...on the human body. In 1933, NACA Langley Research Center was authorized to build an 8-foot wind tunnel for effective high-speed aircraft and equipment testing. Public Works Administration completed the complex in 1936. It was the world's first large continuous-flow high speed tunnel (HST), after later 1948 slotted-throat retrofits it achieved speeds over Mach 1 (761 mph) renamed 8-foot Transonic Tunnel (TT). It was vital in evaluating the stability control problems of the Lockheed P-38 and devised 'dive recovery flap'. It allowed pilots to pull out of steep dives. It was incorporated in numerous fighter planes and in the first jet aircraft. It developed the vital 'area rule' principle, created wasp-waisted fuselages and wing designs that helped in +Mach fighter designs.
Col. John Stapp, USAF officer and flight surgeon was a pioneer in testing human tolerance to extreme physical forces. His colleague, Chuck Yeager inspired him, "The real barrier wasn't in the sky, but in our knowledge and experience'. Stapp let himself to be tested at unpressurized high-altitudes. strapped on rocket sleds in extreme acceleration & deceleration (18 G was deemed lethal, he survived 46 G's!) rail tests, ejection seat systems tests and was tested in the 8-foot HST in extreme wind blast testing. The Stapp's HST tests the face to canopy blow-outs and in high-altitude/high speed escape skydives. Goggles were swept off at 150 mph, oxygen masks and mouthpieces removed at 220-250 mph. Stapp and his volunteers faced winds up to 570 mph blasts (for one second). His career continued into NHTSA crash research and helped institute & standardize vehicle safety systems.
He was also credited as the populizer of Murphy's Law, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Good long life too (aged 89).
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