AEA June Bug

▪ airplane

 biplane designed, built, and tested by members of the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) in 1908. For a table of pioneer aircraft, see history of flight (flight, history of).

      Alexander Graham Bell (Bell, Alexander Graham), one of the founders of the AEA, gave the third and most famous of the powered airplanes constructed by the group the name June Bug because of the beetles that filled the air on its first flight, in June 1908. The aircraft was a braced biplane featuring wingtip ailerons (aileron), a canard, or forward elevator, a rear rudder, and horizontal surfaces.

      Glenn Hammond Curtiss (Curtiss, Glenn Hammond) made the first nine flights with the June Bug from June 21 to June 29, 1908, covering distances of up to 3,420 feet (1,040 metres). Confident of success, the members of the AEA informed the Aero Club of America that they were prepared to win the Scientific American Trophy, which would be awarded to the first American airplane completing a flight of at least 1 km (3,280 feet). On July 4, at Hammondsport, N.Y., Curtiss kept the June Bug in the air for 1 minute 42.5 seconds, covering a distance of 5,085 feet (1,550 metres) at an average speed of 39 miles (63 km) per hour. He had won the trophy with 1,800 feet (550 metres) to spare. The flight set a new record for both distance flown and time in the air.

      The June Bug made headlines for more than a month before Wilbur Wright (Wright, Wilbur and Orville) made his first public flights at Hunaudières, France. The story had an extraordinary impact on the public and marked the emergence of Curtiss as a major figure in aviation.

      The modified airframe of the June Bug, fitted with another Curtiss engine, mounted on floats, and renamed the Loon, became the first hydroplane tested in the United States. While the airplane was unable to take off from the water, it represented the first step toward the design of the famous Curtiss Model E flying boat.

Tom D. Crouch

 

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