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During 1914 Curtiss had made some short test hops with the original Langley "Aerodrome" which had been sent to Hammondsport from the Smithsonian Institution to see if it would fly, and to determine its flying and handling characteristics. Floats had been attached and Curtiss made brief hops from Lake Keuka but the original Manly engine was developing only about three-fifths of its original 52 h.p. With the added weight of the floats it would barely rise. As a result, later in 1914 a Curtiss 80 h.p. engine was installed, and during the late fall further test hops were made by Doc Wildman and Gink Doherty. In the early spring of 1915, the pontoons were removed and skids attached. Johnson made several flights from the ice with the Langley plane during March, 1915. Later that season both Johnson and Doherty made many additional flights with this historic plane with floats installed. The "Aerodrome" was then returned to the Smithsonian and in 1918 was for the first time exhibited in the National Museum. 

As the early spring training season started Johnson was made chief instructor at Hammondsport, and in his first class that year were several students who went on to considerable renown in aviation. Several notable wealthy sportsmen bought Curtiss flying boats and as a result Johnson taught Robert Glendinning and Clarke Thompson of Philadelphia, E.K. Jaquith of Chicago, and B. H. Kendrick of Atlantic City. The school had  an active class that spring but by mid-summer Curtiss sent Johnson to Russia with Tony Jannus to deliver an order of Model "K" Curtiss flying boats to the Russian Admiralty at Sevastopol on the Black Sea. This assignment involved assembly and preparing the planes for flight, their acceptance tests, and the training of Russian military officers to fly them. Johnson remained there for some months, and upon his return Curtiss sent him to Marblehead, Massachusetts, where he conducted the initial flight tests in a new dual-control, hydroaeroplane for the Navy during February and March, 1916, at the Burgess Aeroplane Company factory. 

In April, 1916, Johnson left the Curtiss Company to take charge of the Philadelphia School of Aviation at Essington, Pennsylvania. This school had just been organized by Robert Glendinning, wealthy Philadelphia banker, club 

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Transcription Notes:
. remove [[insert]] notations per Smithsonian instructions