In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, the first aircraft purchased in 1929, by the NACA was this Fairchild FC-2W2. Marked as "NACA 26," this aircraft was the first to be flown in a NACA paint scheme.
The colors applied to this Fairchild were blue fuselage, silver wings and tail. The wing had a yellow stripe down the middle, from tip to tip. A red, white and blue shield was added to the rudder. It was used by NACA in an effort to correlate wind tunnel and flight aerodynamic characteristics.
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).
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