AEA SILVER DART

The 'Silver Dart' (or 'Aerodrome #4') was an early aircraft which after many successful flights in Hammondsport, New York, earlier in 1909, was dismantled and crated then brought to Baddeck Nova Scotia. It was flown off the ice in Baddeck, Nova Scotia on Bras d'Dor Lake, on 23 February 1909. This was the first controlled powered flight in Canada and the British Empire. The plane was piloted by one of its designers, John McCurdy. The original Silver Dart was the fruit of the Aerial Experiment Association formed under the guidance of Alexander Graham Bell.

Contents

Design and development

Testing

Tributes

Specifications (Silver Dart)

References

External links

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Design and development

The frame and structure of the Silver Dart was made of steel tube, bamboo, friction tape, wire and wood. The wings were covered with silver japenese silk; hence the name the "Silver Dart". Its engine, supplied by Glenn Curtiss, was a reliable V-8 that developed 35 hp (26 kW) at 1000 rpm. The 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 the Silver Dart had poor control characteristics; likewise, it had no brakes..

Testing

By the time the Silver Dart was constructed in late 1908, it was the Aerial Experiment Association's fourth flying machine. One of its precursors, the June Bug, had already broken records. It won the ''Scientific American'' Trophy for making the first official one kilometer flight in North America. But the Silver Dart outdid this when on 10 March 1909, McCurdy flew the aircraft on a circular course over a distance of more than 35 km (20 mi). The first passenger flight in Canada was made in the Silver Dart on 2 August 1909.
The Canadian Army was unimpressed at the headway made by the group. The general impression of the time was that aircraft would never amount to much in actual warfare. Despite official skepticism, the Association was finally invited to the military base at Petawawa to demonstrate the aircraft. The sandy terrain made a poor runway for an aircraft with landing wheels about two inches (50 mm) in diameter. The Silver Dart had great difficulty taking off. On its fifth flight, McCurdy wrecked the craft when one wheel struck a rise in the ground while landing. The career of the Silver Dart thus ended ignominiously.

Tributes

There is a reconstruction of the Silver Dart on display at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa. The reconstruction was built by volunteers from the Royal Canadian Air Force between 1956 and 1958 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first flight. The aircraft flew on the day of the anniversary but crashed due to high winds. A number of other recreations are found in Canadian museum collections, including examples at the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame and the Calgary Aero Space Museum.
With the upcoming Centennial celebrations of flight in Canada in 2009, a number of other Silver Dart recreations are being planned.
The 824 Silver Dart Royal Canadian Air Cadets Squadron in St. Peter's, Nova Scotia is named in honour of the Silver Dart.

Specifications (Silver Dart)

References

★ ''Aerial Experimental Association (AEA)''. Aerofiles. [1] Access date: 19 May 2005.

★ Molson, Ken M. and Taylor, Harold A. ''Canadian Aircraft Since 1909''. Stittsville, Ontario: Canada's Wings, Inc., 1982. ISBN 0-920002-11-0.

External links

★ Audio recording of a CBC Interview with pilot John McCurdy about the first flight

★ Silver Dart Drive at Pearson International Airport in Toronto

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