Silver Dart set to take
off in February 2009
By Ted Beaudoin, Special to This WeekRegional
Apr 25, 2008
Nearly 100 men and women from at least 10 Niagara Peninsula cities and towns, along with two Canadian Air Force captains from Trenton, watched aviation history close a 100-year gap during a joint meeting of two local Canadian Air Force Association wings. They saw the unveiling of a replica of a 101-year old V-8 engine at the Niagara Falls/Niagara South Airport.
The replica engine is a wood-metal-plastic model of the original American-built Curtiss V-8 engine (1907) that powered the most famous historic aircraft in Canada -- the Aerial Experiment Association's 1909 Silver Dart, which made the first powered flight in Canada, if not the British Empire -- in Baddeck, N.S., on Feb. 23, 1909 under the leadership of Alexander Graham Bell.
"There's almost everything in that engine except the kitchen sink. But I did use parts of an old kitchen chair to build it," said Don Feduck, president, Air Force Association of Canada 434 (Niagara Peninsula) Wing., known locally as the Welland wing.
Feduck volunteered more than 18 months of his time to drill nearly 1,000 holes, find thousands of pieces, and accept donations from many men and women in the region to build the replica.
Feduck also chaired the joint annual meeting with the 484 Fort Erie wing. As Welland wing president, he presented a $200 donation from wing members to the AEA 2005 committee which has been building the flyable full-scale Silver Dart replica since July 2004.
Doug Jermyn, the AEA 2005 group president who accepted the donations, said that the committee has spent almost all of the $30,000 of donated funds received to date and is now seeking additional funding of the final $30,000 needed to complete the project in time for the replica's commemorative flight.
It turned out to be a fine evening for AEA 2005, which received a total of four cash donations last night. The second came from Feduck's colleague, Fort Erie wing president Bill Greenwood whose members donated $150.
The largest donation came from Sam Newman. CD, president of the AFAC's Ontario group. He drove from London, Ont., to attend the meeting and present Jermyn with a $1,000 donation from the Ontario group to help the committee continue its work.
A fourth donation came from newly-inducted Welland wing member Larry MacLean. He presented a cheque of an unspecified amount on behalf of Welland wing membership chairman Chuck Leguerrier, who was out of town on other matters and could not attend the meeting. Within the audience were other members of the AEA 2005 committee, employees and friends of the Russell Aviation Group., five representatives from the Niagara Falls 483 wing and two Canadian Air Force 8 Wing Trenton liaison officers with Canadian Air Force Association wings - Captains Mike Maynard (Welland) and Todd Meszaros (Fort Erie).
Both the replica engine and the fuselage are now housed in a Russell Aviation Group hangar in a space donated by Ed Russell, whose company hosts an annual international air show billed as Canada's only all-propeller air show. This year's show - Friendly Foes Above the Falls -- will be held on June 14 and 15 will showcase four of the RAG's re-built classic fighter aircraft: a Spitfire Mark IX, a Hawker Hurricane XII, a IIB Harvard and a Messerschmitt bf109, along with other invited planes.
The replica engine will be placed on the Silver Dart replica after a suitable museum has been found following its flight in Baddeck next February.
In the meantime, construction also continues in a home garage in Welland, where the replica's wings are now being assembled.
When finally in one piece, covered and fitted with their fabric, they will be moved to the RAG hangar where final assembly on the whole aircraft will begin prior to ground and flight tests that are scheduled two months.
Article in Niagara This Week
While the AEA 2005 group builds the replica, a Port Colborne resident Mr.Jack Minor is concurrently managing an extensive public information program dedicated to school children so they could learn more about their aviation pioneers such as Bell, and those who supported Bell in his historic aviation experiments.
He has been carrying out this campaign mostly at his own expense and credits partial funding from the AEA 2005 group who provided him with grant money it obtained from the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s grant of $16,700.
His goal is to reach each and every school throughout the Niagara Peninsula on the subject of this historic first flight, and the people who made it possible.
He has been carrying out this public information campaign on the history of powered flight in Canada to students within as many of the Niagara peninsula schools that he can reach with his home-built, half-scale "look-a-like" of the Silver Dart, which accompanies him and a 12.8-meter (42’) static display of large panels, one of which is dedicated to the work of the AEA 2005 and the full-scale replica. (For more information on Minor, a visit to the following web page – Vintage Wings – will produce a link – A Minor Miracle, which contains an in-depth feature article on Jack and his work, titled You Don’t Know Jack – Vintage Wings)
Jermyn and his committee are shepherding a rapidly expanding group of dedicated aviation and Canadian history enthusiasts from the Niagara region – and far beyond – whose members, until this week, have been building the replica hundreds of bits at a time in a very ordinary Harold Street garage in Welland.
Jermyn said he expects to have more news next week on where the already built and pre-assembled components – the rudder, front canard wing, ailerons, engine mounts, seat, steering column and most of the fuselage – will be housed for final assembly, and the unveiling of the replica engine that will eventually accompany the aircraft into a museum.
In effect, Welland and the Niagara Peninsula has acquired a temporary new industry to add to its illustrious career as a water-based transportation hub for North America – the region now houses AEA 2005’s head office, which is leading the way in reengineering, fabrication and assembly of (one) historic aircraft!
Once ready, the AEA 2005 web site will contain progress reports and update information on a regular basis. Its home page Internet address will be sent to aviation enthusiasts throughout Canada (and beyond) as part of the committee’s media awareness campaign about what it is doing and how well it has done to date.
Vignettes
The airport
The Niagara Falls/Niagara South Airport is located near Niagara Falls. The airstrip consists of a single gravel runway with a service road parallel to the runway. The airport is located north of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) at Sodom Road (Regional Road 116) exit. The airstrip's main entrance is on the west side of Sodom Road. The runway is facing a northwest to southeast direction with a small loop at each end.
On other fronts The replica engine
- On Thursday, April 17, the AEA 2005 committee unveiled the replica Curtisss V8 engine during a joint Fort Erie / Welland Air Force Association of Canada wings’ monthly meeting – also attended by members of the Niagara association wing. This engine will be installed in the Silver Dart replica after it makes its powered flight and when a suitable museum has been found to provide it with permanent housing.
SilverDartReplicaWebsite - under construction
A team of four Niagara College New Media Web Design course students in Welland is building an AEA 2005 committee web site as part of their graduating course. The web site is expected to be ready by early May. It will serve as a useful guide for editors and writers and anyone else interested in learning more about the pioneering few years of powered flight in Canada and the work done by Alexander Bell and his phenomenal team of associates. They were the founding members of the original AEA – the Aerial Experiment Association, which conducted flight tests at two locations – the first in Hammondsport, NY, considered the cradle of aviation itself - and the equivalent cradle of Canadian aviation at Baddeck, NS.
Who’s involved and from where
An estimated 50 men, women, companies, associations and organizations have been involved in this project from as far as Longueuil, QC, (Pratt and Whitney Canada, one of the early sponsors), Mississauga ON. (Leavens Aviation), London, ON. (Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason who hopes to test-fly the Silver Dart this summer and pilot the aircraft next year), Vienna, ON (where the control surface fabric is being applied and painted), and the Ontario Trillium Foundation with its $16,700 grant. Locally, the committee has attracted the time, attention, skills and services from men and women in at least 10 of the 16 key communities that officially round out the Niagara Peninsula roster of communities. These communities they include, but are not limited to: Grimsby, Chippawa, Fonthill, Fort Erie, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Ridgeville, Smithville, Thorold, and Welland.
