Editing AEA June Bug (section)

==Design and development==
A ''[[Scientific American]]'' competition in 1907 offered a solid silver sculpted trophy, and $25,000 in cash, to be awarded to whoever made the first public flight of over 1 kilometer (3,280&nbsp;ft) in an American aircraft. In 1907, Glenn Curtiss and the Aerial Experiment Association began building the ''June Bug'' with hopes of winning the Scientific American Cup.

The ''June Bug,'' also referred to as ''Aerodrome #3'' (the third powered airplane built by the A.E.A), included the previously used [[aileron]] steering system, but a shoulder [[Yoke (aeronautics)|yoke]] made it possible for the pilot to steer by leaning from side to side. The aircraft featured a [[Canard (aeronautics)|canard]], horizontal surfaces, and a [[Rudder|rear rudder]]. The original [[varnish]] sealing the wing fabric cracked in the heat, so a mixture of turpentine, paraffin, and gasoline was used on the aircraft instead. The ''June Bug'' had yellow wings due to the [[yellow ochre]]  added to the wing mixture in order to make the aircraft show up better in the [[Orthochromasia#Orthochromatic photography|orthochromic]]-form [[monochrome]] photographs of the time.

The aircraft was named by [[Alexander Graham Bell]] after the common ''[[Phyllophaga]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=AEA June Bug {{!}} airplane {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/AEA-June-Bug |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> a beetle known colloquially in North America as the "June bug". This was because June bugs were observed to fly similarly to aircraft: they have large stiff outer wings for gliding, and more delicate smaller propeller-like wings that do the actual propulsion.

The ''June Bug'' was tested by G.H. Curtiss in [[Hammondsport, New York]], at Stony Brook Farm, on June 21, 1908. Three of the four test flights were successful, with distances of {{convert|456|ft|m|abbr=on}}, {{convert|417|ft|m|abbr=on}}, and {{convert|1266|ft|m|abbr=on}}, at an average speed of {{convert|34.5|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}. On June 25, performances of {{convert|2175|ft|m|abbr=on}} and {{convert|3420|ft|m|abbr=on}} were considered encouraging, and the A.E.A. contacted the [[Aero Club of America]] to sign up for the [[Scientific American]] Cup.