The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was formed on March 3, 1915, with a charter to "supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution." WIth luminaries like Orville Wright as members, the group was on the cutting edge of technology in the early decades of flight, before eventually being absorbed by NASA in 1958.

The 1931 photo above shows the original NACA hangars at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia, now the NASA Langley Research Center. Just outside the hangar door is a modified Ford Model A that was used to start aircraft propellers.

Image Credit: NASA