WNY is home to a truly amazing innovation engine in Calspan Corporation, which has pioneered everything from wind tunnels to crash dummies and seat belts to the FBI’s fingerprint reading system! Few entities, including legendary manufacturers and prestigious universities, can match Calspan’s 75-year track record of producing innovation after innovation.
Calspan’s roots were in Curtiss-Wright, the famed aeronautical company based in Buffalo, which was America’s largest aircraft manufacturer in 1943 during World War II. That year, Curtiss-Wright set up a first-of-its-kind aircraft research lab on Genesee Street, across from the airport, where Calspan still maintains its headquarters to this day. Post-war defense cuts led Curtiss-Wright to donate its lab to Cornell University in 1946 where it was named the “Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory” or CAL for short. In 1972, Cornell sold stock in CAL making it a public company which was renamed Calspan.
AEROSPACE
Initially, Calspan focused on wind tunnels, pressure chambers and guidance systems, progressing to “shock tunnel” testing for the Gemini and Apollo space programs. Calspan worked with the USAF Flight Dynamics Laboratory on a flight simulator in 1967. This project morphed into building a flight simulator to test unmanned takeoffs /landings and remote pilot operation in 1967, culminating in the Autonomous Aerial Refueling project for unmanned aircraft (drones), tested over Lake Ontario circa 2013.
AUTOMOTIVE
Calspan began to branch out into crash testing in 1949 with the creation of “Thin Man,” its first innovation to test crash impacts on human bodies, followed in 1953 by “Thick Man” (adult) and “Half Pint” (child) crash dummies to better simulate human bodies. This led to the development of the car seat belt in 1954, designed by Calspan and first made by Hickok Manufacturing Company in Rochester. Later, Calspan built a car crash test site behind Genesee Street in 1968 and participated in air bag testing in 1970, ultimately working with the National Highway Transportation Safety Association on crash testing and data compilation.
WEATHER RADAR
Calspan played a key role in developing weather radar when, in 1956, its research determined that Doppler radar could be used to identify thunderstorms, snow squalls and hailstorms. Working with the U.S. Weather Bureau two years later, Calspan developed a tornado warning device that successfully detected an approaching storm.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Calspan even played an early role in AI when it developed the “Perceptron” for the Office of Naval Research, a machine designed to sense, remember and respond like the human mind. Its Mark I Perceptron demonstrated an ability to learn from prior exposure to patterns.
PEOPLE AND SPINOFFS
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory and Calspan attracted many talented and inventive people, several of which spun off their own companies which are major contributors to the Western New York economy today. These companies include Moog, CUBRC, Northrup Grumman Amherst Systems, Astronics, Servotronics, Buffalo Computer Graphics, MGA Research, and Veritay Technology.
For 75 years, Calspan has transformed bold ideas into world-changing innovations, and its ongoing work ensures that Western New York will continue to play a leading role in advancing technology well into the future.
