The Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel, located at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, California, United States, is a research facility used extensively to design and test new generations of aircraft, both commercial and military, as well as NASA space vehicles, including the Space Shuttle.

After the construction of the Variable Density Tunnel at Langley in 1921,[3] the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics built a variety of technical research facilities upon which the American aircraft industry was based.

These facilities enabled the American aircraft industry to dominate the skies in both commercial and military aviation.

Because no one wind tunnel could meet all the demands for additional research facilities simulating the entire range of aircraft and missile flight, NACA chose to build the Ames tunnel with three separate test sections drawing power from a common centralized power plant.

[2][5] The American West Coast aircraft industry quickly capitalized on the Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel Complex.

A sting-mounted model support is capable of moving the test article to various AOA and AOS setpoints within at 15 degree cone.

Multiple optical test techniques are offered which include: Shadowgraph (which is closely related to Schlieren), Infrared Thermography, Model Deformation and Pressure-sensitive paint.