With the recent passing of my stepmother, I was reminded of a treasure trove of photos that were stamped "CONFIDENTIAL" from her days at the San Diego Wind Tunnel. These gems from the 1950's show her and her friend/coworker Kay posing with a model.
Construction on the San Diego Wind Tunnel started in 1944 and was finished in 1946. The San Diego Wind Tunnel has been operating since May of 1947 and was built to provide aerodynamic testing for Consolidated Aircraft, the manufacturer of the B-24.
The San Diego Wind Tunnel, located on Pacific Highway, originally began operations under the direction of Consolidated Vultee (Convair) in May 1947. General Dynamics assumed operations in 1961 when the company acquired Convair. General Dynamics' Convair Division (and later Lockheed) operated the facility until a private company took over in 1994. The San Diego Wind Tunnel remains the only privately held low-speed aeronautical wind tunnel in the United States.
Could this be where the term "Space Cadet" was coined?
See more Daveland San Diego photos at my main website.
Man, these are really cool photos today. The shot with the two men (silhouettes) standing next to the propeller is awesome. Love the Space Cadet trio. Thanks, Dave.
ReplyDeleteJust noticed those are paper airplanes in the Space Cadets image. Cool!
ReplyDeleteThe girls in the first two pics are polishing a model of the Convair f-102A Delta Dagger.
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