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[[left margin]] √ [[/left margin]] barge with lines extending from the barge and the kite to a steamboat on [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] (Lake) [[left margin]] √ [[/left margin]] Bras d'Or. [[strikethrough]] Lake [[/strikethrough]] With Lt. Selfridge aboard, the kite rose nearly 200 feet and, as the steamboat reduced speed, the kite and Selfridge descended safely to the water.
The group then moved to Hammondsport where they made and experimented with a Chanute-type glider. At the same time, work was started on their first powered plane which was designed by Selfridge and called the "Red Wing." It was a biplane powered by an 8-cylinder, 40 h.p. Curtiss air-cooled engine. It had two skid-like runners for an attempt to take off from the ice of Lake Keuka. This machine was completed on March 8, 1908. On the twelfth, Baldwin made a hop of 318 feet and became the first Canadian to fly. A few days later he tried again and wrecked the plane.
The second plane, completed on May 14th, was Baldwin's design. Called the "White Wing," it was also a biplane with the same engine. It had a tricycle landing gear using motorcycle wheels. Baldwin made the first hop with this plane on May 18th, then both Curtiss and Selfridge made hops. McCurdy had not yet flown, so on May 23rd, he tried his first hop with the "White Wing" and wrecked the plane but was not injured.
Their third plane, the "June Bug," a Curtiss design, was completed on May 26th. It was a biplnae [[biplane]], similar to the "White Wing," with the same engine. Curtiss flew it first on June 20th for a distance of 1,140 feet. This plane flew so well that all four associates were able to get considerable flying practice. Piloting it, Curtiss won the Scientific American Cup on July 4th with a flight of one kilometer in a straight line.
On September 17, 1908, Lieutenant Selfridge died as the result of a crash landing while flying as a passenger with Orville Wright at Fort Myer, Virginia. This was a severe shock to the Bells and their associates. The one-year term of the Aerial Experiment Association expired in September and Mrs. Bell renewed it for six months in order to complete the work underway.