Here, you can find historical photos of the J.J. Pickle Research Campus and the High-Speed Wind Tunnel Lab. The lab has operated continuously since the 1050s.
A brief history of the Applied Research Lab (formerly Defense Research Lab) can be found here. The aeronautics effort at UT was led by M.J. Thompson, who built an aeronautics lab at the Balcones Research Center (now J.J. Pickle Research Campus) in the 1950s. A quote from this report: “The Aeromechanics program was headed by M. J. Thompson. The major effort was on designing and building a blow-down wind tunnel and designing and fabricating a number of supersonic nozzles. Initially, this facility was on the Defense Research Lab grounds, but after a few years it was moved to the Balcones Research Center. The Aeromechanics group made some important contributions to supersonic aerodynamics, including a very useful skin friction balance, invented and developed by John Weiler. Also, the program provided financial support and facilities for a significant number of graduate students. Over the years the size of this program declined and in 1965 only about 5% of the work [at the DRL] was in Aeromcchanics.”
Aerial view of the Balcones Research Center (now J.J. Pickle Research Campus in the 1950s)
The following are various photographs of the aeronautical research lab at the Balcones Research Center.
Manometer bank used for pressure measurements
Natural gas compressors used to heat the pebble bed heater for the Mach 5 wind tunnel