Place: Niagara Aerospace Museum, 9990 Porter Road, at the Niagara Falls Airport
Date: Saturday, October 14th Time: 9 AM to 5 PM (special extended hours)
Free Admission (regularly $8) Free parking in front of the museum
Hear how the Bell X-1, made right here in Niagara Falls, became the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound on October 14th, 1947. Hear how Bell engineers and pilots made it possible, see videos of the X-1, and buy your own limited edition X-1 commemorative souvenirs. Also see our unique collection of aircraft, from a 1910 Curtiss Pusher to a Bell P-39, all built in Western New York. We’ll even have local aerospace engineers giving lessons on folding their favorite paper airplanes!
Schedule of events
Museum tours led by our expert docents begin at 9:30 next to Larry Bell’s blue Bell 47 helicopter. Tours repeat at thirty minutes past the hour until the last tour beginning at 3:30.
Museum Theater: A fifteen minute talk on the X-1 will be given on the hour from 10:00 through 4:00, followed by a fifteen minute documentary film on preparing the X-1 for flight. Although he does not have a speaking part, the pilot in the film is twenty-four year old Chuck Yeager. The documentary will be followed at half past the hour by a twenty minute series of short films commemorating the 70th birthday of the United States Air Force, which was took place just last month on September 18th.
Aircraft and Space exhibits are found throughout the museum, from the 1910 Curtiss Pusher that taught the first Navy and Marine pilots to fly to the Lunar Module ascent engine that lifted all twelve astronauts from the surface of the moon. Be sure to see the Niagara Aviation and Space Hall of Fame honoring over two hundred Western New York engineers, technicians, pilots, and managers who played critical roles in the incredible contributions of our region to advancing flight and the exploration of space.
Many thanks to generous support from:
The Bell Foundation
Moog
Curtiss-Wright
Bell Helicopter
M&T
Calspan
Zodiac Aerospace
Curbell