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Construction of the wings began in early 2006. A particularly “To get the stability right, his calculation showed it should
dedicated volunteer was Irene Manuel, who began sewing be only a couple of inches behind the leading edge,”
the polyurethane-coated nylon that was to cover the wings. Jermyn said. As a result of Tryggvason’s
recommendation, the builders of the replica drooped and
Her work was interrupted by a diagnosis of cancer, but she
was so dedicated that she refused to suspend work, instead extended the leading edge of the elevator by about four
fitting sewing chores around chemotherapy sessions. “She inches.
did an amazing job for us ... and she’s quite recovered Jermyn said the replica’s builders learned a great deal
now,” Jermyn said. about the challenges faced by the original builders back in
1909 and their willingness to learn from their mistakes.
In June 2008, the aircraft was moved into the hangar of the “Had they progressed further, they would have come out
Russell Aviation Group, located between Niagara Falls and with quite a nice airplane,” he said, adding, he’s been told
Fort Erie, where the $40,000 Silver Dart “rubbed shoulders” the AEA had plans to enclose the front of the aircraft.
with this collection’s high-powered (and very expensive) Alas, when an improved version was demonstrated to
Me109, Hurricane and Spitfire. “It was a bit intimidating!” Canada’s military forces at Camp Petawawa in August
Jermyn said. 1909, the aircraft was severely damaged and the federal
government dropped plans to acquire it. By that point,
For flying, the Silver Dart would use a Lycoming 0-145
engine, but for display purposes, Jermyn and CAHS member though, the AEA had already disbanded.
Don Feduck went to the Canada Aviation Museum in The replica was virtually complete by late 2008, Jermyn
Ottawa where they photographed and recorded the said. The pilot’s seat had been upholstered and a simple
dimensions of the actual engine that Glenn Curtiss had built instrument set installed. Bows were added to protect the
for the Silver Dart. This engine was aquired by the museum undersides of the wings. On January 11, 2009, the Silver
after being rescued from the bottom of Bras d’or Lake, Dart was wheeled out and started. Jermyn noted that its
Lycoming engine ran well, though it was about 400 rpm
where it had been mounted, post-1909, in a boat (which
later sank). From this, they constructed a replica. “It’s an short of the expected 2500 rpm — still good enough to fly
amazing piece of machinery,” he said. “Although it doesn’t in cold weather. Because champagne was not permitted
work, you can rotate the driveshaft and move the in the hangar, builders celebrated with chocolate mints!
distributor. It’s a real jewel.” In early February, it was dismantled and taken to the
hangar of the Canadian Warplane Heritage at the
By late in 2008, the flight propeller had arrived from Florida Hamilton International Airport, where the 6000-foot
and had been installed. runway would be available. It was on this runway that
Tryggvason got it airborne Feb. 6.
Jermyn noted that the crew was to become more and
more skilled at assembling and disassembling the aircraft
as they gained experience. “The funny thing is that it used
to take us about a week to assemble the airplane; after
doing it so many times, we can now do it in one day. It
used to take us two days to disassemble it; we now can

do it in about three hours!”
Publicity given to this project brought forward relatives or The replica originally was fitted with a slightly smaller
descendants of all of the AEA’s principals save for Curtiss. nosewheel than was used by the original – wherein a
An important recruit for the project was former Canadian complicated engineering tale. Tryggvason’s wind tunnel
astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason, who had become aware of the tests determined the replica’s wing “was much better
Silver Dart project after he took his Pitts Special for than the original wing. We had very few gaps in the
maintenance work at Wayne Cole’s fabric shop, and noticed lacing; very few holes for the air to leak through. The
components of the Silver Dart inside it. Eventually, Jermyn
problem with this, Tryggvason discerned, was that “what
made the University of Western Ontario professor an would happen was that the wing would start flying before
intriguing offer: do you want to fly it? “He said yes.” As a
the elevator was capable of lifting the front end, so he’d
professor of flight dynamics, Tryggvason brought his own be going along on the nosewheel – he called this
special skills to the project. He had access to the university’s ‘wheelbarrowing’”. This might have been a bit hard to
wind tunnel and determined the original Silver Dart had a handle, so a smaller nosewheel was installed to drop the
basic flaw that made it unstable in windy conditions — angle of attack, “and that delayed the rear wing’s flight.”
graphically illustrated by the crash of the 1959 replica of the

aircraft. The replica’s center of gravity was found to be
In the late autumn of 2009, work will begin on converting