- Sept. 30, 1946 - Five NACA engineers, headed by
Walt Williams, arrived at Muroc Army Airfield (now Edwards AFB) about
this date from Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, VA, to prepare
for X-1 supersonic research flights in joint NACA-Army Air Forces
program. First NACA-NASA presence is established at the Mojave Desert
site. (Note: Some sources report the arrival of thirteen individuals
on Sept. 30, but an early chronology shows only the original 5, with
a total of 13 NACA people not present at Muroc until December.)
- Dec. 9, 1946 - The first successful rocket-powered
flight of the X-1 (then designated XS-1), flown by Bell pilot Chalmers
Goodlin
- Aug. 20, 1947 - D-558-1 established world speed
record of 640.7 miles per hour
- Sept. 7, 1947 - NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit received
permanent status from Hugh L. Dryden, NACA's Director of Research.
Now numbered 27 people with Walt Williams as Head
- Oct. 14, 1947 - XS-1 exceeded the speed of sound
in history's first supersonic flight
- Nov. 25, 1947 - Howard C. Lilly was first NACA
pilot to fly jet-powered D-558-1 Skystreak
- Mar. 10, 1948 - Herb Hoover was the first NACA
pilot and first civilian to fly supersonically in the X-1
- Nov. 14, 1949 - NACA's Muroc unit, with about 100
people, designated NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS).
Walt Williams was named Chief of the Station
- Sept. 25, 1950 - John Griffith was the first NACA
pilot to fly the X-4 aircraft studying flying qualities of tailless
vehicles
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