Editing Alexander Graham Bell (section)

===Aeronautics===
{{Main|Aerial Experiment Association|AEA Silver Dart}}
[[File:AEA Silver Dart.jpg|thumb|AEA Silver Dart {{c.|1909}}]]

In 1891, Bell had begun experiments to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft. The AEA was first formed as Bell shared the vision to fly with his wife, who advised him to seek "young" help as Bell was at the age of 60.

In 1898, Bell experimented with [[tetrahedral]] [[box kite]]s and wings constructed of multiple compound [[tetrahedral kite]]s covered in maroon silk.{{refn|Bell was inspired in part by Australian aeronautical engineer [[Lawrence Hargrave]]'s work with man-carrying box kites.<ref>{{cite book |title=Technical Gazette |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=1924 |page=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-coloured silk as it would show up clearly against the light-coloured sky in his photographic studies.|group="N"}} The tetrahedral wings were named ''Cygnet'' I, II, and III, and were flown both unmanned and manned (''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 honors and tributes|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=April 17, 2009 }} ''ns1763.ca''. Retrieved: December 29, 2009.</ref>

Bell was a supporter of [[aerospace engineering]] research through the [[Aerial Experiment Association]] (AEA), officially formed at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, in October 1907 at the suggestion of his wife [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard|Mabel]] and with her financial support after the sale of some of her real estate.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gillis |first=Rannie |url=http://www.capebretonpost.com/Columnists/2008-09-29/article-781848/Mabel-Bell-was-a-focal-figure-in-the-first-flight-of-the-Silver-Dart/1 |title=Mabel Bell Was A Focal Figure In The First Flight of the Silver Dart |work=Cape Breton Post |location=Sydney, Nova Scotia |date=September 29, 2008 |access-date=June 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160724050315/http://www.capebretonpost.com/Columnists/2008-09-29/article-781848/Mabel-Bell-was-a-focal-figure-in-the-first-flight-of-the-Silver-Dart/1 |archive-date=July 24, 2016  }}</ref> The AEA was headed by Bell and the founding members were four young men: American [[Glenn H. Curtiss]], a motorcycle manufacturer at the time and who held the title "world's fastest man", having ridden his self-constructed motor bicycle around in the shortest time, and who was later awarded the [[Scientific American|Scientific American Trophy]] for the first official one-kilometre flight in the [[Western hemisphere]], and who later became a world-renowned airplane manufacturer; Lieutenant [[Thomas Selfridge]], an official observer from the U.S. Federal government and one of the few people in the army who believed that aviation was the future; [[Frederick W. Baldwin]], the first Canadian and first British subject to pilot a public flight in [[Hammondsport, New York|Hammondsport]], New York; and [[J. A. D. McCurdy]]–Baldwin and McCurdy being new engineering graduates from the [[University of Toronto]].<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 27, 1959|title=Canada's Golden Anniversary |magazine=[[Flight International|Flight]] |volume=75|issue=2614|page=280|url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200579.html|access-date=August 28, 2013}}</ref>

The AEA's work progressed to heavier-than-air machines, applying their knowledge of kites to gliders. Moving to Hammondsport, the group then designed and built the ''[[AEA Red Wing|Red Wing]]'', framed in bamboo and covered in red silk and powered by a small [[Engine cooling|air-cooled]] engine.<ref>{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Allan |title=Into the 20th Century: 1900/1910 |series=(Canada's Illustrated Heritage) |location=Toronto, Ontario |publisher=Natural Science of Canada |date=1977 |page=95 |isbn=978-0-919644-22-9 }}</ref> On March 12, 1908, over [[Keuka Lake]], the biplane lifted off on the first public flight in North America.{{refn|"Selfridge Aerodrome Sails Steadily for {{convert|319|ft|m}}." ''[[The Washington Post]]'' May 13, 1908.|group=N}}{{refn| At 25 to 30 Miles an Hour. First Public Trip of Heavier-than-air Car in America. 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|Hammondsport]], New York, March 12, 1908.|group=N}} The innovations that were incorporated into this design included a cockpit enclosure and [[Rudder|tail rudder]] (later variations on the original design would add ailerons as a means of control). One of the AEA's inventions, a practical  [[Aileron#Wingtip ailerons|wingtip form of the aileron]], was to become a standard component on all aircraft.{{refn|The aileron had been conceived of as early as 1868 by British inventor [[Matthew Piers Watt Boulton|M.P.W. Boulton]] and was also created independently by [[Robert Esnault-Pelterie]] and several others.|group="N"}} The ''White Wing'' and ''June Bug'' were to follow and by the end of 1908, over 150 flights without mishap had been accomplished. However, the AEA had depleted its initial reserves and only a [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard#Support to aeronautical research|$15,000 grant from Mrs. Bell]] allowed it to continue with experiments.{{sfn|Phillips|1977|p=96}} Lt. Selfridge had also become the first person killed in a powered heavier-than-air flight in a crash of the [[Wright Model A|Wright Flyer]] at [[Fort Myer]], [[Virginia]], on September 17, 1908.

Their final aircraft design, the ''[[AEA Silver Dart|Silver Dart]]'', embodied all of the advancements found in the earlier machines. On February 23, 1909, Bell was present as the ''Silver Dart'' flown by J. A. D. McCurdy from the frozen ice of Bras d'Or made the first aircraft flight in Canada.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=October 19, 1956|title=Link with Canadian Pioneers |magazine=[[Flight International|Flight]] |volume=70|issue=2491|page=642|url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%201488.html|access-date=August 28, 2013}}</ref> Bell had worried that the flight was too dangerous and had arranged for a doctor to be on hand. With the successful flight, the AEA disbanded and the ''Silver Dart'' would revert to Baldwin and McCurdy, who began the Canadian Aerodrome Company and would later demonstrate the aircraft to the [[Canadian Army]].{{sfn|Phillips|1977|pp=96–97}}