This access gate is named in honour of John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, a former member of 2nd Field Company, Canadian Engineers, and one of the pilots conducting the first military powered aircraft flight in Canada.
John Alexander Douglas McCurdy was born in Baddeck, NS on 2 August 1886. He attended St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, ON and graduated from the University of Toronto in mechanical engineering in 1906. During his studies at U of T, he joined 2nd Field Company, Canadian Engineers, before working with Alexander Graham Bell on the development of powered aircraft. In July-August 1909, he and colleague F.W. Baldwin assembled the Silver Dart and Baddeck I at Camp Petawawa and proceeded to conduct a number of demonstration flights. McCurdy continued his work with Bell’s Aerial Experiment Association and opened Canada’s first aviation school in 1915. He helped create Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd. In 1916, producing planes for the Royal Flying Corps. He continued his involvement in airplane production throughout the inter-war years and the Second World War and in 1947 was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. McCurdy died in 1961, following a lengthy illness, and was buried in his native Baddeck, NS.
