Aviation Pioneer. He is recognized as a Canadian aviation pioneer who was an aeronautical engineer, aircraft designer, pilot, entrepreneur as well as a politician. J.A. Douglas McCurdy, together with Frederick Walker "Casey" Baldwin and Alexander Graham Bell formed the Aerial Experiment Association to test the feasibility of powered flight. On February 23, 1909, Douglas McCurdy was the first person in the British Empire to successfully fly an airplane, the "Silver Dart", off the ice of Bras D'Or Lake in Nova Scotia. The "Silver Dart" was the first powered aircraft to fly in Canada. In 1910 he was the first person in Canada to be issued a pilot's license. In 1911 he is credited with making the longest flight over open water to that date, which was from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, and sending and receiving the first messages while flying. For the next few years, he continued to set aviation records in Canada and North America until 1916 when his vision problems grounded him. In 1915, during World War I, he established the first aviation school in Canada, the Curtiss Flying School, which operated from 1915 to 1919, and was the first manager of Canada's first airport, Long Branch Aerodrome. He was also instrumental in setting up an aircraft manufacturing company, Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd., located in Toronto, Ontario. The company built aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. During World War II, he was the Assistant Director General of Aircraft Production in Canada from 1939 to 1947. He was appointed the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, a position he held from August 12, 1947 to September 1, 1952. In 1959 he was awarded the McKee Trophy on the 50th Anniversary of the flight of the "Silver Dart" for his contribution to the advancement of Canadian aviation. On February 23, 1959, McCurdy was appointed to the rank of honorary air commodore for the RCAF "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Canadian aviation over the past 50 years." In 1974 he was posthumously inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.