FREDERICK W. (CASEY) BALDWIN 1882-1948

 

The Bell Family & National Geographic Society

An early flight enthusiast, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell (center) formed an experimental group in 1907 to "build a practical aeroplane that will carry a man." Shown with Bell at his Nova Scotia home are (left to right) Glenn H. Curtiss, John McCurdy, F.W. Baldwin, and Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge. From CONTACT The Story of the Early Birds by Henry Serrano Villard

 

AERIAL EXPERIMENT ASSOCIATION      Glenn Curtiss and Alexander Graham Bell had first met in New York in 1905, at which time Bell invited Curtiss to visit him at his summer home, Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic for "Lovely Mountain"), near Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. In that cool, remote retreat among the rocks and pines, Bell had been conducting a series of experiments with tetrahedral kites---four-sided, lightweight aluminum frames covered with silk---one of which, a large and relatively strong model, possessed great inherent stability. Bell was anxious to attach one of the Curtiss motors to it as part of his studies in aerodynamic lift, propulsion, and control, for he had set his sights on the contstruction of a machine that would fly even before the Wrights had taken off at Kitty Hawk. In January 1903, for example, Bell was quoted by the Boston Transcript as hypothesizing that "an aeroplane kite could carry the weiight of a motor and a man." Realization of this exploit would be only one step short of the goal of free flight.      Bell had gathered around him at Baddeck a group of bright young men, including two recent graduates in mechanical engineering of the University of Toronto: Frederick Walker ("Casey") Baldwin (no relation to the balloonist) and John A. D. McCurdy, son of an inventor, who was to mature into one of America's foremost aviators.

 

Air Force Museum

The first flying machine developed by the Bell group was the Red Wing, a biplane with the propeller located behind the wing. It is shown here with pilot "Casey" Baldwin before its flight at Lake Keuka, New York, on March 12, 1908.

 

THE RED WING      On a bitterly cold March 12, 1908, the Red Wing, piloted by Casey Baldwin, sped over the icy surface of the lake on runners, bounded into the air, and actually flew for a distance of 318 feet 11 inches. Being virtually uncontrollable since it lacked any stabilizing device, it flipped over on one side and crashed. However, disregarding the practically unpublicized flights of the Wright brothers, this was the first time than an aeroplane was flown puclicly in America.      The Red Wing was followed in a few weeks by a resplendent White Wing, designed by Baldwin. This model, because the ice had melted, was put on a tricycle undercarriage and taken for trials to an abandoned race-track known as Stony Brook Farm. It was soon apparent that to get the Whiite Wing into the air was one thing, but to get back down without wrecking the machine was quite another. Smash followed smash in discouraging succession---fortunately with no injuries save to the feelings of the operator. "It seemed one day that the limit of hard luck had been reached," wrote Curtiss of these first ventures, "when, after a brief flight and a somewhat rough landing, the machine folded up and sank down on its side, like a wounded bird, just as we were feeling pretty good over a successful landing without breakage." The only way to learn was the hard way: by trial and repair, by study of stresses and strains, by provisional changes in details of construction. But on May 22, the White Wing, with Curtiss at the controls, flew a distance of 1017 feet in 19 seconds and actually landed intact in a ploughed field outside the old racetrack. It was cause for elation---and for the prompt construction, under Curtiss's direction, of a bigger, better, prize-winning plane: the June Bug. From CONTACT The Story of the Early Birds by Henry Serrano Villard

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Fredterick W. (Casey) Baldwin" using Google, (8-17-03), you will find about 29 links. You will be amply rewarded by checking each of the links, but you might like to start with this revue of the history of Canadian Aviation. The Walkway of Time: Highlights In the History of Canadian Aviation

 

Frederick W. Baldwin died at his home near Baddeck on August 7, 1948, aged sixty-six From CONTACT The Story of the Early Birds by Henry Serrano Villard

 

Recommended Further Reading: CONTACT, The story of the Early Birds by Henry Serrano Villard Thomas Y. Crowell Company

 

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