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JOHN D. COOPER 
[[stamp]]FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE
Pioneer Curtiss Mechanic - Aviator - Manufacturer
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John D. Cooper was born in Hull, England, February 21, 1877. information is lacking concerning his early life, education and when he came to the United States.
Evidently he was working for Glen Curtiss at Hammonds-port, New York during 1910, for when Curtiss arrived in San Diego, California in December to establish his experimental aviation base at North Island, Cooper and W.J. Shakelford were with him as mechanics. They had brought one crude hydro and two land planes. The hydro and one land plane were powered with 8-cylinder, 60 H.P. engines and the other land plane with a 4-cylin-der, 40 H.P. for school work.
Their first task was to establish a base of operations for hydro experiments and get ready to operate the first Curtiss flying school. Soon Hugh Robinson joined the group and George Hallett was also employed [[strikethrough]]to some extent [[/strikethrough]]part time as a me-chanic. Together they assisted Curtiss [[strikethrough]]in[[/strikethrough]][[?]] making the first flights from the water on January 26th, 1911. On January 17th the school[[strikethrough]]was[[/strikethrough]] had been formally opened with Beachey, Robinson, Witmer and St. Henry as students. In February wheels were added to the hydro to produce the "Triad" amphibian, and Curtiss made flights from both land and water. There is evidence that Cooper also had some flight instruction [[strikethrough]]at[[/strikethrough]] during that time.