John Alexander Douglas McCurdy

McCurdy received his academic training at the Baddeck Academy, Nova Scotia; St. Andrew's College, Ontario, and University of Toronto, graduating as a Mechanical Engineer in 1906.

Mabel Bell suggested and financed the establishment of the Aerial Experiment Association. Formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 1,1907 the AEA's focus was to construct “a practical flying aerodrome or flying machine driven through the air by its own power and carrying a man.” Members of the group were: Alexander Graham Bell, J. A. D. McCurdy, F. W. Baldwin, Glenn H. Curtiss and Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge. On February 23, 1909, J. A. D. McCurdy became the first British subject to make a controlled heavier-then-air powered flight in the British Empire, when he piloted the Silver Dart over Bras d'Or Lake, Baddeck, Nova Scotia for three quarters of a mile at a height of thirty feet and a speed of thirty miles per hour. He was the ninth person in the world to fly and the only one to pilot the Silver Dart.

McCurdy was the first to utilize a water-cooled engine in an aeroplane, which he had installed on the Silver Dart. Whilst demonstrating the potential of aeroplanes in Petawawa, Ontario in August 1909, he took Casey Baldwin up on August 2nd, as Canada's first passenger. Along with Baldwin, he formed the first aircraft production company, The Canadian Aerodrome Company, from which emerged Canada's first powered aircraft built in Canada, called Baddeck No. 1. While demonstrating the maneuverability of an aeroplane through the use of ailerons, McCurdy made the first figure eight in the world on August 29, 1908. McCurdy sent the first wireless message in August 1910 while aloft and sent and received the first wireless transmission from an aeroplane in 1911. In 1910, he became the first Canadian to be issued a pilot's license. As McCurdy's flight was not just the first one in Canada, but also the first flight by a British subject, McCurdy was granted Great Britain's pilot's license Number One.

He held the world biplane speed record at Belmont Park, New York state, in 1910. He was the first to demonstrate the possibility of bombing from the air. During the First World War, his aeroplane factory in Toronto built the Curtiss JN-4 or “Jenny” and the world's first twin-engine bomber for the Royal Navy. In April 1915, he established Canada’s first aviation school which trained future pilots for the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service and six hundred Canadians. He made the first inter-city flight in 1911 when he flew in a race from Hamilton to Toronto. He contributed to the development of the aileron, tricycle landing gear and pontoons. In a 1949 CBC interview from Government House in Halifax, McCurdy said of the aileron: “This is the system used universally to this day, and I consider it to be Canada's outstanding contribution to aircraft development.” He was the first to pilot a “flying boat”; he made the first oceanic flight from Florida to Cuba on January 30th, 1911 and is credited with making the first flight in Mexico.

McCurdy flew to Havana, Cuba from Key West, Florida on January 30th, 1911. He had six American torpedo boat destroyers evenly spaced between Florida and Cuba, each puffing out smoke as a means of navigation, as well as means of rescue. A burned bearing on the crankshaft forced McCurdy to glide to a gentle landing on the ocean within sight of Havana. McCurdy had fitted his biplane with two prontoons - another first - in the event he was forced to ditch. President Gomez held a state banquet where it was announced that McCurdy would be awarded $18,000 in prize money.  But when McCurdy opened the envelope he found nothing but newspaper clippings. He made three world records: at 90 miles, he made the longest flight over water; he was the first to fly out of sight of land on a clear day; he was airborne for two hours and twenty minutes. 

He was chiefly responsible for the founding of the Royal Canadian Air Force on April 1, 1924 along with W. G. Barker and W. A. Bishop.  In 1928 along with W. G. Barker and W. A. Bishop he formed the Reid Aircraft Company in Montreal, Quebec. The following year he affected a merger, resulting in the Curtiss-Reid Aircraft Company of which he became president. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was Assistant Director-General of Aircraft Production and Purchasing. Having established Canada's first aviation school, McCurdy was an adviser to the Commonwealth Governments in the Second World War in helping to set up the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. As Minister, the skill and dedication which he brought to his position made a superb contribution to the Canadian war effort, for which he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. After the war, he became President of Montreal Aircraft Industries Limited.

Prime Minister King appointed McCurdy Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia in 1947-1952. In 1953, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute created The McCurdy Award for “Outstanding achievement in the Art, Science and Engineering relating to Aeronautics and Space Research.” In 1959, the Royal Canadian Air Force celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of McCurdy’s flight by flying a replica Silver Dart over Bras d'Or Lake, on February 23, 1959. That same year, McCurdy won the Mckee Trophy for life long contributions to the advancement of Canadian Aviation; the University of Toronto conferred an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree and Queen Elizabeth II appointed McCurdy an Honorary Air Commodore. In 1959, McCurdy was appointed the first civilian Honorary Colonel of the R.C.A.F. To celebrate the Centennial of Flight in 2009, a replica of the Silver Dart was built by the AEA 2005 group, composed of volunteers from Welland, Ontario, one of which was McCurdy's grandson, Honorary Colonel Gerald P. J. Haddon. The replica was flown 100 years later, on Bras d'Or Lake from where McCurdy had made his original flight. In 1993, the Air Force Association of Canada established the J. A. D. McCurdy Trophy, “To recognize outstanding and praiseworthy achievements in the field of civil aviation in Canada”.

On July 27, 2009, the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia was renamed the J .A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport. The latter years of McCurdy's life were spent in Montreal, Quebec until his death on June 25, 1961. As McCurdy's funeral procession wound its way through the streets of Montreal, the Royal Canadian Air Force, with full military honours, paid their final respects to the man whom many consider the Father of Canadian Aviation.

At the time of his death, he was the worlds' oldest living pilot. J. A. D. McCurdy was buried in his home town Baddeck, Nova Scotia where, at his request, his tombstone faces Bras d'Or Lake from where he made his historic flight and from where Canadian Aviation took its first steps.