By Ines Keane
On 23 February 1909, a horse-drawn sleigh pulled an aeroplane out onto the ice of Baddeck Bay. More than 100 of Alexander Graham Bell’s neighbours watched.
That is the Canadian Encyclopedia’s account. It is a good place to start, because the flight happened in the dead of winter, on a frozen bay, in a village on Cape Breton Island where Bell is buried.
Who Bell was here
Bell is best known for the telephone, but the Canadian Encyclopedia says his family spent summers near Baddeck from the mid-1880s, and that he died on 2 August 1922 at his Beinn Bhreagh estate near the village. He was buried on a hill overlooking Baddeck Bay. The encyclopedia says descendants still own the estate, declared a provincial heritage property in 2015.
The kite that came first
Before the aeroplane came the kites. The encyclopedia describes Cygnet I as a large tetrahedral kite mounted on pontoons. On its first experimental flight, on 6 December 1907, it reached 51 metres and stayed aloft for seven minutes. Wikipedia says the museum in Baddeck holds memorabilia from Bell’s kite experiments, alongside his work with planes and high-speed boats.
The Aerial Experiment Association
The Canadian Encyclopedia says the Aerial Experiment Association was active from October 1907 to March 1909. Bell and his wife Mabel founded it. J.A.D. McCurdy was the principal designer and pilot, and Glenn H. Curtiss developed the water-cooled engine. Wikipedia lists the members as John McCurdy, F.W. “Casey” Baldwin, Glenn Curtiss, Thomas Selfridge, and Bell, who guided the group.
The flight
The encyclopedia says McCurdy flew from Baddeck Bay on 23 February 1909, and that the aircraft was pulled onto the ice by a horse-drawn sleigh. It rose on its second attempt after roughly 30 metres of travel, flew about 800 metres, at about 65 km/h and between 3 and 9 metres up. Wikipedia describes the same flight as about half a mile at 3 to 9 metres and roughly 40 mph (65 km/h), and calls it the first controlled powered flight in Canada. Wikipedia’s page on the museum site words it as “the first controlled heavier-than-air flight in the British Empire”.
Dates in order
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 6 December 1907 | Cygnet I kite flies for seven minutes | Canadian Encyclopedia |
| 23 February 1909 | Silver Dart flies from the ice of Baddeck Bay | Canadian Encyclopedia; Wikipedia |
| 1919 | The HD-4 hydrofoil sets a world water-speed record at Baddeck | Canadian Encyclopedia; Wikipedia |
The hydrofoil
The Canadian Encyclopedia says that in 1919 the HD-4 set a world water-speed record of 114.04 km/h. It says the fastest steamships of the time travelled about 48 km/h and no other boat matched the record for more than a decade.
The museum today
The Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site is on Chebucto Street in Baddeck. Parks Canada says visitors can touch Bell’s personal artifacts and tour full-scale replicas. Parks Canada lists a seasonal opening period; check its page for current dates.
In the cold months, Parks Canada’s page does not list winter hours.
What kind of sources these are
A national encyclopedia, a user-edited encyclopedia and the federal parks agency’s site. We did not read a book or the museum’s catalogue. We have not visited.
Questions a buyer would ask
What we left out
Admission fees, the museum’s programs and contact details, military trials, and the 1956 to 1958 replica built by volunteers, which crashed.
Quick answers
When did the Silver Dart first fly? On 23 February 1909 from the ice of Baddeck Bay, Nova Scotia, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia and Wikipedia.
Where is Bell buried? On a hill overlooking Baddeck Bay near his Beinn Bhreagh estate, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Is the Alexander Graham Bell museum open in winter? We could not find winter hours. Parks Canada lists a seasonal opening period; check its page.
Related on this site: mahone-bay-nova-scotia-three-churches-harbour, canada-wind-chill-index-frostbite-times-explained, bombardier-valcourt-first-snowmobile-ski-doo
Roam first. Shop later.