National Historic Landmark · wind tunnel · Hampton (Independent City), Virginia

Full Scale Tunnel

United States historic place in Hampton (Independent City), Virginia. Built 1929. Added to the National Register in 1985, and a National Historic Landmark.

30 x 60 Full Scale Tunnel - GPN-2000-001726Aerial view looking northwest at the full-scale wind tunnel 1989 L89-07075Casserole d'hélice, Full Scale Wind Tunnel, NASACave-of-the-winds NASA L-73-7547
Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 6 in the Commons category

What it is

The Full-Scale Tunnel was a wind tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center. It was a National Historic Landmark.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Property typeStructure
AddressLangley Research Center, Hampton (Independent City), VA
Independent cityCity of Hampton
ListedOct 3, 1985
Listed forMilitary, Engineering, Science
Level of significanceNational
Reference number85002796
Built1929 · more from the 1920s
Type of placewind tunnel
DesignationsNational Historic Landmark, Virginia Historic Landmark
Contributing resources1 structure

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

AddressLangley Research Center, Hampton (Independent City), VA
Websitelfst.com ↗
Coordinates37.0830° N, 76.3414° W · Directions ↗
Also in Hampton (Independent City)24 listed places in Hampton (Independent City) →
Nearest national park unitFort Monroe National Monument · 5 miles · on Park Atlas
Listing on the Register does not open the door. Unless a museum or park runs it, treat this as private property and see it from the sidewalk.

Explore

Map

Public land around it

Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge ↗National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceAbout 3 miles away3,056 acres

Wilderness Atlas publishes a centroid and an acreage for each unit, not a boundary line. Distance here is measured to a circle of the same area drawn around that centroid, so treat it as roughly right rather than surveyed.

Guidebooks to historic places in Virginia

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

  • Historical Tours Alexandria, Virginia
    Frederick Knops, 2017
    Find at Bookshop.org
  • Plantations of Virginia
    Charlene C. Giannetti and Jai Williams, 2017
    Find at Bookshop.org
  • George Washington's Virginia
    John R. Maass, 2017
    Find at Bookshop.org
  • Historic Sites in Virginia's Northern Neck and Essex County
    Thomas A. Wolf, 2011
    Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Full Scale Tunnel listed on the National Register?

Oct 3, 1985. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

When was Full Scale Tunnel built?

1929.

Source: Wikidata

Can I visit Full Scale Tunnel?

Probably. Places of this type are usually open to the public, but the record lists no hours; the official website will have them.

Source: Official website

Where is Full Scale Tunnel?

Langley Research Center, Hampton (Independent City), City of Hampton, Virginia. The nearest national park unit is Fort Monroe National Monument, 5 miles away.

Source: Fort Monroe National Monument

Where is the nomination form for Full Scale Tunnel?

The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.

Source: National Archives

Is there cell service at Full Scale Tunnel?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 4G LTE, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 85002796. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.