Decades before the term ‘Buffalo Wings’ evoked the image of a plate of fried chicken parts covered in hot sauce, the wings produced in Buffalo were covered in fabric and aluminum. Buffalo Wings flew in defense of freedom in two world wars. Machines built in Buffalo broke the sound barrier, pioneered vertical flight, lifted astronauts off the surface of the Moon, and trained others to fly the Space Shuttle. For More information about these images, go to post: “Four Aviation Milestones Produced in Buffalo.”
Buffalonians have always been hard-working folks, but there was room for diversions as well. In February 1879 the Buffalo Bicycle Club was formed. Popularly known as the High-Wheel Club because of the style of bicycles that was then common, the club became the seed of the Buffalo Aero Club. More about the Aero Club to come.
Bicycle clubs eventually formed in different parts of the city and surrounding area, such as the Press Cycling Club, the Ramblers, the East Side Cyclers, and the Eldredge Club (of Tonawanda). They were actively experimenting with bicycles more than 20 years before the Wright’s first flight, but already had an eye on aviation.
State Library of South Australia from Australia, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Members of the Buffalo Carrier Pigeon Club, constructed small blimps that were powered by bicycle-driven propellers. These “sky bicycles” became common sites around Buffalo and made appearances in other cities as well. By the turn of the 20th century the cyclists formed a club devoted to the latest mechanical wonder, the automobile.
Prior to the Wright Brother’s powered flights, gliders were the state of the art. Notable experimenters included Californian John J. Montgomery, who made his first glide in 1883, and German-born Otto Lilienthal. The designs of these early craft depended on shifting the pilot’s weight for control, and so were never going to be suitable for powered flight. Aerodynamic knowledge was gained from their flights, however.
Lilienthal was killed in an 1896 crash so he would not see the Wright’s first flight; Montgomery died in 1911. The two and their contemporaries did manage to ignite a fascination for flight that would further the state of the art, a worthy legacy by any measure.
It may seem like a leap from bicycles to airplanes but it was very common for early aviation pioneers to cross over from the former discipline to the latter. Bicycle builders had the skills needed to build strong tubular frames with the light weight necessary to get a flying machine off the ground. Early propellers were driven by bicycle-style chains and sprockets. When paired with the lightweight aluminum engine built by mechanic Charles Taylor, two bicycle mechanics named Wright from Dayton, Ohio, made history in 1903.
A review of Buffalo’s industrial history would be incomplete without a mention of the city’s leadership in another area in the early 20th century – electric cars. Considered technologically advanced today, at least half a dozen manufacturers built electric cars in Buffalo from 1899 to the 1920’s. Arguably the most successful was Frank Babcock’s Babcock Electric. Founded in Cleveland and moved to Buffalo in 1906, Babcock produced 9 different models ranging in price from $1,600 to $4,000; considerably more than the $895 price tag on a new Ford Model T. (It is ironic to note that Henry Ford’s wife purchased a Detroit Electric car for herself because she felt her husband’s internal combustion-powered cars were too noisy.)
Babcock’s claim to fame was a 1906 non-stop run from New York City to Philadelphia, a distance of 105 miles, on a single charge. The feat was perhaps slightly tarnished by the fact that the car only made it 100 miles and had to be towed the last 5 miles to the Philadelphia Ferry crossing. Babcock’s vehicle had a top speed of only 30 miles an hour, but the 100-mile range would beat many pure-electric vehicles produced today.
Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
One thing that these early electric cars had in common with their modern cousins is that they sold for much higher prices compared to available gasoline-powered models. The laws of economics being irrevocable, notwithstanding the statements of politicians who would have us believe otherwise, and without the tax credits offered to purchasers of today’s electric cars, those early electric car companies could not compete and eventually failed.