Wright Apache

Dressed warmly, an unnamed NACA test pilot in 1928 gets ready for a high-altitude flight from the group's Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory airfield in Virginia. The aircraft is a Wright Apache, which, NASA says, originally had a metal jacket covering the crankcase and part of the engine cylinders. It was at this time that Langley researchers were experimenting with the use of cowlings on the front of engines--in the case of the Apache, an air-cooled J-5 Whirlwind--in order to reduce drag, while still allowing the engine to be sufficiently powered.