View source for AEA Cygnet

{{Short description|Early Canadian aircraft}}
<!-- This article is a part of [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft]]. Please see [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/page content]] for recommended layout. -->
{{Infobox aircraft
 |name=AEA Cygnet
 |image=AEA Cygnet II.jpg
 |caption=The Cygnet II in 1909, at [[Baddeck, Nova Scotia]]
 |type=Early experimental aircraft
 |manufacturer=[[Aerial Experiment Association]]
 |designer=[[Alexander Graham Bell]]
 |first_flight=6 December 1907
 |introduction=
 |retired=1910s
 |status=
 |primary_user=Aerial Experiment Association
 |more_users=
 |produced=1907–1912
 |number_built=4
 |unit cost=
}}
The '''Cygnet''' (or '''Aerodrome #5''') was an extremely unorthodox early [[Canada|Canadian]] aircraft, with a wall-like "wing" made up of 3,393 tetrahedral cells.<ref>Davies. A. [http://www.design-technology.org/bell.htm "Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and Kites."] ''design-technology.org.'' Retrieved: 3 March 2012.</ref> It was a powered version of the Cygnet [[tetrahedral kite]] designed by Dr [[Alexander Graham Bell]] in 1907 and built by the newly founded [[Aerial Experiment Association]].

==Design and development==
Bell's experiments with tetrahedral kites had explored the advantages of utilizing great banks of cells to create a lifting body leading to the Cygnet I. On 6 December 1907, [[Thomas Selfridge]] piloted the kite as it was towed into the air behind a motorboat, eventually reaching a height of 168&nbsp;ft (51 m). This was the first recorded heavier-than-air flight in Canada.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:jeQIsHT6PBgJ:www.sydneyairport.ca/sites/default/files/documents/Silver%2520Dart%2520Legacy%2520-Chronology%2520ENG%25202008.doc+&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjDwpwTv-HCHLPB8fgA0YprCEdNAbwRMqMtJ8ApeCapV_weMRRhOBQzxB4vYFrgyZ7gtjqgWDzA85wZdUYhXHggUCJaXR2Juu5CaX4gL4NWA2NGDl4ewJY42PPAiR5aY7CeFrTG&sig=AHIEtbQhSe9w9N3xfNmcOfp6LNyamYk6Cg "The “Silver Dart” Legacy: Alexander Graham Bell’s Flying Machines of the Future~ A Chronology."] ''Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site of Canada,'' 2012. Retrieved: 17 May 2012.</ref> While demonstrably able to fly as a person-carrying kite, it seemed unpromising as a direction for research into powered flight. It was difficult to control, and was in fact destroyed when it hit the water at the end of the flight.

The following year, a smaller copy of the design was built as the '''Cygnet II''', now equipped with wheeled [[Landing gear|undercarriage]] and a [[Glenn Curtiss|Curtiss]] [[V8 engine|V-8]] engine.<ref>Payne 2006, p. 194.</ref>

==Operational history==
Attempts to fly the Cygnet II at [[Baddeck, Nova Scotia]] between 22 and 24 February 1909, met with failure. When the [[AEA Silver Dart]] was ready for flight testing, the engine was removed from the Cygnet II, and then returned. Rebuilt again as the '''Cygnet III''' with a more powerful 70&nbsp;hp Gnome Gamma engine, its final flight was on 19 March 1912, at [[Bras d'Or Lake]], [[Nova Scotia]], piloted by [[John Alexander Douglas McCurdy|John McCurdy]].<ref>Dailey 2010, p. 42.</ref> The results were highly unsatisfactory with the Cygnet III only able to lift off the ground for a foot or two, typically considered remaining in [[Ground effect (aerodynamics)|ground effect]]. After a final trial on 17 March, the tetrahedral cell bank failed structurally, leaving the aircraft irreparably damaged. The Cygnet II and III were abandoned following this flight attempt.<ref name="Molson and Taylor p. 103">Molson and Taylor 1982, p. 103.</ref>

==Specifications (Cygnet III)==
{{Aircraft specs
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}}

==See also==
* [[Man-lifting kite]]
* [[List of experimental aircraft]]

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist}}
;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050601045421/http://www.aerofiles.com/_ab.html "Aerial Experimental Association (A E A)."] ''Aerofiles,''  1 June 2005.
* Angelucci, Enzo. ''World Aircraft: Origins to World War 1''. Chicago: Rand McNally & Co, 1975. {{ISBN|9780528881657}}.
* Dailey, John R. ''Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: An Autobiography''. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1426206535}}. 
* Milberry, Larry. ''Aviation in Canada: The Pioneer Decades, Vol. 1''. Toronto: CANAV Books, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-921022-19-0}}.
* Molson, Ken M. and Harold A. Taylor. ''Canadian Aircraft Since 1909''. Stittsville, Ontario: Canada's Wings, Inc., 1982. {{ISBN|0-920002-11-0}}.
* Payne, Stephen, ed. ''Canadian Wings: A Remarkable Century of Flight''. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2006. {{ISBN|1-55365-167-7}}.
{{Refend}}

{{AEA aircraft}}

{{Baddeck}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aea Cygnet}}
[[Category:Aerial Experiment Association aircraft|Cygnet]]
[[Category:1900s Canadian experimental aircraft]]
[[Category:1900s United States experimental aircraft]]
[[Category:Victoria County, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Alexander Graham Bell]]
[[Category:Multiplane aircraft]]
[[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1907]]
[[Category:Single-engined piston aircraft]]