1920

From The Space Library

NACA Report No. 84, entitled "Data on the Design of Plywood for Aircraft," by Armin Elmendorf of the Forest Service, provided basic guidance for aircraft design as well as broader applications.

New aircraft engine laboratory, the second, was completed at the National Bureau of Standards capable of testing 800-hp engines. Work carried out under the direction of L. J. Briggs provided new data on the viscosity of air.

Wind tunnel at Leland Stanford Aerodynamic Laboratory devoted entirely to propeller tests under direction of W. F. Durand, while NACA's George DeBothezat carried on aerodynamic studies at McCook Field.

Secretaries of War and Navy appointed joint Aeronautical Board to consider military questions regarding use of aeronautics by both services. Having no connection with the NACA, the Aeronautical Board replaced the Joint Army and Navy Technical Aircraft Board established during the war to expedite military procurement and exploitation of aviation.

The NACA formulated and recommended reservations regarding the Convention on International Air Navigation (1919) to the State Department prior to U.S. ratification.

New aircraft engines of this year included the French Hisso-design 180- and 300-hp engines by Wright; the Aeromarine 120 and 180: the Packard 300-and (MO-hp types; and the Lowrance 00-and 200-hp air-cooled engines.

Moon eclipse observed by Lts. J. II. Tilton and W. H. Cushing from height of 3 wiles at NAS Rockaway, N.Y.

During 1920-22: Robert H. Goddard experimented with liquid oxygen and various liquid hydrocarbons, including gasoline and liquid propane as well as ether, as rocket fuel, under a grant by Clark University. He concluded that although oxygen and hydrogen possessed the greatest heat energy per unit mass, that liquid oxygen and liquid methane offered greatest heat value of combinations which could be used without considerable difficulty. But, he said, "the most practical combination appears to be liquid oxygen and gasoline."