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In April camp was broken, Curtiss returned to New York and the students began leaving on exhibition work. Curtiss [[strikethrough]] loaned [[/strikethrough]] lent an 8-cylinder [[strikethrough]] powered [[/strikethrough]] engined landplane to Witmer, and Cooper and Hallett became his mechanics. Their first exhibition date was Wichita, Kansas May 4th to 7th. [[strikethrough]] with [[/strikethrough]] Curtiss-type pilots Ely, St. Henry and James Ward were also there. The next stop was Fort Smith, Arkansas May 12th and 13th, then on to Dallas, Texas, May 17th to 20th. There Cooper left Witmer to do other work for Curtiss while Hallet went on alone as Witmer's mechanic.
About August 1st, Cooper became associated with F. A. Pine, of Dallas, Texas. Pine had built a Curtiss-type biplane powered with a 6-cylinder, 100 h.p. Emerson 2-cycle engine and had the plane at Kinloch Field, St. Louis, Missouri. Cooper wanted to get into the flying game and Pine gave him the opportunity. He started practicing with the plane and, having had some previous experience, made his first circle with the Pine biplane on August 20th and continued his daily flying. He flew tests for a pilot license at Kinloch Field August 30th and received F.A.I. Certificate No. 60, dated September 20, 1911.
Continuing his practice there he started booking for exhibition work. A small local amateur meet was held at Kincloch October 1st to 10th and Cooper was entered in the event but had so much engine trouble he failed to make much of a showing. Shortly after this, Pine and Cooper moved their operations back to Dallas for the winter and soon formed the Texas School of Aviation, with Cooper as Chief Pilot. There they planned to train students, fly exhibitions, carry passengers and similar activities. Starting about mid-November Cooper flew for several days at Paris, Texas for the local Board of Trade. There he [[strikethrough]] was wearing good-looking [[/strikethrough]] wore new crash helmet of his own creation.
During the winter of 1911-1912 Cooper carried on the business and flew some exhibitions through the Southwest [[strikethrough]] and was at Gainesvilles, Texas, February 14th to 16th, 1912. He continued these operations through the summer, then about August 1st Cooper went back with Curtiss and become a member of the Curtiss Exhibition team.
On August 24th he flew with Lincoln Beachey at Plainfield, New Jersey, and on August 28th he was at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he had a smashup due to

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