Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/109

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 102 --US soacA SUDm ley Field, Virgima, and the Flight Propul- sion Research Laboratory at Cleveland, Ohio, as well a for other laboratory con- struction and eqmpmentY"s The fiscal year 1949 appropriations granted to NACA were even larger than those for the previous fis- cal year, reaching a total of $66,105,000 of which $28,200,000 was in cash and contract authority for the construction and equip- ment of Iaboratories and research stations. Again certain additional unexpended funds were made available for laboratory con- struction and equipment. øø For both fiscal years (1948 and 1949) NACA appropriatmns were larger than they had been during 1943 when they reached the wartime peak of $42,235,215. ø Significant changes were made in the or- ganizatmn of the NACA by the passage of ubhc Law 549, 80 Cong., 2 Seas. (approved 25 May 1948). The major changes were: 1) an increase of the membership of the com- mittee from 15 to !, 2) the inclusion of two representatives of the Department of the Air Force as members of the committee (in place of two of the representatives of the War Department) in order to be in accord with the National Security Act of 194, and 3) the inclusion of the chairman of he Research and Development Board of the National Military Establishment as a member in his official capacity  During the fiscal year 1950 even greater appropriations were made for NACA purposes. The Independent Offices Appro- priation Act, 1950, approved 24 August 1949, granted an appropriation of $63,000,000 for the NACA, and by the Deficiency Appropma- tlon Act, 1950, approved 29 June 1950, Congress appropriated $75,000,000 to be used by the NACA for enlarging the Lang- ley Aeronautical Laboratory and to con- Struct certain uhhties necessary to lmple. ment the Unitary Wind Tunnel ?lan Act o !949.  This brought NACA approgrla- ticns for the fiscal year 1950 up to $158,- 000,000. The Unitary Wnd Tunnel Plan Act of 1949 also contained provisions authorizing contract authority for the NACA to the amount of $1D,00,000 and cash appropria- tions to the amount of $136,000,00 for the purpose of implementing the act. As pre- wously stated, the NACA was to work with the USAF in carrying out the previaruns of the wind tunnel act. - An additional appropriation of $16,500,- 000 was authorized for the acquisition of additional land for the expansion of exist- ing NACA laboratories and research sta- tions, and to finance additional construc- tion and eqmpment for these installations, by the passage of Public Law 62, 81 Cong., 2 Seas. (approved 8 August 1950). - The General Appropriation Act, 1951, ap- proved 6 September I950, granted $69,000,- 000 to the NACA in cash and contract au- tlxority; $26,500,000 of this was allocated to be used m the construction and equip- ment of laboratories and research sta- tions. -0 Finally the Independent Ofiqces Appropriatmn Act, 1952, approved 31 Au- gust 1951, appropriated a total of $6,250,- 000 in cash and contract authority to be used by the NACA m its research and de- velopment work and in the construction and equipment of laboratories and research stations for that purposcY ø The marked ncreasc in the size of NACA approprmtons in the six-year period after World War II was an indication of the grow- ing importance of research and develop- ment in the various fields of aeronautical science, particularly as applied to milltary aviation, in an age of Jet propulsion, guided missiles, and supersonic speeds. It also re- flected the growing costs of research and the feeling of urgency which kept the USAF and the other services constantly on the alert to keep their weapons and equipment up-to-date. Although the Air Force now had its own Research and Dcvclopment Com- mand, the work done by the NACA con- tmued to be important to the USAF. After 1949 there was a sgmficant increase in the appropriations authorized or the con.trucion of Air Force installations and facilities in the continental United States and overseas. The Military Construction Act of June 1., 1948 authorized the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Air Force to proceed wth construction at military installations at some 1 locations in the continental United States and some 45 loca- THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958