Aerospace in Adolescence: McCook Field and the Beginnings of Modern Flight Research

Abstract

In March of 1927, in B. Franklin Mahoney’s small San Diego manufacturing plant, the construction of Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis began. Less than three months later, this modest little monoplane touched off a burst of aeronautical enthusiasm that would serve as a catalyst for the nascent American aircraft industry. Just when the first bits of wood and metal that would become the Spirit of St. Louis were being fashioned into shape, another project of significance to the history of American aeronautics commenced. This was the dismantling of the experiment station of the U.S. Air Service’s Engineering Division at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio.KeywordsWind TunnelAerial PhotographySmithsonian InstitutionPrivate IndustryEngineer DivisionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.