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THE 456th FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR SQUADRON |
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THE PROTECTORS OF S. A. C. |
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The Aerial Experiment Association |
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The Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) was formed on October 1, 1907 under the tutelage of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and with the encouragement and financial support of his wife Mabel Bell.
The AEA came into being when John Alexander Douglas McCurdy and his friend Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin, two young engineers fresh out of the University of Toronto, decided to spend the summer in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. McCurdy had grown up there, and his father was the personal secretary of Dr. Bell. He had grown up close to the Bell family and was well received in their home. One day, as the three sat with Dr. Bell discussing the problems of aviation, Bell's wife, Mabel, suggested they form a company to exploit their collective ideas. Being independently wealthy, she offered to bankroll the idea, taking care of one of the major problems facing aviators of the day.
The American motorcycle designer and manufacturer, and recognized expert on gasoline engines, Glenn H. Curtiss also became a member of the association. Curtiss had visited the Wright Cycle Company to discuss aeronautical engineering with Wilbur and Orville Wright but the Wrights did not want to cooperate with him in the development of aircraft. The group attracted sufficient attention to inspire the United States government to request that an official observer be allowed to join. Their nominee was US Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge who was later to be the first person killed in an airplane accident.
This collaboration lead to very public success. Casey Baldwin became the first Canadian pilot during a March 1908 flight of Red Wing. Its successor, White Wing was the first plane to have Bell's ailerons. One of their planes, the June Bug, won the Scientific American Trophy by making the first official one kilometer flight in North America; although, the Wrights had already accomplished this in 1904. Their fourth flying machine, the Silver Dart, constructed in 1908, made the first controlled powered flight in Canada on February 23, 1908 when it was flown off the ice of Bras d'Or Lake near Baddeck by McCurdy who had been one of its designers.
On March 10, 1909, McCurdy set a record when he flew the airplane on a circular course over a distance of more than 32 km (20 miles), a feat that the Wrights had already accomplished in 1905. The Association made the first passenger flight in Canada on August 2, also in the Silver Dart. Much development also took place in Hammondsport, New York where experimentation was done on development of the first seaplane. The association disbanded on March 31, 1909.
The Aerial Experiment Association Charter
"Whereas, the undersigned Alexander Graham Bell of Washington, D.C., U.S.A., has for many years past been carrying on experiments relating to aerial locomotion at his summer laboratory in Beinn Bhreagh, near Baddeck, Nova Scotia, and has reached the stage where he believes a practical aerodrome can be built on the tetrahedral principle driven by an engine and carrying a man, and has felt the advisability of securing expert assistance in pursuing the experiments to their logical conclusion, and has called to his aid Mr. G. H. Curtiss of Hammondsport, N.Y., an expert in motor construction, Mr. F. W. Baldwin, and Mr. J. A. D. McCurdy of Toronto, Engineers, and Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, Fifth Artillery, U.S.A., military expert in aerodynamics, and
"Whereas, the above-named gentlemen have all of them given considerable attention to the subject of aerial locomotion, and have independent ideas of their own which they desire to develop experimentally, and
"Whereas, it has been thought advisable that the undersigned should work together as an association in which all have equal interest, the above-named gentlemen giving the benefit of their assistance in carrying out the ideas of the said Alexander Graham Bell, said Alexander Graham Bell giving his assistance to these gentlemen in carrying out their own independent ideas relating to aerial locomotion, and all working together individually and conjointly in pursuance of their common aim 'to get into the air' upon the construction of a practical aerodrome driven by its own motive power and carrying a man.
"Now therefore we the undersigned, Alexander Graham Bell, Glenn H. Curtiss, F. W. Baldwin, J. A. D. McCurdy, and T. Selfridge, do hereby agree to associate ourselves together under the name of the 'Aerial Experiment Association,' for the purpose of carrying on experiments relating to aerial locomotion with the special object of constructing a successful aerodrome.
"We agree that the 'Aerial Experiment Association' shall be organized on the first day of October 1907, and shall exist for the term of one year from the date of organization unless otherwise determined by the unanimous vote of the members.
"We agree that the inventions relating to aerial locomotion made by the members of the Association during the lifetime of the Association shall belong to the Association; and that any applications for letters patent for such inventions shall be made in the name of all the members as joint inventors.
"We agree that inventions relating to aerial locomotion made by the members of the Association before the organization of the Association shall belong to the inventors, and not to the Association, unless specially assigned; and that only such prior inventions shall be claimed by individual members as shall be substantiated by the production of written memoranda, drawings, photographs or models existent before the date of the organization so that the proofs of prior invention shall not rest on recollection alone, or upon verbal statements unsupported by documentary or tangible evidence of earlier date than the organization of the Association.
"The said Alexander Graham Bell agrees to place his Laboratory at Beinn Bhreagh near Baddeck, Nova Scotia, at the disposal of the Association for the purpose of carrying on experiments relating to aerial locomotion, together with all the buildings, tools, materials, and appurtenances belonging to the Laboratory, without charge, so long as the Association desires to carry on experiments at Beinn Bhreagh: Provided that the running expenses of the Laboratory, including the salaries of the Superintendent and men employed shall be paid by the Association during their use of the said Laboratory, the number of men employed other than the Superintendent to be at the discretion of the Association, and that any new material or apparatus not in the Laboratory at the date of the organization which may be desired for the use of the Association shall be acquired at the expense of the Association.
"We the undersigned agree to appoint one of our number as Director of Experiments to be our medium of communication with the Laboratory.
"We agree that the Laboratory workmen shall receive their instructions from the Superintendent of the Laboratory alone, that the Superintendent of the Laboratory shall receive his instructions from the Director of Experiments alone, and that the Director of Experiments shall receive his instructions by vote of the Association of which he is a member.
"We agree that the headquarters of the 'Aerial Experiment Association' shall be at Beinn Bhreagh, near Baddeck, Nova Scotia, and that, on or before the first of January 1908, the headquarters of the Association shall be removed to some place yet to be determined within the limits of the United States.
"This agreement can only be modified by unanimous vote of the undersigned.
"Witness our hands and seals at HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, this thirtieth day of September, A. D., 1907.
William L. Payzant
Notary PublicALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
G. H. CURTISS
F. W. BALDWIN
J. A. DOUGLAS McCURDY
T. SELFRIDGE
1st Lt. 5th F.A., U.S.A.Authenticated by David F. Wilder, Consul General of the United States, September 30, 1907
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