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{{Short description|1907–1909 aircraft research group}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
[[File:McCurdy in plane.jpg|thumb|300px|AEA member [[John Alexander Douglas McCurdy]] at the controls of an airplane during an aviation 'meet' near [[Toronto|Toronto, Ontario, Canada]], c. August 1911. The starboard-side of the transverse "shoulder-yoke" hinged structure for aileron control, in the general form of an upper seat support frame, is visible beside the seated pilot.]]

The '''Aerial Experiment Association''' ('''AEA''') was a Canadian-American aeronautical research group formed on 30 September 1907, under the leadership of Dr. [[Alexander Graham Bell]].<ref>Milberry 1979, pp. 12–13.</ref>

The AEA produced several different aircraft in quick succession, with each member acting as principal designer for at least one. The group introduced key technical innovations, notably wingtip [[aileron]]s and the [[Tricycle gear|tricycle landing gear]].

According to Bell, the AEA was a "co-operative scientific association, not for gain but for the love of the art and doing what we can to help one another."<ref name="Milberry 13">Milberry 1979, p. 13.</ref> Although the association had no significant commercial impact, one of its members, [[Glenn Curtiss]], later established a commercial venture that would ultimately become the [[Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=March 4, 1909|title=Aeroplane Factory for This Country|page=9|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/03/04/101868767.pdf|access-date=November 11, 2021}}</ref>  The AEA was disbanded on 31 March 1909.

==Origins==

The AEA came into being when [[John Alexander Douglas McCurdy]] and his friend [[Frederick Walker Baldwin|Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin]], two recent engineering graduates 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 Bell. He had grown up close to the Bell family and was well received in their home. One day, as the three sat with Bell discussing the problems of aviation, [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard|Mabel Bell]], Alexander's wife, suggested they create a formal research group to exploit their collective ideas. Being independently wealthy, she provided a total of US$35,000 (equivalent to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|35000|1908|r=-4}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}){{Inflation-fn|US}} to finance the Association, with $20,000 made available immediately by the sale of property.<ref name="Gillis">Gillis, Rannie. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080929215757/http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=175549&sc=150 "Mabel Bell Was A Focal Figure In The First Flight of the Silver Dart."] ''Cape Breton Post,'' 29 September 2008. Retrieved: 24 February 2012.</ref><ref>[http://ns1763.ca/victco/baddckcrth.html "First Airplane Flight In Canada."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219122546/http://ns1763.ca/victco/baddckcrth.html |date=2009-12-19 }} ''Nova Scotia's Electric Scrapbook,'' 2 April 2010. Retrieved: 24 February 2012.</ref><ref name="Toward-1984">Toward 1984, pp. 141–155.</ref>

Curtiss, the American motorcycle designer and manufacturer and a recognized expert on [[gasoline engine]]s, was recruited as a member of the association, and his associate [[Augustus Post]] assisted as representative from the Aero Club of America. Curtiss had visited the [[Wright brothers]] to discuss [[aeronautical engineering]] and offered them use of a 50&nbsp;hp engine. Wilbur cordially declined, saying that a motor of their own development met their power needs, unaware that the AEA was about to become a serious competitor in powered flight. Bell wrote to U.S. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] to have an interested young officer who had volunteered his help, U.S. Army Lieutenant [[Thomas Selfridge]], officially detailed to Baddeck. Selfridge was assigned to the [[Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps]] on 3 August 1907, two days after its formation, and was sent to Nova Scotia. A year later, on 17 September 1908, while riding as a passenger with Orville Wright on a demonstration flight for the U.S. Army, he became the first person killed in an aircraft accident.

==First experiments==
In 1898, Bell experimented with [[Man-lifting kite|man-lifting]] [[tetrahedral kite]]s and wings constructed of multiple compound tetrahedral kites covered in maroon silk.{{#tag:ref|Bell was inspired in part by Australian aeronautical engineer [[Lawrence Hargrave]]'s work with man-carrying box kites.<ref>''Technical Gazette'', New South Wales, 1924, p.&nbsp;46.</ref> Hargrave declined to take patents on his inventions, similar to Bell's decision not to file patents on some of his inventions. Bell also chose maroon-colored silk as it would show up clearly against the light-colored sky in his photographic studies.|group="N"}} The tetrahedral wings were named ''Cygnet'' ''I'', ''II'' and ''III'', and were flown both uncrewed and crewed (''Cygnet I'' crashed during a flight carrying Selfridge) in the period from 1907 to 1912. Some of Bell's kites are on display at the [[Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site]].<ref>[http://ns1763.ca/victco/bellmusbbm.html "Nova Scotia's Electric Scrapbook."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417080338/http://ns1763.ca/victco/bellmusbbm.html |date=2009-04-17 }} ''ns1763.ca''. Retrieved: 29 December 2009.</ref>

==Later AEA designs==
[[File:Aerial Experiment Association gathered in 1909 with the AEA June Bug.jpg|thumb|Aerial Experiment Association members Casey Baldwin, Tom Selfridge, Glenn Curtiss, Alexander Graham Bell, John McCurdy and Augustus Post serving as observer from Aero Club of America.]]
The AEA's work progressed to heavier-than-air machines, applying their knowledge of kites to gliders. The AEA collaboration led to very public success. Casey Baldwin became the first Canadian and first British subject pilot on 12 March 1908 flight of ''[[AEA Red Wing|Red Wing]]''.<ref name="Milberry 13"/><ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 8–11">Casey 1981, pp. 8–11.</ref>{{hsp}}{{#tag:ref| Quote: "Professor Alexander Graham Bell's New Machine, Built After Plans by Lieutenant Selfridge, Shown to Be Practicable by Flight Over [[Keuka Lake]]. Portion of Tail Gives Way, Bringing the Test to an End. Views of an Expert. [[Hammondsport, New York]], 12 March 1908. Professor Alexander Graham Bell's new aeroplane, the [[AEA Red Wing|''Red Wing'']], was given its test flight over Lake Keuka today by [[F. W. Baldwin]], the engineer in charge of its construction. The machine was built by the Aerial Experiment Association for Lieut. [[Thomas Selfridge]], U.S.A."<ref>"Selfridge Aerodrome Sails Steadily for 319 Feet. At 25 to 30 miles an Hour. First Public Trip of Heavier-than-air Car in America." ''[[The Washington Post]],'' 13 May 1908.</ref>|group=N}}

Its successor, ''[[AEA White Wing|White Wing]]'', also of 1908, was the first airplane to have Bell's [[aileron]]s.<ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 12–15">Casey 1981, pp. 12–15.</ref> The following design, the [[AEA June Bug|''June Bug'']], also of 1908 and piloted by Curtiss, won the ''[[Scientific American]]'' Trophy by making the first official one-kilometer flight in North America,<ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 16–23">Casey 1981, pp. 16–23.</ref> although the [[Wright brothers|Wrights]] had already accomplished this in 1904.

Their fourth flying machine, the [[AEA Silver Dart|''Silver Dart'']], also constructed in 1908, made the first controlled powered flight in Canada on 23 February 1909 when it was flown off the ice of [[Bras d'Or Lake]] near Baddeck by McCurdy, who had been one of its designers.<ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 28–33">Casey 1981, pp. 28–33.</ref><ref>Phillips 1977, pp. 95–96.</ref> On 10 March 1909, McCurdy set a record when he flew the ''Silver Dart'' on a circular course over a distance of more than {{convert|32|km|mi|abbr=on}}, a feat that the Wrights had already accomplished in 1905. The Association made the first passenger flight in Canada on 2 August, also in the ''Silver Dart''.

Much development also took place in [[Hammondsport, New York]], where in 1908 pioneering experimentation was done on [[seaplane]] carried out by Curtiss.<ref>Casey 1981, p. 60.</ref> In France [[Henri Fabre]] successfully flew the first powered seaplane in history, the [[Fabre Hydravion]], in March 1910.

==Organization's dissolution==

Bell's organization was established with a fixed term mandate, which was extended to March 31, 1909, by joint agreement of all its members, with Mrs. Bell contributing an additional $10,000 of financing.<ref>Casey 1981, p. 37.</ref> After Lt. Selfridge's death in September 1908, McCurdy became the organization's secretary and Bell's cousin, Charles J. Bell, became the Association's legal trustee.  In March 1909, strained relations arose between Curtiss and the Association's other members.<ref>Casey 1981, pp. 40–41.</ref> A request for him to attend the association's meeting and resolve the issue went unanswered.

It was also in March that Curtiss abruptly announced a new commercial venture—in partnership with [[Augustus Moore Herring]] and backed by wealthy members of the [[Aero Club of America]]—called the [[Herring-Curtiss Company]].<ref name=":0" />  This new development, plus the fact that it effectively displaced the AEA's headquarters at Curtiss' own facility in Hammondsport, resulted in the AEA's mandate expiring without further extension on March 31.<ref>Phillips 1977, p. 97.</ref><ref>Casey 1981, pp. 36–37.</ref>

==Aircraft designed and constructed==

* AEA Glider (1907), [[biplane]] hang glider based on the designs and data shared by [[Octave Chanute]]<ref>Casey 1981, pp. 6–7.</ref>
* [[AEA Red Wing|Aerodrome No. 1 ''Red Wing'']]  (1908), Selfridge design, single-seat powered biplane<ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 8–11"/>
* [[AEA White Wing|Aerodrome No. 2 ''White Wing'']]  (1908), Baldwin design, single-seat powered biplane<ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 12–15"/>
* [[AEA June Bug|Aerodrome No. 3 ''June Bug'']]  (1908), Curtiss design, single-seat powered biplane<ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 16–23"/>
* Aerodrome No. 3A ''Loon'' (1908), ''June Bug'' modified as a [[floatplane]]<ref>Casey 1981, pp. 24–27.</ref>
* [[AEA Silver Dart|Aerodrome No. 4 ''Silver Dart'']] (1909), McCurdy design, powered biplane<ref name="Casey 1981, pp. 28–33"/>
* [[AEA Cygnet|Aerodrome No. 5 ''Cygnet II'' & ''Cygnet III'']]  (1909), Bell design, single-seat powered aircraft with unorthodox wing<ref>Casey 1981, pp. 34–36.</ref>
* [[Bell Oionus I]] (1910), tetrahedral [[triplane]] built after the AEA had disbanded, constructed at Baddeck Kite House, Nova Scotia, and Bell's final aviation pursuit.{{#tag:ref|Built by McCurdy and Baldwin for Alexander Graham Bell<ref>Milberry 2008, p. 73.</ref>|group=N}}

==See also==
* [[1911 in aviation]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=N}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* Casey, Louis S. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PXtGAAAAYAAJ ''Curtiss, The Hammondsport Era, 1907-1915''], New York: Crown Publishers, 1981, pp.&nbsp;12–15, {{ISBN|0-517543-26-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-517543-26-9}}.
* Milberry, Larry. ''Aviation in Canada.'' Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1979. {{ISBN|0-07-082778-8}}.
* Milberry, Larry. ''Aviation in Canada: The Pioneer Decades, Vol. 1.'' Toronto: CANAV Books, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-921022-19-0}}.
* Phillips, Allan. ''Into the 20th Century: 1900/1910'' (Canada's Illustrated Heritage). Toronto: Natural Science of Canada Limited, 1977. {{ISBN|0-919644-22-8}}.
* Toward, Lilias M. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WXjSAAAACAAJ ''Mabel Bell: Alexander's Silent Partner.''] Toronto: Methuen, 1984. {{ISBN|978-0-458-98090-1}}.
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Parkin, John H. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZBTAAAAMAAJ ''Bell and Baldwin: Their Development of Aerodromes and Hydrodromes at Baddeck, Nova Scotia''.] Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.aerofiles.com/aea.html A Most Noble Experiment]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050826091849/http://www.yesmag.bc.ca/focus/flight/aea.html The Aerial Experiment Association]

{{AEA aircraft}}
{{Alexander Graham Bell}}

[[Category:1907 establishments in Canada]]
[[Category:1907 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Aviation in Canada]]
[[Category:Victoria County, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Aviation history of the United States]]
[[Category:Alexander Graham Bell]]
[[Category:Aviation history of Canada]]
[[Category:1909 disestablishments in Canada]]
[[Category:1909 disestablishments in the United States]]