AEA Cygnet

Infobox Aircraft
name=AEA Cygnet


caption=
type=Early experimental aircraft
manufacturer=Aerial Experiment Association
designer=Alexander Graham Bell
first flight=1907-12-06
introduced=
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 US aircraft, with a wall-like "wing" made up of 3,393 [cite web|url=http://www.design-technology.org/bell.htm|title=Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and Kites] tetrahedral cells. It was a powered version of the Cygnet kite designed by Dr 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 Bras d'Or Lake, Nova Scotia, piloted by John McCurdy.

pecifications (Cygnet III)

aircraft specifications
jet or prop?=prop
plane or copter?=plane
crew=1
length main= ft in
length alt= m
span main=26 ft 4 in
span alt=8.03 m
height main= ft in
height alt= m
area main= ft²
area alt= m²
empty weight main= lb
empty weight alt= kg
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
number of props=1
engine (prop)=Gnome et Rhône
type of prop=rotary engine
power main=70 hp
power alt=50 kW
max speed main= mph
max speed alt= knots, km/h
range main= mi
range alt= nm, km
ceiling main=168 ft
ceiling alt=51 m
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=

References

*cite web|title=Aerofiles|work=|url=http://www.aerofiles.com/_ab.html|accessdate=2005-05-19

Footnotes

ee also

aircontent
lists=
* List of experimental aircraft