Hugh Neeson Octogenarian recalls Bell Aircraft/Aerospace

STORY AND PHOTO BY RICK FALKOWSKI

In 1955, after growing up in West Seneca, attending Winchester #8 Grammer School, BishopTimon High School, and Canisuis College, Hugh Neeson took a job at Bell Aircraft. Founder Larry Bell was still actively leading the firm and Neeson was assigned to collect requirements from the the Engineering Department for an environmental test program on the RASCAL missile.

A year later, Neeson enlisted in the U.S. Army Critical Specialist Program and served six months of active duty at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, working on atomic bomb test equipment.

One of Neeson’s early major assignments at Bell had him developing an operational test program for the Bell SKMR-1 on Lake Erie. The program included a mock invasion of Woodlawn Beach, demonstrating its over water and amphibious capabilities. Hugh secured a meeting with the Chief of Marine Corps Research & Development, who requested a sea test of the SKMR-1, with a Landing Platform Dock (LPD). The trial’s success led to issuance of an Operational Requirement (OR) being issued and a multimillion dollar contact so large that Bell had to purchase a new plant in New Orleans with access to the Gulf of Mexico. There, the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) was constructed to replace the traditional Landing Craft Tank (LCT) and Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT). The new model saved lives in subsequent amphibious assults, including Desert Storm.

During his Bell career, Neeson also managed the company’s participation with the U.S. Navy Fleet Ballistic Trident Missle Program. This included development of the Gravity Gradiometry for GSS submarine navagation correction, a major technological advancement for these applications. As Bell VP for program management, he supervised various other Bell developments.

After forty-four years, Neeson retired as Vice President of Bell-Textron. He was the last general manager of the Bell Niagara Falls Wheatfield operations and was instrumental in convincing Textron to sell the remaining portion of the Bell Inertial Technology Department to Lockheed Martin, an entity still in operation at the complex.

After his retirement, Neeson became interested in preserving Western New York aviation history, volunteering at Amherst Museum and helping to create the Niagara Aerospace Museum, where he still serves as trustee, board member, and historian. Neeson was also president of the Aero Club of Buffalo (the second oldest areo club in the world), the Lawrence D. Bell Air Force Association, and the Canisius College Alumni Association. He was also inducted into the Niagara Frontier Aviation & Space Hall of Fame.

At age eighty-eight, Neeson published Larry Bell’s Legacy: Aerosapce Pioneering. It was released on October 14, 2022, the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Bell X-1 being the first manned rocket airplane to break the sound barrier. The book chronicles the accomplishments of Bell Aircraft/ Aerospace and includes articles by former Bell engineers, participants in the Niagara Aerosapce Museum, and other associates. Among other Bell milestone, it also includes details on the land lease of 4,924 Bell P-39 Aircabras and 2,421 P-63 King Cobras to Russia during WWII, including information about these planes being flown by the U.S. Women’s Air Service Pilots (WASPS) to Great Falls, Montana, where they were transferred to bush pilots for delivery to the Russians in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Larry Bell’s Legacy: Aerospace Pioneering is available online at amazon.com and locally at all BFLO Store locations, Thin Ice, Talking Leaves, Buffalo History Museum, Ed Young’s Hardware Store Gift Shop, and the Niagara Aerospace Museum, with additional outlets being added. Neeson will speak and sign books at 7:00 pm April 20 for the Das Haus German Heritage Museum at the Town of Wheatfield Community Center, 2790 Church Street, North Tonawanda and on Friday, April 21 at 6:00 pm for M&T Third Friday at the Buffalo History Museum, One Museum Court, Buffalo. Proceeds from Larry Bell’s Legacy: Aerospace Pioneering benefit the Niagara Aerospace Museum. FY

Rick Falkowski gives presentations on Buffalo music and history. He is the author of History of Buffalo Music & Entertainment, Profiles Volume 1: Historic & Influential People from Buffalo & WNY – the 1800s, and Profiles Volume 2: Historic & Influential People from Buffalo & WNY-the 1900s