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National Guard planes from Mineola to Princeton, New Jersey to attend this  Yale Princeton football game. In December he was one of the pilots on a mass flight of Guard planes fro Mineola to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and return. This was a practice operation, the planes landing at League Island, Philadelphia, then returning the following day. The flight was in charge of Captain R. C. Bolling. 
        In March, 1917 Blakely flew in mock aerial war games at Mineola, and during the year divided his time between L. W. F test flying, instructing National Guard students and special military flight maneuvers. L. W. P. prepared on aeroplane for the first flight tests of a liberty motor in late July, and Blakely made [[check-mark]] the first flight of this plane and engine combination on August 29th at Buffalo, New York. The first Liberty series enging flown at that time was the VEE 8-cylinder model developing 270 H.P at 1850 R.P.M. Blakely flew this plane on tests for the next few days, then returned to Garden City where further testing followed on Liberty-powered L. W. F. planes. During this activity he took Colonel Theodore Roosevelt for a ride. On November 13th he flew a Sturtevant-powered L. W. F. plane from Chicago to San Antonio, Texas 9 hours, 48 minutes, with one stop at Muskogee, Oklahoma for fuel, a new American cross-country record. 
        Continuing his test flying at L. W. F. Blakely was killed on January 16th, 1918 in a crash at the company field near Hicksville, Long Island, New York flying a new plane powered by one of the first 12-cylinder liberty motors. Also killed was his passenger, E. J. Higgins, company purchasing agent. Immediately after take-off Blakely [[had]] started some very wild and erratic maneuvers, then spun and dove in. It was later determined he had been doped by a loaded cigarette just before take-ff by a saboteur who was arrested. Blakely was 28, married, and resided in Flusing, New York.
        Flying Pioneer Harold W. Blakely was one of the very active early American aviators. Expert test pilot, instructor and the first man to fly a liberty engine, he flew for the love of it. While apparently tending to be a dare-devil type, he was an expert at flight maneuvers and would certainly not have died when he did had he not been doped.