= Ira H. Abbott
{c}
<Ira H. Abbott> was an <aerospace engineer> whose Langley work connected <airfoil> geometry, <wind tunnel> measurements and corrections to aerodynamic data. NASA's institutional profile records his arrival at the Variable Density Tunnel in 1929, subsequent <airfoil> research and participation in tunnel design. The profile emphasizes that section data do not by themselves determine a complete three-dimensional <aircraft wing>'s behavior.<Ira H. “S” Abbott by NASA>[Technical-career paragraphs, Variable Density Tunnel and distinction between airfoil and wing design]{ref}
A specific primary contribution is the 1939 report with <Eastman N. Jacobs> on support interference in the <variable-density wind tunnel>. Its abstract states that the support effect made earlier <drag coefficients> and their apparent increase with airfoil thickness too large; the report supplies corrected data and methods. The apparatus supporting a model can alter the flow being measured, so its effect is not established merely by an empty-tunnel zero.<Airfoil Section Data Obtained in the NACA Variable-Density Tunnel as Affected by Support Interference and Other Corrections by Eastman N. Jacobs and Ira H. Abbott>[NTRS byline and author abstract, support interference and corrected data]{ref}
For an original arithmetic illustration, stipulate measured <drag coefficients> of $0.012$ and $0.016$ for two sections, with separately established support corrections of $0.002$ and $0.005$. The corrected values are $0.010$ and $0.011$: the apparent difference falls from $0.004$ to $0.001$. At <dynamic pressure> $500\,\mathrm{Pa}$ and a shared reference area of $0.20\,\mathrm{m^2}$, these correspond to corrected <drag> values of $1.0$ and $1.1\,\mathrm N$. This invented example illustrates the experimental question; it does not replace the report's geometry-dependent correction method with a universal subtraction.
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