The US Navy has sent a formal letter to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) requesting the development of the Aircraft Stability and Control Analyzer (ASCA) project. With this letter, the project to build the Tornado computer began.

Whirlwind, led by JW Forrester, was the first high-speed digital computer. By December 1954, the Cyclone computer consisted of 12,500 vacuum tubes and 23,800 crystal diodes. The computer is shaped like a two-story building. Whirlwind operated until 1959.