NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

By: Jim Hodges

The calls continue. Can I still come?

"We had three this morning," said Duncan McIver, chairman of this weekend's final reunion of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

"Just got off the phone with another," said Milt Holt, president of the Langley Alumni Association, looking up from his desk on Research Drive.

Lois DeNeale is coming. She's 97 and worked at NACA headquarters in Washington from the mid-1950s through the early NASA years.

She'll be accompanied and cared for by Kathy Breckbill, whose father, Bert Mulcahy, worked at Langley before and during World War II, then went on to Lewis Research Center, which became Glenn Research Center.

"Lois has not been able to attend the prior reunions but did not want to miss this one," Breckbill said.

Jo DiBella is coming. She's 92 and used to be Hugh Dryden's assistant when he led NACA.

"The day I called her, she was out getting her driver's license," McIver said Wednesday.

In all, 356 have registered for the reunion, which begins Friday morning with an opening ceremony in which NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, Langley Center Director Lesa Roe and others will salute the pioneers of aeronautics.

They're coming from 30 states and the District of Columbia. Langley is on the resume of 216 of them or their spouses. At last count, 42 claim Lewis Research Center. Ames in California will be represented by 25, and the High Speed Research Facility – now Dryden, named for Hugh – will have 12. Wallops Space Flight Facility will have two.

Milt Holt, left, is the head of NASA Langley's Alumni Association, and his partner, Duncan McIver, is head of the NACA Reunion Committee. They have been working for months to set up this weekend's final reunion of those who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, forerunner of NASA.
Credit: NASA/Sean Smith

They'll meet first in the Reid Center, which seems appropriate. Henry J.E. Reid came to Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1921 and was its director from 1926 to 1960, all under the NACA umbrella until NASA was spawned in 1958.

They'll tour Langley, then go to the Air Force base where they'll see the F-22 Raptor. The message is that the work NACA did in aeronautics is still bearing fruit in the world's most sophisticated fighter aircraft.

"They have a place in history," said McIver, who was employed by NACA only months before it became NASA and has come to appreciate those months even more since becoming involved in planning the reunion.

"This is a time for them to take pride in what they accomplished," McIver said.

While there is structure to the reunion, the emphasis is on Auld Lang Syne and plenty of time is being allotted for reminisces. The maudlin is being avoided.

"We want people to have fun," McIver said. "We want them to have a good time."

The time will continue with a reception Friday night at the Air and Space Center and with a banquet on Saturday in the cafeteria. There will be a farewell brunch Sunday at the Hampton Convention Center.

The emphasis is on farewell. Gone, but in this case, not forgotten.

"We're floating an idea of a NACA scholarship, perhaps in experimental aeronautics," McIver said. "It's a chance to leave something for the future that will outlive us all."

For now, though, the education continues.

"I've learned so much about NACA," said Holt. "I worked at Langley for 39 years, but I really didn't know much about it. I've glad I've had a chance to learn."

 
NASA Langley Research Center
Managing Editor: Jim Hodges
Executive Editor and Responsible NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Denise Adams