The Wing history

Addressing the first meeting of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain in 1866, Francis H. Wenham provided a concise and forceful restatement of Cayley’s most important ideas regarding wings.

Horatio Phillips, a fellow member of the Aeronautical Society, developed an even more effective wind tunnel design, and he patented (1884) a two-surface, cambered-airfoil design that provided the foundation for most subsequent work in the field.

That information culminated in the Wright glider of 1902, a breakthrough machine whose wing design enabled the Wright brothers to take the final steps to the invention of the airplane.

Virginia Woolf’s 1929 book “A Room of One’s Own” — a Wing philosophical touchstone — didn’t argue for just any old room.

The history of the 136th Airlift Wing begins 24 May 1943 with the constitution of the 368th Fighter Group.

For its outstanding performance of duty at Nons, France, on September 3, 1944, the Group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

Proud and flush with victory, the 368th Fighter Group was inactivated in Germany on 20 August 1946.

The first three F-51 Mustang fighters for the 181st arrived at Hensley on 9 July 1947.

The new 136th Fighter Group Headquarters was activated on 10 October 1950 for two weeks.

The photo at the top of this page shows Thunderjets from the 182nd Fighter Squadron heading out on their first strike of the War, on 24 May 1951.

The Wing was released from active military service on 9 July 1952.

The newly designated 136th Air Defense Wing replaced their aging F-84 Thunderjets with F-86 Sabrejets starting in 1957.

Those early fans included 82-year-old Ron Duff, of wing chain Duff's Famous Wings, who said John Young's wings were his favorite gametime meal after the Bills arrived in 1960 — well before he or the Anchor Bar started serving wings.

Sometimes “mambo” or “mombo” or “mumble.” The oldest of these carryouts on record, from 1962, bears much the same name as the one Young founded shortly thereafter: “Wings N Things.”

In February 1965, the 181st was reorganized under the Tactical Air Command and converted to the KC-97 Stratotanker.

The year 1966 is also the first written record of Anchor Bar selling wings of any kind.

A 1969 Buffalo Courier-Express feature about Anchor Bar didn’t mention wings at all — despite Frank Bellissimo’s later claims they were selling 3,000 pounds of wings a week within a month of first serving them.

But by 1970, after riots and escalating racial tensions, Young moved away from a Buffalo he no longer considered safe.

In a 1972 article about the newfound mania for wings, Dominic Bellissimo told Buffalo News critic Okun that Anchor Bar’s wings were “baked in a spice bath” and then basted with barbecue sauce.

In 1976, the Wing was transferred from the Tactical Air Command to the Strategic Air Command, but continued its air refueling mission.

The 136th TAW began participation in Operation VOLANT OAK in March 1980 with a deployment to the Republic of Panama, and has continued to participate in this family of deployments ever since.

The wings that spread like wildfire across Buffalo and then the world — the food that Canada’s Globe and Mail in 1982 called “beer-drinker’s caviar” — were the spicy drums and flats invented at Anchor Bar, served with blue cheese and celery.

After returning from Operation VOLANT PARTNER in Zaragosa, Spain in June 1986, the 136th TAW received the first brand-new H-model Hercules aircraft, fresh from the factory.

On 9 December 1989, the 136th TAW deployed aircraft and personnel to Operation VOLANT OAK at Howard Air Base in Panama.

On 16 and 17 November 1990, the 136th MAPS established a new record by loading 5,458,070 pounds of cargo.

On 1 June 1992, the Military Airlift Command evolved into the Air Mobility Command.

On 1 October 1993, the 136th AW was transferred from AMC to Air Combat Command, the post-merger hybrid of Tactical Air Command and Strategic Air Command.

In 1994, the 136th expanded its airlift operations in the former Yugoslavia as part of a United Nations' humanitarian relief effort.

On 26 November 1996, the Wing broke ground for a brand new complex on what had once been the old B-52 bomber end of Carswell AFB in Fort Worth.

Additionally, at the end of July, the Wing flew one C-130 to east Africa in support of Operation SUPPORT HOPE. As part of the military Base Closure and Relocation program, the United States Navy announced that they would close Naval Air Station Dallas (Hensley Field) in September 1998.

On 17 July 1999, the 136th Airlift Wing took part in Exercise TEXAS TYRADE IV, a multi-service simulated strike on "enemy" forces in Kansas.

Elements of the Wing also deployed during the 2010 Haitian Earthquake relief effort.

When the club opened its doors in October 2016 — under a new name, the Wing — they styled it as “a place for women on their way.” In its final form, Gelman said on the Recode podcast last year, the Wing is intended as a “women’s utopia.”

In 2018, Gelman arrived at the Dumbo space to host her younger sister’s bridal shower.

Marc Moscato, founder of tour company Buffalo Bike Tours, learned the story of John Young in 2019 and became obsessed with the idea of reviving mombo sauce.

Gelman stumped passionately for Bernie Sanders, but Elizabeth Warren swept fictional “Wing County.” It would be the only 2020 contest she would win.