National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel formed the core of the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NACA was pronounced 'En Ay Cee Ay' rather than 'Nakka', and the name remains familiar in the automotive world for the NACA duct, a form of air intake, or to those in the aircraft industry, as several series of NACA-developed aerofoils are still being used in new design.

Further reading

• John Henry, et al. Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990.