One of the men was John A.D. McCurdy. He was a young engineer who had grown up at Beinn Bhreagh. His father had worked for the Bells. While McCurdy was a student at the University of Toronto, he became friends with another young engineer named Frederick “Casey” Baldwin. Both men were interested in flying experiments and joined the association. Bell invited Glenn H. Curtiss, an American expert on gasoline engines, to join. Soon, the United States government became interested and asked if Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge could join. Bell’s wife Mabel provided much of the money for the aviation experiments the group did.

The group made history on February 23, 1909, when McCurdy flew the Silver Dart a half mile over Baddeck Bay at a speed of 40 miles per hour. It was the first manned flight in the British Empire.

The Hydrofoil

Bell’s next goal was to find a safe way to take off and land on water. This led him to invent the hydrofoil, a bladelike structure under a motor-powered boat. The hydrofoil raises the hull of the boat out of the water, allowing the boat to reach high speeds. On September 9, 1919, the hydrofoil HD-4 reached 71 miles per hour. It was the fastest watercraft in the world. It was invented because Bell wanted to safely take off and land an aircraft on water.