1908 Aerial Experiment Association Silver Dart (Replica, 1984)

(Specifications of a real Silver Dart)

Manufacturer: Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), Baddeck, Nova Scotia, CA
Engine: Curtiss OX-5, V-8, water-cooled
Power: 32.3 kW (50 hp)
Weight: Empty - 277 kg (610.7 lb); Full - 390 kg (859.8 lb)
Wing Span: 15 m (49.2 ft)
Maximum Air Speed: 72 km/h (45 mph)
Range: 32 km (20 mi)
Capacity: 1 pilot, 1 passenger

The original Silver Dart was designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA). John Alexander Douglas McCurdy and his partner Frederick Walker “Casey” Baldwin, both graduates of the University of Toronto with degrees in engineering, formed the AEA under the tutelage of Alexander Graham Bell. The Silver Dart was the AEA’s fourth and most successful flying machine. It got its name from the rubberized, silvery balloon cloth – provided by Captain Thomas Scott Baldwin of Hammondsport, New York – that covered its wings. The Silver Dart completed the first powered heavier-than-air and controlled powered flight in Canada on February 23, 1909 when it took off from the frozen surfaces of Bras d’Or Lake. It flew only 800 metres (half a mile) at a speed of roughly 65 km/h (40 mph). During the same flight, another achievement was made: it was the first flight made by a British subject – McCurdy – In the British Empires. Later, on August 2, 1909, it also completed the first passenger flight in Canada.

This replica Silver Dart was built in 1984, using the original drawings by the Baddeck Silver Dart Committee in honour of the 75th Anniversary of the 1909 flight, and was donated to the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, United Kingdom. In 1994, it was gifted to the Reynolds Aviation Museum, and in 1999, it was added to the Reynolds-Alberta Museum Collection.

The original Silver Dart's propeller was carved from a solid block of wood. The aircraft had what is now called a canard or an “elevator in front” design. Like most aircraft of its day, it had poor control characteristics; likewise, it had no brakes. Unlike the Wright Brothers’ aircrafts, the Silver Dart had moveable wing tips called “little wings” or “ailerons,” which were pioneered by the AEA’s second flying machine, White Wing, one of the Silver Dart’s predecessors. The engine was originally air-cooled but was later changed to water-cooling by McCurdy.

The US government was so interested in the original project and what it might mean for aviation that they sent Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge to observe and report on the process.

Following the successful flight of the Silver Dart, the AEA disbanded in March 1909. McCurdy and Baldwin obtained the Canadian patent rights for the Silver Dart for the express purpose of producing a Canadian version of the aircraft. The Canadian Army was unimpressed by the headway made by the AEA and the Silver Dart; the general impression of the time was that aircraft would never amount to much in actual warfare. Despite official scepticism, the AEA was finally invited to the military base at Camp Petawawa in Ontario to demonstrate the Silver Dart’s capabilities. However, the sandy terrain made a poor runway for an aircraft with narrow landing wheels, and the Silver Dart had great difficulty taking off. Finally, after over 300 successful flights, McCurdy wrecked the aircraft when the wheels ploughed into the soft ground and flipped the plane over on its nose while landing, during its fifth and final military demonstration flight on August 2, 1909.

The Silver Dart won the Scientific American Trophy for the first flight over one kilometre in North America.

Chronology:
1907 - The Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) is founded by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell.
1908 - The Silver Dart is built.
February 1909 - The Silver Dart makes its first flight from the Bras d’Or Lake near Baddeck, Nova Scotia; its pilot is John McCurdy.
March 1909 - The AEA is disbanded.
August 1909 - The Silver Dart is destroyed in a landing accident.
1984 - This replica of the Silver Dart is built by the Baddeck Silver Dart Committee using original drawings; it is gifted to the Royal Air Force (RAF) Museum in Hendon, United Kingdom.
1994 - The RAF Museum donates this replica to the Reynolds-Alberta Museum.