K.Molson, H.Taylor Canadian Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam)

Canadian Aerodrome Hubbard Monoplane

   In December 1909 Gardiner Greene Hubbard II of Boston, a first cousin of Mrs A. G. Bell (wife of Dr Alexander Graham Bell), commissioned the Canadian Aerodrome Co to build him a monoplane to his general design, and it was agreed that the powerplant would be a 40 hp Kirkham engine and that the fuselage would be fully enclosed with fabric.
   The construction of this machine accounted for the greater part of the work of the company during January and February 1910 and by March it had been completed. The aircraft was a wire-braced shoulder-wing monoplane, and the engine was mounted well back in the fuselage and drove the propeller through a chain and extension shaft. The radiator was located along the fuselage on the port side. The wings were tapered from 8 ft (2-44 m) chord at the root to 6 ft (1-83 m) at the tips. The wing had box spars and was covered on both upper and lower surfaces with nainsook, a cotton fabric. An aileron was hinged to the trailing edge at the outer end of each wing. Conventional nainsook-covered tail surfaces were fitted.
   The first trial was to be attempted by Hubbard on 19 March, 1910, but minor repairs and then a high wind postponed it. On 22 March the aircraft was given a taxi-ing trial but the engine did not appear to be giving its maximum power and the machine would not take off.
   About a week later the Hubbard monoplane was again taken out on the ice of Baddeck Bay and on a taxi-ing run slewed around on the ice, breaking a wheel and damaging the tailskid. More taxi-ing trials were done on 2 April. However, on 5 April Hubbard succeeded in making nine flights, averaging about 15 seconds duration on each at a height of about 12 ft (3-66 m). The length of the flights was governed by the amount of good ice remaining on the bay. In bringing the machine back to its shed it broke through thin ice and came to rest on its wing, the first time but not the last this sort of difficulty was to plague a pilot in Canada.
   The Hubbard monoplane, also referred to as ‘Mike’, was entered in the Montreal Air Meet of 25 June - 5 July, 1910. Hubbard made one attempt to fly on 4 July which failed. The machine was then exported from Canada and was reported as an entrant in the Harvard Aviation Meet held at Boston during 2-15 September, 1910. There is no evidence that it attended the meeting and there is no further record of the machine.
   The Hubbard monoplane was the first aircraft ever sold in Canada and the first to be exported.

   One 40 hp Kirkham. Span 33 ft 11 in (10-34 m); length 32 ft (9-75 m); height 7 ft 6 in (2-28 m); wing area 220 sq ft (20-44 sq m). Loaded weight 1,000 lb (454 kg). Performance not known.