Nevertheless, in March, the AEA disbanded and bequeathed its aircraft designs and patents to Curtiss. Curtiss historian Kirk W. House has summarized the legacy of the AEA’s members as follows: “They had built four increasingly sophisticated flying machines, along with a hang glider and a giant kite. They had heightened interest in aviation in the United States and Canada, and contributed to the birth of military air power. In the process, they had pioneered or advanced several key aeronautical innovations, including ailerons, tricycle landing gear, and the liquid-cooled aero engine.”
Bell, McCurdy, and Baldwin built a few more planes at Baddeck, but Curtiss himself now was back on his own. His next plane was called the Gold Bug—or Curtiss No. 1—which he sold to the New York Aero Club for $5,000. The club renamed the aircraft the Golden Flyer. Trying to avoid a patent battle with the Wrights, Curtiss had designed the airplane with new control surfaces. In July 1909, he successfully flew the plane in a circular course. However, both the new plane and its sale to the Aero Club further angered the Wrights, who began a long patent war with Curtiss in August.