National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
NACA Technical Report Server
An excellent resource for information on aeronautical developments during the 1920s and 1930s can be found at the NASA Langley Research Center's "NACA Technical Report Server. This web site contains abstracts and full-text documents related to technical aspects of aeronautical research and development dating from 1917 to 1958. These documents contain fascinating details related to all aspects of aeronautical research and development. The reports are available in both .PDF and .GIF formats.
I have compiled a list of articles, reports, and publications from this archive of interest to golden age enthusiasts and will be posting it on this site soon.
The site can be viewed from here:
When you visit the site, you'll find the following welcome page:
From this page you can perform a keyword search for a particular
topic, or you can select a year and be presented with a listing of publications and
reports produced during that period:
You can browse the list presented, and select an article or
publication such as the one seen below:
As can be seen, the document is presented with thumbnail views of
the included pages, and these can be individually selected, or they can be viewed as a
complete document using the Adobe Acrobat Viewer. Either way, the pages can be saved
and viewed or printed at your leisure.
I am particularly fascinated with the fact that I am able to read the actual documents presented for peer review and acknowledgment of the achievements of so many of the most important and famous personalities in aviation of the period. I especially enjoy viewing the documents in the old tyewriter fonts, complete with all the typo errors and comments scribbled on the pages by former librarians and archivists.
I have found this archive invaluable in my research on aviation in the golden age, and I hope this page helps to spark your own interest in exploring this fascinating historical resource.
