Everything about Aea Silver Dart totally explained
The
Silver Dart (or
Aerodrome #4) was a derivative of an early U.S. aircraft which after many successful flights in
Hammondsport, New York, earlier in 1909, was dismantled and shipped to
Baddeck, Nova Scotia. It was flown off the ice of Baddeck Bay, a sub-basin of
Bras d'Or Lake, on
23 February 1909, making it the first controlled powered flight in
Canada and the
British Empire. The aircraft was piloted by one of its designers,
John McCurdy. The original
Silver Dart was designed and built by the
Aerial Experiment Association, formed under the guidance of Dr
Alexander Graham Bell.
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
Japanese
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 1,000 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.
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
Camp 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. 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 over Baddeck Bay on the day of the anniversary but crashed due to high winds.
A number of other recreations are found in Canadian and museum collections in other parts of the world, including examples at the
Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum,
Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame,
Calgary Aero Space Museum and the
RAF Museum in
Hendon, England.
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 Squadron of the
Royal Canadian Air Cadets in
St. Peter's, Nova Scotia is named in honour of the
Silver Dart.
Silver Dart Drive in
Mississauga, Ontario, a perimeter roadway within the confines of the
Pearson International Airport is named for this historic aircraft.
Specifications (Silver Dart)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Aea Silver Dart'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://aea_silver_dart.totallyexplained.com">AEA Silver Dart Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
