Dr. HUNSAKER. Yes. They get $6 a day, the same amount that any Federal employee would be getting. They usually come in the morning and get out at night, so as not to have to rent a room. They have a 1-day meeting, and their expenses to the Government are their travel expenses plus the keeping of the minutes, and an engineersecretary to keep them coordinated and present the problems to them. And then they report on what they think the problems of the industry and of the art are to us.

Mr. WOODRUM. Then the need of these extra employees is principally for the servicing of these committees?

Mr. VICTBRY. Principally that. There are additional factors growing out of the enlarged scope of activities in the laboratories. We do have more financial work, more purchasing work, and more personnel work, which must be handled at the Washington headquarters office. But the expansion in Washington is not in proportion to the expansion in the field. We are sincerely trying to keep it down.

DIFFICULTY OF KEEPING EMPLOYEES DUE TO SELECTIVE SERVICE

Dr. HUNSAKER. Plus selective-service difficulties.

Mr. VICTORY. Yes; that is our worst headache, really.

Mr. WOODRUM. If this request is allowed, it will make your total 155 in the Washington office?

Mr. VICTORY. Yes.

Mr. WCODRUM. Against 132?

Mr. VICTORY. That is right.

(Statement off the record on selective-service difficulties.)

Mr. DIRKSEN. Since Mr. Victory has raised the question, have you asked for deferment for any members of your administrative staff? Mr. VICTORY. Not for the administrative staff. We asked for deferment only for our professional staff and for the essential members of the mechanical force.

Mr. STARNES. I am glad to hear you make that statement. I think that is the proper attitude to come here with.

Mr. DIRKSEN. Do you think it would be possible for you to find out where these employees of yours land in the Army and then make representations to the War Department for their release? I understand that where a man has particular technical qualifications the War Department has proceeded on the idea that if he is invaluable in one place they will release him.

Mr. VICTORY. Up to last fall we had very good relations, and we lost no really essential people. We have been working out a replacement schedule and a manning table recently, which we have submitted to the Selective Service. In the meantime the draft boards have jumped the gun, so to speak, and have ordered up for induction 11 of our keymen, and a crisis has arisen which will come to a head this week.

Since the draft first started we have had very good relations. At the very beginning we did lose one engineer, but the Army discharged him and so he is back with us.

PRESENT AND PROPOSED ADDITIONAL NUMBER OF PERSONNEL FOR
WASHINGTON OFFICE

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Will you insert in the record a list of these 23 positions for the Washington office and also the number of the same type of people in each instance that you now have on the rolls?

Mr. VICTORY. Yes, sir.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

Mr. WOODRUM. Dr. Lewis, will you take up these other items on research and give us a statement on each one, in the order in which you think they should be presented?

Dr. LEWIS. I will first take up the estimates of Langley Field. We are asking an increase in personnel from 1,619 to 2,126, or an increase of 507. This increase is due in part to the completion and putting in operation of new research facilities. The new research facilities recently completed at Langley Field are the 16-foot 500mile-an-hour wind tunnel, the new seaplane-testing channel, a seaplane impact basin, a new low-turbulence variable-density wind tunnel, and a new stability wind tunnel. All this equipment, with the exception of the seaplane impact basin, is in operation, but not fully manned for most efficient operation, that is, on a two-shift basis.

The second reason for the increase in personnel at Langley Field is the very large number of research projects that have been requested by the Army and Navy. For the past year the Langley Field Îaboratory has been working 100 percent on national defense projects for the Army and Navy. These projects are of three kinds: First, projects in which the committee is requested to improve existing designs, either by increasing the speed or range, or by improving maneuverability and take-off and landing characteristics; and in many cases of very high

performance airplanes, to improve the strength characteristics of certain parts of the aircraft structure.

Secondly, by far the largest number of research projects have to do with new and advanced designs that have been accepted for experimental airplanes. Before experimental airplanes are constructed, based on these new and advanced designs, certain research must be done to be assured that the airplane will answer the performance requirements and will be safe from the standpoint of stability and control. To expedite the design and construction of these experimental airplanes, the Army Air Forces maintain at Langley Field a large liaison office, with a colonel in charge. This liaison office provides facilities for design engineers and manufacturers to be present at Langley Field to witness tests on their airplanes and to send back immediately to their factories the results of investigations. This liaison with the industry has proved most successful and has eliminated the delay in placing in the hands of the designer research information he must have to complete a successful design.

The third type of research requested by the Army and Navy is of a fundamental character, leading to the development of new and novel designs which have not as yet been incorporated in any type of airplane. The various types of tailless airplanes would form part of this category, and here research must be conducted to be assured of adequate safety in providing stability and control in flight before any considerable work is done on the design and construction of an experimental model.

The war needs have made necessary the utmost cooperation between the Army Air Forces, the Bureau of Aeronautics, the aircraft manufacturers, and the N. A. C. A. In the construction of a new airplane, time is a most important factor; and when the Army and Navy have announced new tactical requirements, a conference is then arranged, usually at Langley Field, between the technical officers of the Army Air Forces and the Bureau of Aeronautics, the aircraft manufacturer concerned, and N. A. C. A. engineers. As a result of the careful analysis of the new design, a research program is prepared that is satisfactory to the military services, the manufacturer, and the committee. In many cases this program will involve the investigation of four different models in four different kinds of wind tunnels. The presence of the manufacturer's representatives, and the close association of the Army Air Forces liaison office and the Navy make possible a complete understanding of the results of the research and their application to the design under consideration. This elimination of the delay in research information reaching the designer has greatly expedited our airplane development program. The investigation in the full-scale wind tunnel of experimental models all completed and ready for production, of means for improving drag characteristics and thus increasing the speed or the range of the airplane, has probably been one of the most helpful things the Committee has been able to do for the Army and Navy. The problem of engine installation is another serious problem in which the N. A. C. A. has been of great assistance by investigating, either in the full-scale wind tunnel or in the 16-foot wind tunnel

at Langley Field, a complete engine installation, with propeller mounted on a stub wing, and overcoming many of the installation problems. The modern high-powered high-altitude engine installation is extremely complicated. Air must be provided at a minimum. cost in drag or resistance, to the supercharger, to cool the aftercooler which is placed between the supercharger and the carburetor, the oil radiator, and, in the case of the liquid-cooled engine, the Prestone radiator. All this equipment must be combined in a small space, and still be readily accessible. This problem is so important that we have set up at Langley Field a power-plant installation group, which consists of representatives of the liason office and designers from the various aircraft manufacturers, and is headed up by N. A. C. A. engineers. This group actually designs and lays out engine installations for the new types of airplanes that are now being developed.

As performance increases, especially speed, of both fighter types and bombers, more attention must be given to the structural integrity of the airplane. This is particularly true with reference to the tail structure, consisting of the rudder, stabilizer, and elevator. The loads imposed on the tail structure when operated at high speeds, are excessive; and flight investigations are now under way at the Committee's laboratory to determine the actual loads imposed upon the tail structure when maneuvering at high speeds. I have here a model of the North American Mustang airplane. This model is of particular interest in that it is considered the best pursuit airplane that we now have. One interesting feature of this airplane is shown here [indicating on model]-a new type of wing known as the lowdrag wing. This development is a result of research at Langley Field, conducted in the low-turbulence variable-density wind tunnel, and indicates that in many cases it is possible to design a wing form or shape that will reduce the drag as much as 50 percent of the drag of the normal wing. This development has many possibilities, especially in connection with the development of wings for high-speed airplanes.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is the P-51.

Dr. LEWIS. Yes; the P-51, known at the Mustang. This airplane is being made in quantity by the North American Co., and is to be equipped with either the Allison engine or the Packard-built RollsRoyce.

(Further discussion off the record.)

PRESENT AND PROPOSED ADDITIONAL NUMBER OF PERSONNEL,
LANGLEY AERONAUTICAL LABORATORY

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Will you insert in the record a statement showing your present personnel at Langley Field and the additional number of personnel in each grade proposed for 1944?

Mr. VICTORY. I will do so.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

Mr. WOODRUM. Shall we take up now, Dr. Lewis, the Ames and Cleveland Laboratories?

Dr. LEWIS. The Ames Laboratory.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Dr. Lewis, will you furnish for the record the same information that I requested in respect to the Ames Laboratory?

Dr. LEWIS. In respect to personnel?

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Yes; that is, showing what the personnel is at the present time, and the amount of additional personnel required; breaking them down as between what you now have and your request.