EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif -- An amended version of bill S.1267 authorizing the Unitary Plan and the Arnold Engineering Development Complex was passed by the House and Senate as Public Law 415 - 81st Congress. The sum of $100 million was authorized for the Arnold Engineering Development Complex.
The Unitary Plan Act that was finally passed by Congress on October 27, 1949 was more modest in scale but still most impressive. The Unitary Plan was spearheaded by the Air Force and to the Air Force went the cornerstone facility: a new aeronautical research center located near abundant hydroelectric power.
The Arnold Engineering Development Complex contained two of the supersonic wind tunnels of the unitary plan, and, in addition, an altitude chamber for 1 Public Law 81-415: Unitary Wind Tunnel Plan Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 501-515) and Air Engineering Development Center Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 521-524). 3/5/12 2 tests of jet power plants under altitude conditions, a runway, housing, and other facilities. I might mention, as the question might come up, that the unitary plan and the AEDC started as two separate propositions. There were joined by the Bureau of the Budget at their request because of this overlap.