In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, this F-86 aircraft is mounted in the 40 x 80 Foot Full Scale Wind Tunnel at the NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, Moffett Field, California in January of 1954.
The National Advisory Committe on Aeronautics (NACA) was a precursor to NASA. NACA was created by Congress in 1915.
Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).