Description

Formally opened October 7, 1947. Administered by the Department of Mechanical Engineering; staffed jointly by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Aeronautical Engineering; Professor E. S. Taylor, first director.

Establishment of the laboratory was headed by Professor J. C. Hunsaker who sought funding from American industries for the construction of a laboratory devoted to jet propulsion.

From an invitation form letter: "This laboratory has been conceived as a means of providing facilities for graduate study and for research in the field of gas turbines which will complement research conducted by industrial concerns and the Government. Research of a relatively long-range nature will be undertaken, including such spheres of activity as principles of operation of component parts of the gas turbine, the field of instrumentation, and methods of measurement. The facilities of the new laboratory have been planned with these ideas in view."

It operated an 8" x 8" supersonic wind tunnel successfully at Mach 2 in 1948.