The museum celebrated Western New York’s contribution to the United States’ effort to understand the dynamics of trans-sonic and supersonic flight. We were honored to have a presentation from Bell Swenson, a former instrumentation Engineer at Bell Aircraft, who worked on the XS-1 rocket planes that first broke the sound barrier. Bill was working in the lab at Bell when the XS-1 and other record setting aircraft came through. He related his experience in the structural testing and instrumentation of the aircraft.
You can see Bill’s presentation here**.
We were also treated to a fascinating overview of the Bell series of X-planes in a presentation by Walter Gordon, local aviation historian and marketing director at Moog. Walter shared his knowledge on the X-planes’ background, their accomplishments, and where they are today.
You can view Walter’s presentation here**.
Bill Swenson shows off a slide rule like the ones they used to design the XS-1 
Walter Gordon explains how the dynamics of sock waves caused uncontrollable conditions in aircraft 
Bill Swenson signing a commemorative card for Mike Christopher
We thank the Niagara Falls High School Media Production Program for the video production services!