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Full-scale models of the Wright Flyer have recently been tested in NASA wind tunnels as well.

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Up next, we'll find out how flight has progressed since 1903.

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But first, did you know that the original Wright Flyer was first housed in a British science museum from 1928 until 1948?

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The Flyer was first offered to the Smithsonian Institute in 1910.

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But Smithsonian officials declined the offer, contending that the former Smithsonian director, Samuel Langley,

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had in fact built the first airplane capable of flight.

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Incensed at the obvious slight, Orville Wright assembled the aircraft and allowed the Science Museum of London exclusive rights to display it.

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The disagreement between the Smithsonian and Orville was resolved after the Smithsonian offered a public apology,

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stating the Wrights were in fact the first to fly.

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The dedication of the Wright Flyer in the Smithsonian Institute took place on December 17, 1948, 45 years after its first flight.

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After the Wright brothers provided a template for flying machines,

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aeronautical breakthroughs were achieved at a relatively quick pace.

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In fact, only 66 years after the first powered flight,

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the Apollo 11 spacecraft became the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon.

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This and many other amazing achievements were due in large part to the work done by NASA

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and its predecessor, NACA, or the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

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From its humble beginning through today, NASA has truly changed the way we all live.

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By 1915, the United States was already falling behind the Europeans in aircraft design and manufacturing.

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To stem this tide, President Woodrow Wilson asked that an aeronautics organization be developed,

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modeled after the British Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

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With only a $5,000 initial appropriation and 12 unpaid members,

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the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was born.

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Its mission was to supervise and direct the scientific study of flight here in the United States.

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With the first aeronautics lab at Langley Field opening for business in 1917,

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aviation would soon be entering its golden age.

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From 1917 through 1958, NACA was responsible for many pioneering flight achievements in history.

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NACA was involved in virtually every area of flight

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and would soon be known as the foremost aeronautics lab in the world for its pioneering research.

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I had heard about it when I was in college

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because two of my aeronautics professors had worked at Langley

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and they said that they thought all aeronautical engineers ought to work at Langley

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for a couple of years just for that experience.

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Well, I went there for a couple of years and then stayed for 35.

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One of NACA's first major accomplishments came in 1922

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with the construction of the Variable Density Wind Tunnel.

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Before this tunnel was built, researchers could only test aircraft models at sea level,

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which left huge gaps in the understanding of aircraft performance at high altitudes.

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With the new Variable Density Tunnel,

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NACA researchers for the first time could compress air

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and simulate high-altitude flying.

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This provided accurate data for aircraft manufacturers,

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greatly improving the quality of aircraft being produced.

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The Variable Density Tunnel was just the first of many NACA and NASA wind tunnels to come.

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NACA wind tunnel research helped define and alter many problems

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that early aircraft were experiencing in flight.

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Through the 1920s and 30s,

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this research helped engineers with breakthroughs in cowling research and in new wing designs.

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However, some of the most important work in NACA wind tunnels came at the dawn of World War II.

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Just a few short years before the U.S. entered World War II,

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it was found that many of the aircraft that American pilots were flying

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were slower and less maneuverable than the aircraft that their future enemies were piloting.

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In an effort to find a low-cost way to increase American aircraft performance,

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NACA engineers began evaluating aircraft in drag cleanup experiments.

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By placing an aircraft in a wind tunnel,

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engineers could look at the entire area of the aircraft

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and determine which area could be made aerodynamically smoother.

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This evaluation process greatly improved American aircraft performance.

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During one month alone, July 1944,

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36 U.S. Army and Navy planes were evaluated

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in detailed studies of stability, control, and performance.

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All in all, NACA engineers tested 137 different aircraft types

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between 1941 and 1945, either in wind tunnels or in flight.

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A typical performance improvement was seen on the Navy's F4F aircraft.

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When Langley researchers streamlined the U.S. Navy's Wildcat,

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it was able to fly a full 45 miles per hour faster.

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Improvements like this were seen in virtually every aircraft evaluated,

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undoubtedly saving many lives.

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After the war, a large part of NACA's focus turned to jet-powered aircraft.

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With the success of Chuck Yeager and the X-1,

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America had once again taken the lead in aircraft design.

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In the years to come, NACA researchers would make key aeronautical breakthroughs in quick succession.

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Many believed that the freedom that was given to engineers to explore possibilities

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fueled many of these great breakthroughs.

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I give plenty of credit to Langley because they provided so much for...

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I could never have done what I did without the Langley team.

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I could never have done what I did without the Langley Research Center.

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They provided vast amounts of money and equipment,

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personnel that were required to demonstrate these ideas.

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One of the things I mentioned was the fact that when I first had the idea of the aerial rule,

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having the idea was not, to me as an engineer, as important

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than putting the thing in a wind tunnel and demonstrating that it worked.

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Without NASA, anything that I ever wrote on the damn thing would be in a file somewhere.

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NACA's mission changed on October 1, 1958,

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when it was absorbed into the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA.

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This agency was formed primarily to focus on solving problems related to spaceflight,

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but would also continue to focus on aeronautical problems as well.

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Researchers at NASA have continually been on the forefront of aeronautical exploration.

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In fact, virtually every American aircraft, commercial and military,

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have been tested in some way by NASA researchers.

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This strong history of aeronautical research continues today and will continue in the future.

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Jennifer Pulley spoke with Bob McKinley at NASA Langley Research Center

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to find out what airplanes might look like in the near future.