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vertical bank in which the aircraft rolled wing-over-wing when the top of the loop was reached. She performed this manuever for the first time on November 21, 1915, and followed it in her next flight by making eight consecutive loops, flying upside down for thirty seconds, and executing a series of spiral spins.

About twenty-five people in Los Angeles on December 17, 1915, were privileged to witness what was perhaps Katherine's most spectacular flight. Always determined to go the male flyers one maneuver better, Katherine started planning this flight after she heard that Art Smith had looped-the-loop at night, leaving behind him a trail of fire.

Katherine attached magnesium flares to her aircraft and traced the letters "CAL" in the night sky. Then she looped, flew upside down, and dropped in a spiral to within one hundred feet of the ground, trailing lovely showers of sparks.

By then the Stinsons had formally established an aviation school in San Antonio on their own private flying field. They had fourteen students in January 1916. Katherine was now able to afford another aircraft for her exhibition work; she rented a tractor biplane from E. M. (Matty) Laird.