ABSTRACT
The airlines and agriculture are not the only industries receiving research and development (R&D) subsidies from the federal treasury. The housing industry, the shipbuilding industry, mass transit, and other industries receive R&D subsidies as well. Much of NASA's aeronautical R&D is aimed at solving the problems of the air transport industry: the manufacturers who make civil transport aircraft and the airlines that fly them. While the United States was wrangling over who had done what first, all the major nations of Europe established aeronautical research laboratories, most with government and industry funding. Government and industry felt a need for a national aviation policy. Leaders in both government and industry argued that some agency was needed to coordinate government activities in order to prevent overlap and duplication, and to regulate civil aviation. In addition, a blue-ribbon committee on NACA facilities recommended the establishment of an engine laboratory, to be 10-cated near the aircraft engine industry.
