100^th Anniversary of the Silver Dart

The ISASI 2008 Seminar Committee will honor the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Silver Dart at Baddeck, Nova Scotia in late 1908.  Built by the Aerial Experiment Association, chaired by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the Dart first flew on February 23rd, 1909.  John A.D. McCurdy took off from a frozen lake completing the first controlled power flight in Canada and the British Empire.

Made of steel tube, bamboo, friction tape, wire and wood, the Dart was powered by a V-8 engine, supplied by Glenn Curtis, which developed 35 hp at 1000 rpm.

Looked on with skepticism by the Canadian Army, who believed that airplanes would never amount to much in actual warfare, the Silver Dart was tested at Petawawa, Ontario.  On the fifth flight, while trying to land on sandy terrain, one wheel struck a rise in the ground and the craft was wrecked.

On the 50th anniversary a replica was flown at Baddeck to commemorate that first flight. 

The legacy of the Silver Dart continues to live on and the replica is on constant display in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa.