Mr. Curtiss drifted into the business of building and operating air ships and flying machines by frequent association with inventors, who came to his bicycle works at Hammondsport, N. Y., for assistance in the design and construction of aërial craft. He was particularly sought as a constructor of propelling mechanism, for he had special skill and experience in producing light gasoline engines. As a motor expert he was invited to the laboratory of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, at Beinn Breagh, near Baddeck, Nova Scotia, in the summer of 1907. Dr. Bell had developed his wonderfully light, strong and stable tetrahedral kites to such an extent that he wished to convert them into “aërodromes” by applying light propelling mechanism. He accordingly invited two young Canadian engineers, F. W. Baldwin and J. A. D. McCurdy, to consult with him regarding the structural details of his proposed flyer, and contracted with Mr. Curtiss to supply the motive power. These gentlemen with Lieutenant T. Selfridge, a guest of Dr. Bell, developed so many independent ideas that Mrs. Bell suggested the advantage of forming themselves into a scientific organization, at the same time offering the capital required for experimentation. Acting on this advice and generous offer, they formed themselves into the now famous Aërial Experiment Association, whose object was the construction of a practical aëroplane, driven through the air by its own motive power, and carrying a man. PLATE XXIV. [Illustration: THE _RED WING_.] [Illustration: CURTISS BIPLANE.] [Illustration: CURTISS BIPLANE WITH PONTOONS.] After some preliminary downhill glides[48] and studies with a motorless aëroplane, the association, on March 12, 1908, brought forth their first dynamic machine, the _Red Wing_, shown in Plate XXIV, in order to speed it along the ice of Lake Keuka, near Curtiss’s factory; the purpose being, not to fly, but to test the effect of the vertical rudder. To the surprise of the twenty-five onlookers, the machine, after running two hundred feet along the ice, serenely rose into the air and flew 319 feet. “This,” says Dr. Bell, “was the first public exhibition of the flight of a heavier-than-air machine in America.” It is noteworthy also that this machine was completed and ready for trial in less than seven weeks from the time of starting. Its design, while embodying suggestions from each member of the association, was attributed chiefly to Lieutenant Selfridge, who took the leading part in evolving the plans, and who gave them his final approval, it being the intention of the association to offer each man a chance to produce a flying machine after his own notions, aided by the experience and liberal advice of his fellows.