Winds of change will take NASA tunnel down
The Hampton site is a historic landmark, but Building 643 is falling apart and outdated.
(Daily Press, Jan. 3, 2009)
Within these sky-high walls, some of history's most storied flying machines were readied for the air: biplanes of wood, wire and canvas; Machine Age bombers; Mercury spacecraft; and just about every U.S. fighter in World War II. In the gale blown by its enormous four-bladed fans, engineers tweaked wings and sheet metal for steeper climbs, higher speeds, tighter turns. Only here could they do such work because for years, only this building at what's now NASA Langley Research Center was big enough to test real aircraft.
Citing its obsolescence and declining condition, the agency plans to demolish the tunnel starting in late August - just after the expiration of a lease to Old Dominion University, which has used the building as an aerospace laboratory since 1997.
Tunnel manager and ODU aerospace engineer Drew Landman and his colleagues wrung new life from the old building by concentrating on the aerodynamics of land-based vehicles, beginning with tractor-trailers. From trucks, the ODU team moved to race cars, and within a few years, Langley was a popular destination for NASCAR teams seeking ways to cheat wind resistance on the track. More recently, the school has tested wind turbines and cell phone towers.
"We would like to keep the facility running longer if we possibly can," Landman said. But doing that would take money that neither landlord nor tenant has.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_windtunnel_0103jan03,0,3644827.story