Alexander Graham Bell is known in aviation circles as the
founder of the Aerial Experiment Association, but the
Association may never have formed without the financial and
organizational support of the inventor’s wife, Mabel Gardiner
Mabel Bell had as keen an interest as her husband in the area
of aviation. When Alexander began to experiment with tetrahedral
kites in the hopes of discovering a means of achieving heavier
than air flight, Mabel provided practical support, such as
getting the tetrahedral designs tested and approved by engineers
to help win potential investors for the experiments.
Unfortunately, such monetary backing never came, but Mabel
continued the work of providing an infrastructure for her
husband’s work. In 1907, she was instrumental in helping him
gather together in Nova Scotia all the men who would form the
Aerial Experiment Association: John A.D. McCurdy, Frederick W.
Baldwin, Thomas Selfridge, and Glenn H. Curtiss. She was also
the one who suggested that the men place their experiments in
the framework of an official organization.
For this to happen, the organization needed initial capital,
and Mabel was the one who provided it. She sold off land that
her father had left to her and used that money to set up the
company. Because it was her investment, Mabel had some room to
organize how that investment should best be used. $20,000.00 of
her money was put forth, with the mandate that the group had 1
year to design and fly a powered aircraft. Salaries were
arranged for Baldwin, McCurdy, and Curtiss (Selfridge, a United
States Military Officer, did not take a salary), and schedules
Thus, in 1907, the Aerial Experiment Association was born. It
did not quite meet its 1 year mandate in terms of creating a
successful flyer, however, as three of their designs, the Red
Wing, the White Wing and the June Bug, were all unsuccessful.
With another $15,000.00 investment from Mabel and a six month
extension on their work, however, the Aerial Experiment
Association successfully flew the Silver Dart, and made Canadian
and British Commonwealth aviation history.
Mabel Bell’s contribution to the Aerial Experiment
Association marks one of the important turning points in
Canadian Aviation history, a time when Canadians realized that
they, too, could reach for the sky. It would not be long before
that dream of flight would spread beyond the borders of Nova
Scotia and touch the rest of the nation.
Chapter 1 – The Aerial Experiment Association
Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site of Canada
The Curtiss Aviation Book