** Softcover - 330 Pages ** NASA: A Wartime Necessity The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and Other National Aeronautical Research Organizations’ Efforts at Innovation During World War II Edited by Alex M Spencer During World War II, advances in aviation became unmistakable. Many nations’ air forces entered the war flying biplane aircraft that were not much different from their predecessors of the previous world war. They were soon eclipsed by aircraft that took advantage of new designs that utilized many aeronautical advances of the interwar period such as new powerplants, stressed-skin aluminum structures, and aerodynamic improvements . During the war, new technologies emerged and developed, such as jet-powered aircraft, which would come to dominate post–World War II military aviation. In A Wartime Necessity: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and Other National Aeronautical Research Organizations’ Efforts at Innovation During World War II , each chapter has been written by a recognized authority in their field and draws upon the most recent research on their topic. This volume investigates a broad range of topics associated with aeronautical research and development that took place during the war within both Allied and Axis countries. It also demonstrates how the technological improvements conducted from their research were critical to those on the front line of combat as well as how wartime expedience and technology required institutions to adapt to the world crisis. Contents Introduction: Alex M Spencer Foreword: Engineering the Air War Observation in Context: The Interwar Rebuilding of German Aviation, the Lindberghs, and the Challenges of Air Intelligence and Assessment Richard P. Hallion - The NACA and American Aeronautical Research in World War II Roger D. Launius - Japanese Aeronautical Innovation During World War II Juergen Paul Melzer - TsAGI During the Great Patriotic WarF. Robert van der Linden - Essential, Not Supportive: Women and World War II Aeronautical Research and Development at the NACA’s Langley Aeronautical Research Laboratory and Beech Aircraft Company Emily Gibson - Blades for Victory: Propeller Innovation, Production, and Use During World War II Jeremy R. Kinney - The NACA Drag Reduction Program F. Robert van der Linden - The Tuck-Under Problem: An Aerodynamic High-Speed Compressibility Disaster for the Lockheed P-38 and How NACA Engineers Fixed It John D. Anderson, Jr. - The Evolution of the U.S. Navy’s Fast Carrier Task Force in World War II William F. Trimble - Resighting the Norden Bombsight: Precision Tool or Area Bomber? Breanna Lohman - “What About Aeronautics?”: The NACA Forms the Nucleus of America’s Space Agency Layne Karafantis This is an amazing book filled with a deep amount of history, content and time-period context that takes the reader through the complex and sometimes harrowing response to a most-challenging part of our history in the world. Pick up this book today and enjoy the story lines as they developed. You will be left with a much deeper appreciation for the leadership, engineers, and contributors at every level that made NACA/NASA what it is today.