ronald Reagan pierside at Naval Air Station North Island
2002
This site, originally the home of the Eclipse-Pioneer Division of the Bendix Aviation Corporation, has produced navigational instruments and engine components since 1938. Providing instruments that flew with Lindbergh across the Atlantic, and Admiral Byrd in the cold of Antarctica; from guiding American pilots in times of peace and war, to putting men on the moon, the “Bendix Invisible Crew” has been a leader in innovation and technology in the world of aviation and space exploration.
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Image Caption: RIM-8 Talos surface to air missile built by Bendix Corporation in test launcher at White Sands Missile Range New Mexico
2003
The Purdue University Airport was the first collegiate owned airport in the United States. It hosted Amelia Earhart for her final adventure, was the training ground for test pilots such a Jimmy Johnson and Ivan Kincheloe, balloonist Malcolm Ross, and astronaut Neil Armstrong. Purdue University Airport and its people and programs pushed aviation’s evolution to new heights and helped expand the frontiers of flight. During WWII, hundreds of U.S. Army and Navy members were trained at the airport.
T.S.C. Lowe’s Observation Flight
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Image Caption: View of balloon ascension. Prof. Thaddeus Lowe observing the Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks from his balloon "Intrepid" on the north side of the Chicahominy.
2010
The Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, now the core of the Langley Research Center, was a unique facility that served as the nexus of aerodynamic research in the U.S. from its beginning in 1917 to its transformation into NASA’s Langley Research Center in 1958. It achieved world renown for its variety of specialized research tools and its staff’s emphasis on practical solutions to the problems of flight.
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Image Caption: Entrance to NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, United States.
2001
On this site, which was the Dutch Flats Airport, Charles A. Lindbergh made the first flight of his Spirit of St. Louis airplane, constructed in 60 days by dedicated employees of Ryan Airlines, Inc. The 20-minute flight on 28 April 1927 was witnessed by those who built the aircraft. Lindbergh describes the flight:
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Image Caption: The instrument panel of the Spirit of St. Louis
2000
On 15 November 1950, the SSFL conducted its first official test with a Rocketdyne-designed XLR43-NA-1 large liquid propellant rocket engine, which later became the Redstone engine. Encompassing 2558 acres, 18 large static test stands, 5 component test laboratories and an advanced test facility, the SSFL and its dedicated employees have provided significant contributions to U.S. rocketry and space programs for over 50 years.
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Image Caption: Rocketdyne's test stand for testing the J-2 engine in Santa Susana Mountains, 1963
2001
Built in 1880 as the Piccatinny Powder Depot, this site was the major supplier of smokeless powder to the military for many years.
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2006
The first company in the United States dedicated solely to the production of the liquid rocket engine, Reaction Motors, Inc. (RMI) was formed in 1941. Its four founders were rocket enthusiasts and members of the American Rocket Society. RMI developed the rocket motors that powered the first supersonic flight, that of the X-1; the retro rockets for five NASA surveyor lunar soft landers; and prepackaged liquid rocket engines for the U.S. Navy Bullpup A & B air to ground missiles, among many other pioneering programs.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Smithsonian InstitutionImage Caption: James Wyld, one of the RMI founders, holding a rocket motor at an ARS test in Midvale, New Jersey, 1941.
2004
Innovations
When erected by Peter Grubb to smelt the rich iron ore of the nearby Cornwall ore banks, this stone-built blast furnace was typical for its time, producing about 20 tons of pig-iron and cast-iron products a week. A major reconstruction in 1856 to 1857 produced important changes: the furnace itself… Read More
In 1899, engineers from the City of Chicago's Division of Bridges and Viaducts performed a survey of moveable bridge design in the U.S. and Europe. Their study led to the conclusion that the unusual trunnion bascule design would best meet their needs.
The Cortland Street Drawbridge…
Cotton was once transported from farms to gins by wagons, trucks or trailers. Long waits to unload at the gin stalled harvests until haulers could return to the fields.
Professor Lambert Wilkes of the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, developed the Cotton Module… Read More
Inferior water and the lack of a sufficient water supply prompted public pressure to find a significant water source for the 360,000 of people living in New York City at the time. Studies determined that the Croton River, 40 miles north of the city, was the best available source. The original…
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Although bottled carbonated beverages were popular by the 1880s, sealing the bottle was a constant problem. Most "stoppers" were of metal and intended for reuse. None sealed adequately, and contact with the cap often contaminated the drink.
In 1892 (Feb 2), William Painter (1838-1906) patented a… Read More
One of four single-track tunnels built by the Blue Ridge Railroad, the 4,273-foot Crozet Tunnel was constructed at a time when hand drills, pickaxes, and black powder amounted to state-of-the-art tunneling technology. At the time of its completion, it was the longest railroad tunnel in the…
Winding over 64 miles through the majestic San Juan mountains, the narrow-gauge railway known today as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad was built as a branch of the extensive Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad that ran through western Colorado and most of Utah. It originally…
The largest rolled-earth fill dam in the world at the time of its completion, Denison Dam eventually served as a prototype for dam construction in future U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects throughout the arid plains of the American Southwest. Procedures and equipment developed during…
The David Taylor Model Basin is among the largest facilities of its kind in the world, containing a shallow water basin, a deep water basin and a high-speed basin. Using its sophisticated combination of towing carriages, wave makers, and measuring equipment, engineers are able to determine the sea-… Read More
Before the Davis Island Lock & Dam were built, the flow of the Ohio River slowed to little more than a trickle during dry periods. For several months each year, the unreliable flow stranded Pittsburgh's steamboats, towboats, and barges.
The Davis Island Lock &…
The Delaware Aqueduct provided an important transportation link between the Pennsylvania's coalmines and New York's booming industrial marketplace. It is the earliest surviving work of John A. Roebling, who designed the Brooklyn Bridge 30 years later. The cable anchorage system first used…
Delta Air Lines’ historic buildings consist of two aircraft hangers and several office buildings at the Delta World Headquarters site constructed between 1941 and 1947. On March 1, 1941, Delta Air Lines moved its corporate headquarters to Atlanta, constructing offices space and Hangar 1, the…
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The concept of heating a number of buildings in the core area of a city from a single heating plant was introduced into the United States by Birdsill Holly at Lockport, New York, in 1877. The gain in thermal efficiency of a single large steam plant over a series of small isolated boilers led to…
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The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is a 5,160-foot structure that carries traffic under the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan and Ontario, Canada. Privately financed, built, and owned, it was completed in 26 months, 10 months ahead of schedule.
The project's engineer, the firm of…
The Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) was recognized as an ASME Mechanical Engineering Historic Landmark in 2008. Its development began in 1977 with the forming of a small team at Texas Instruments headed by noted physicist Larry Hornbeck. Texas Instruments was given a project from the Department… Read More
The Dismal Swamp Canal was created as a 22-mile waterway, extending from Deep Creek, Virginia to South Mills, North Carolina. The canal enabled North Carolina producers of building and agricultural products to deliver goods to the Port of Norfolk where they were transferred to ocean-going…
Disney engineers designed this monorail system based on the system developed by Axel Wenner-Gren of the Alweg Company in Cologne, West Germany. Wenner-Gren ran his experimental monorail in 1952 on a level track, and when adopted by Disney in 1959, it was designed to simulate the terrain typical of… Read More
The Dorton Arena was the first use of a cable-supported roof system in the world. Commissioned in 1949 by North Carolina State Fair manager J.S. Dorton, the new building was intended to be a livestock judging pavilion. Architect Matthew Nowicki (1910 - 1950) proposed a structure that…
Established in 1929, and owned by several different aviation companies through its history, the Downey site was the design, test, and production site for various airplanes and spacecraft that defined American aerospace accomplishments in the 20th century. Its rich legacy includes the P-51…
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The drilling of this oil well marks the modern phase of the petroleum industry. A series of revolutionary technological changes, unforeseen even by the most prophetic, followed. Drake demonstrated practical oil recovery by applying salt-well drilling techniques, including the use of the derrick…
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