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experiments, and his good work was highly praised by the staff officers.
After this assignment Coffyn was returned to Dayton where he assisted Welsh and Turpin for a time as the spring flying school opened. A large class of students started that spring and Coffyn aided with the instruction of Harry Atwood and Oscar Brindley, then was put on other duties. On June 16th he and Orville Wright made several flights at Dayton to entertain visiting members of the Society of Automobile Engineers who where holding a meeting in Dayton. June 19th to 21st Coffyn flew at the Detroit Country Club, an event sponsored by the local Aero Club. There, form the golf links, he made 45 flights during the three days and carried 41 passengers, including the "Who's-Who" of the city's business leaders. During his stay there he was the house guest of wealthy Russell A. Alger who was also a director of the Wright Company.
After flying with Coffyn, Alger was so enthusiastic about flying that he placed an order for a Wright plane at once and wanted Coffyn to teach him how to fly. As a result arrangements were made for Coffyn to remain in Detroit where he started to instruct both Russell Alger and his brother Fred. Alger was also an ardent yachtsman and soon they were talking of floats for the plane so they could operate it on Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. Alger finally told Coffyn to go ahead and get some floats made if he had any ideas about how to do it. This was some time before the Wright Company made any such equipment. Coffyn conferred with J. W. Hacker, well known boat builder, who was given an order to build a pair of floats that could be attached to the skids of the Wright plane after the wheels had been removed. These were made with an inner wooden structure covered with a sheet aluminum skin. Reportedly they were made largelyt to Coffyn's [[strikethrough]] ideas [[/strikethrough]] design and were undoubtedly the first metal-covered floats ever made for aircraft use. Coffyn also devised a means of starting the engine from the pilot's seat, as it would not be possible to do so by swinging the propellers when the plane was on water.
In July the Wrights "borrowed" Coffyn from Alger for exhibition work and his first date was at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from the 15th to 22nd. There he put on a highly satisfactory show, carried several passengers and raced a car and