Thomas Carroll (pilot)
Thomas Carroll | |
|---|---|
Carroll in 1923 | |
| Born | 1890 |
| Died | 1975 (age 84-85) |
| Scientific career | |
| Alma mater | Georgetown University (JD) |
| Known for | Aicraft engine cowling NACA cowling |
| Fields | Aeronautics |
| Institutions | NACA |
Thomas A. Carroll (1890 – 1975) was an early American aeronautical engineer and the first civilian test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), precursor to NASA.[1] He helped develop the engine cowling as chief test pilot in 1929.[2]
Biography
Carroll was born in 1890. He was a first lieutenant in the 99th Aero Squadron, where he served in World War I as an American fighter pilot on the Western Front.[3] He also taught air tactics as a pilot instructor in the military.[4] After the war, Carroll attained a law degree from Georgetown University.
In 1922, Carroll joined the Langley Memorial Aeronautics Laboratory as the first civilian test pilot.[5][6] He performed multiple test flights with John W. Crowley, the first civilian research pilot at NACA. They used the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane as part of the earliest "instrumented tests of control and stability" to help develop tools to "measure and record the forces acting on aircraft".[7] He also studied aircraft icing and wrote some of the earliest scientific studies of the phenomenon and its effects on flight stability.[8][9][10]
He became chief test pilot at NACA Langley.[11][12] There, Carroll helped develop a low-drag engine cowling using wind tunnel testing and an U.S. Army-donated Curtiss P-1 Hawk with a Whirlwind J-5 engine for advanced training purposes, dubbed the AT-5A.[13] The cowling allowed Frank Hawks to set a nonstop speed record from Los Angeles to New York in a Lockheed Air Express in February of 1929.[14] Jerry Vultee, chief engineer at Lockheed Aircraft Company, sent Carroll a telegram crediting NACA with its success.[15]
Gallery
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Thomas Carroll at his desk with models of biplane aircraft
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The NACA engine cowling on a Curtiss AT-5a
References
- ^ Roland, Alex (1985). Model Research, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 1915-1958, Volume 2. Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. pp. 638, 648. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Aviation Week and Space Technology. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 1928. p. 1586. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Navy Air Pilot and Military Aeronautic Review. W.W. Hanmer, R.B. Moon and T.E. Combs. 1918. p. 298. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ "Thomas Carroll, First NACA Civilian Test Pilot - NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ "Thomas Carroll (1890-1975)". Smithsonian Institution Archives. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ "Test pilots put tech in motion (photos)". CNET.
- ^ Boyne, Walter J. "From NACA to NASA: Blessed from Birth". Defense Media Network. 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
- ^ "Historical Papers » Flight Ops Research". flightopsresearch.org. Flight Operations Research. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Connor, Roger D. (2020). Thesis: Rooftops to Rice Paddies: Aerial Utopianism, Helicopters, and the Creation of the National Security State. George Mason University. p. 42. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Carroll, Thomas; Mcavoy, William H. (1 August 1929). "The Formation of Ice upon Airplanes in Flight". National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Roland, Alex (1985). Model Research: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 1915-1958. Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. p. 638. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Engineers, American Society of Civil (1929). Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Society. p. 68. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Hansen, James R.; Administration, National Aeronautics and Space (13 August 2009). The Wind and Beyond: A Documentary Journey Into the History of Aerodynamics in America, V. 2: Reinventing the Airplane. Government Printing Office. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-16-083156-0. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ National Aeronautics. National aeronautics. 1929. p. 17. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Pearcy, Arthur (1993). Flying the Frontiers: NACA and NASA Experimental Aircraft. Naval Institute Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-55750-258-2. Retrieved 15 December 2025.