page_title: AEA Silver Dart
section_title: 2009 Centennial celebrations
hierarchical_section_title: AEA Silver Dart / Tributes / 2009 Centennial celebrations
caption_attribution_description: English: Replica built by the AEA 2005 headed by Douglas Jermyn and built entirely by volunteers.
context_page_description: The Silver Dart was a derivative of an early aircraft built by a Canadian/U.S. team, which after many successful flights in Hammondsport, New York, earlier in 1908, was dismantled and shipped to Baddeck, Nova Scotia. It was flown from the ice of Baddeck Bay, a sub-basin of Bras d'Or Lake, on 23 February 1909, making it the first controlled powered flight in Canada. The aircraft was piloted by one of its designers, John McCurdy. The original Silver Dart was designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Association, formed under the guidance of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell.
  From 1891, Bell had begun experiments at Baddeck and Hammondsport to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft. By 1908, the success of the AEA was seen in a series of ground-breaking designs, culminating in the Silver Dart. By the time the Silver Dart was constructed in late 1908, it was the Aerial Experiment Association's fourth flying machine. One of its precursors, the June Bug, had already broken records. It won the Scientific American Trophy for making the first official one mile flight in North America.
context_section_description: A small group of volunteers from the not-for-profit Aerial Experiment Association 2005 Inc. completed building a flying replica of the Silver Dart in early 2009.
   The main goal of the group was to recreate the original flight on 23 February 2009 – again on the frozen surface of Baddeck Bay near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. However, due to weather conditions forecast for the 23rd, the centennial flight and fly-by occurred on 22 February.  After a temporary repair made to the front wheel, former Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason piloted five successful flights that day. The replica is officially considered a Canadian heritage project, and throughout the year was the centerpiece of a series of events celebrating the centennial of the Silver Dart's first flight in Canada. In 2013, it was moved to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck, where it will be on permanent display.
  Numerous other activities took place in 2009 to celebrate the Centennial of Flight, including a new exhibition entitled "Canadian Wings – A Remarkable Century of Flight" at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa and a trans-Canada flight of vintage aircraft. The no longer functional official Nova Scotia Ministry of Tourism website Centennial Celebration of the Flight of the Silver Dart in Baddeck  promoted the flight and anniversary activities in Baddeck throughout the centennial. Various historical photos and documents were posted on that site, in a virtual museum presentation.
caption: Silver Dart replica
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