ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY:

On February 23, 1918, the Executive Committee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) established the Office of Aeronautical Intelligence.

 

The office was created during World War One to aid in the dissemination of technical information pertaining to aeronautics among military, naval, and civilian government departments which needed the information to carry out official duties. In 1919, the office was given permission to distribute the research information to industry excepting that information considered to be militarily sensitive. The Executive Committee decreed at the same time that the purpose of the office would now be "...to collect technical, scientific, and research information relating to aeronautics, and to properly classify it and disseminate the valuable portions thereof to the research educational and industrial institutions engaged in, or associated with, aeronautical work."

 

In 1921, the Executive Committee appointed John Jay Ide to replace the first technical assistant in Europe. Ide was responsible for dispatching aeronautical information from Europe to NACA until 1950, with the exception of the intervening war years.

 

In 1950, the European office was closed, but the Office of Aeronautical Intelligence continued to operate. Due to the abundance of information being produced at this time, the office could not distribute all of the aeronautical information being produced. At this time the office focused on collecting and distributing what its staff considered to be the most important information concerning Aeronautics research. The office continued to carry out these functions until NACA was absorbed on September 30, 1958 into the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY CITATION(S): W. Cunliffe, H. Goldbeck, "A Special Study on the Records of the National Advisory committee for Aeronautics" (Washington, D.C., NARA, 1973); J.C. Hunsaker "Forty Years of Aeronautical Research" in the Forty-Fourth Annual Report of NACA 1959 (Final Report) (Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958) pages 3-31.

• CORRESPONDENCE FILE OF THE OFFICE OF AERONAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE, 1915-1952. (MLR Entry 26, A1).

CORRESPONDENCE FILE OF THE OFFICE OF AERONAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

1915-1952

Boxes 1-218
MLR Entry 26, A1
Location: 130/25/20/7

Arranged in three parts. The first section is arranged by decimal number and thereunder alphabetically by name of agency, company, or individual. The second part, (reports of John J. Ide, the European NACA Correspondent,) is arranged chronologically. The last boxes in the series comprise a group of miscellaneous decimal files between 32.00-1940 and 7118.12.

 

This series consists of textual materials, blueprints, and photographs arranged under a numerical code system. The various codes represent different groups of institutions or individuals with whom NACA corresponded. They are as follows:

7100 = U.S. Agencies
7200 = foreign countries
7300 = individuals
7400 = manufacturers
7500 = research development companies and institutions
7600 = airlines
7700 = libraries
7800 = educational institutions

The series contains a variety of correspondence including canceled technical notes, and requests for: papers; photographs; report reproductions; publication subscriptions; and translations of foreign research. Correspondence with a number of government organizations such as the White House and Congress, and with foreign agencies such as the British Air Commission, is also represented. There is also correspondence with numerous corporations and individuals which contacted the office for aeronautical information.

 

Examples of subjects included in the correspondence files are: paper consumption; atomic energy; propellers; screw threads; wings; stability; plastics; turbulence; wind tunnel tests; thrust; thermodynamics; stress; flying boats; heat transfer; and press visits.

 

 

Included in the series as well are the reports of the NACA Technical Assistant in Europe (primarily of John J. Ide, but also from William Knight and Edward P. Warner) who was stationed in Paris. This correspondence dates to 1940 and consists of reports on European aviation research and development. These reports served an important function of apprising NACA of European developments in aeronautics research.

 

At the end of the series is a miscellaneous group of records including materials such as correspondence with the War Office, the Navy, and with various European individuals and organizations; and NACA's Annual Report mailing list.