"Silver Dart"

Flight Journal, Jun 1999 by Bradford, Bob

On February 23, 1909, the Aerial Experiment Association's (AEA) Silver Dart rose from the ice of

Baddeck Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with the young Canadian engineer JAD. McCurdy at the controls. It was the first powered, heavier-thanair flight in Canada. In the excitement of the moment, the organization's chairman, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, stands up in the red sleigh in which he had been seated beside his wife, Mabel. McCurdy's Silver Dart was the fourth and final aircraft built by the AEA, an association suggested-and funded-by Mrs. Bell.

Dr. Bell first asked two young Canadians to join the project-JAD. McCurdy and F.W. (Casey) Baldwin. Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge of the U.S. Army learned of Bell's plans and asked if he might join as an official United States Army observer. Bell then convinced the already famous engine designer and motorcycle racer Glenn H. Curtiss to join the organization-a move that launched the career of one of the great aviation pioneers in world history.

The AEA officially came into being on October 1,1907. Each member was to design and build one aircraft. The projects were the Red Wing (Selfridge), the White Wing (Baldwin), the June Bug (Curtiss) and the Silver Dart (McCurdy). Glenn Curtiss's June Bug was to achieve fame when he flew it to win the Scientific American trophy on July 4, 1908. Having achieved its goals, the AEA was disbanded on March 31,1909. -Bob Bradford