The World's First Rocket Belt Free Flight

The 20 man crew assembled at 7 AM on the morning of April 20, 1961 at a vacant [and undisclosed] area just north of the Bell Aerosystems plant on Niagara Falls Blvd, and adjacent to the Niagara Falls Municipal Airport [IAG]. An FAA Notam had closed the airport for 30 minutes. The weather conditions of 40 degrees F and 80% humidity did not make for 'good visuals' with the rocket operating, as we soon discovered. None the less, a 108' straight line flight at an average altitude of 4' made for a small snippet of history that day.

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Chief Engineer Ed Ganczak and
Crew Chief 'Bear' Kreutinger
assist with the pre-flight.

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1st Rocket Belt Free Flight   April 20, 1961
at Niagara Falls Munc. Airport; New York.
The jet exhaust condensation made the 
visability close to '0-0'.

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 Immediately after the first flight.
Note the mud on the boots, and
the Niagara Falls airport tower
in the background.



"Official" Document Presented at a local 
'watering hole' on Niagara Falls Blvd. that same
afternoon at the celebration party.

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"Bear" & Doc Kelly do their post flight thing.
That's the Bell ramp and hangars in the background.
Note the smile of exhaustion.