Flight research was an important part of the center’s activities during NACA.
Pilot Bill Swann climbs into the cockpit of a McDonnell F2H-2B Banshee at the Lewis laboratory in February 1958. Eight months later, the NACA logo on the hangar was removed as the NACA became part of NASA. Although the center’s flight research program was drastically reduced during NASA’s first decade, pilots remained active supporting missile and microgravity research efforts. Swann, who joined the NACA in 1945, spent 35 years flying Lewis aircraft before retiring in 1980.