AEA Cygnet
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The Cygnet (or Aerodrome #5) was an extremely unorthodox early aircraft, with a wall-like "wing" made up of 360 tetrahedral cells. It was a powered version of the Cygnet kite designed by Alexander Graham Bell in 1907 and built by the newly-founded Aerial Experiment Association.
On December 6, Thomas Selfridge piloted the aircraft as it was towed into the air behind a motorboat, eventually reaching a height of 168 ft (51 m). 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 undercarriage and a Curtiss V-8 engine. Attempts to fly it at Baddeck, Nova Scotia between February 22-24 1909 met with failure.
Rebuilt again as the Cygnet III with a more powerful engine, it finally flew on March 1 1912 at Lake Bras d'Or, Nova Scotia, piloted by John McCurdy.
Specifications (Cygnet III)
References
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