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Bell Aerospace

Bell Aerospace in the town of Wheatfield in Niagara County was a huge manufacturing and aero research operation which helped this area prosper. The name, Lawrence Bell, well known in Niagara County, has become synonymous worldwide with helicopters, rocket belts, Mercury Space Craft, lunar modules and everything in between. Bell started his fledgling aircraft industry in 1935 with plants in Buffalo and Wheatfield. Bell’s plants and ambition grew exponentially as the nation viewed the success of fixed and rotary wing aircraft and then set their sights on the stars. Fifty years ago, the Soviets launched Sputnik and kicked the space race into high gear. Bell Aircraft gave way to Bell Aerospace as President John Kennedy announced his plans to place men on the moon within a decade.

In 1947, legendary test pilot, Chuck Yeager was flying a rocket-powered Bell X-1 supersonic aircraft when he broke the sound barrier. That jet now hangs in the main hall of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The James Bond movie, Thunderball, thrust another piece of Bell technology into the foreground in 1965 with the now famous Bell Rocketbelt. Bell engineers also designed the engine that lifted the lunar ascent module off the moon's surface and back to the command module during the Apollo missions. Through companies like Bell Aerospace, America gained a significant edge in the space race and a generation of youths inspired during the moon shot era have gone on to create most of the world’s biggest technology-driven companies.

Douglas Farley, Director
Erie Canal Discover Center
24 Church St.
Lockport NY 14094
716.439.0431
CanalDiscovery@aol.com
www.NiagaraHistory.org

Previous Moments
Newspaper Doughboys
11/19/07

Bell Aerospace
11/19/07

Disappearing Islands
11/12/07

The County Fair
11/12/07

Iroquois Confederacy
11/5/07

First Telephone
11/5/07

The Curse of Idleness
10/31/07

All They Needed Was Love
10/31/07

Biddle Stairs to the Falls
10/22/07

The Trowbridge Connection
10/22/07

The Roar of Niagara
10/15/07

Five and Dime Inflation
10/15/07

What to do with the rowdies?
10/8/07

The Wreck of the Lucinda Van Valkenburg
10/8/07

Master Birdman
10/1/07

Gazetteer
10/1/07

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness
9/24/07

Maid of the Mist
9/170/07

Paul Bunyan
9/17/07

Do Not Remove
9/10/07

Waterless Niagara
9/10/07

The Sutherland Sisters
9/4/07

Grave Robbery
9/4/07

The Lumber City
8/27/07

Dance Hall Oddities
8/27/07

Niagara Falls Reservation State Park
8/20/07

The Human Fly
8/20/07

The Telegraph Connection
8/13/07

The Great Gorge Route
8/13/07

Olcott Beach Trolley and Hotel
8/6/07

A Counterfeiter’s Plan
8/6/07

Holy Cows
7/30/07

The Brotherhoods
7/30/07

A Fish Story
7/23/07

Mrs. Trollope
7/23/07

Fire, Fire, Fire
7/16/07

Boys Will Be Boys
7/16/07

The Strap Railroad
7/9/07

Newspaper Rivalry
7/9/07

Horseless Carriages
7/2/07

Niagara joins all of America to celebrate its 120th birthday
7/2/07

A Winter Walk Across the Niagara River
6/25/07

Grand Balloon Ascension
6/25/07

For More Information: www.NiagaraHistory.org


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