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at the New York State Fair at Syracuse on September 12th, then at Allentown, Pennsylvania September 20th to 24th with Curtiss. October 1st to 9th McCurdy flew at the Hawthorne Race Track, Chicago, Illinois with Curtiss, Ely, Willard, and Augustus Post in a meet sponsored by the CHICAGO POST. He was next a contestant at the Belmont Park Meet in New York October 22d to 30th and while there became a member of the Aero Club of America on the 24th.

McCurdy then started working southward for the winter and flew at Raleigh, North Carolina November 16th and 17th; Mobile, Alabama November 21st to 27th, and Jackson, Mississippi November 28th and 29th. New Orleans, Louisiane was the next stop December 1st and 2d with Ely, James Ward and A. Post, then he was at Columbia, South Carolina December 7th and 8th with Ward. December 15th to 18th he flew at Atlanta, Georgia with Ely and Ward, then on the 21st he was at Dillon, South Carolina and the 23rd at Norfolk, Virginia where he flew over the city.

January 3d to 6th, 1911 McCurdy was at Charleston, South Carolina with Ward, then the 14th and 15th they flew at Shreveport, Louisiana. While at Ormond Beach and Palm Beach, Florida, McCurdy became interested in tryin to fly from Key West to Havana, Cuba. At Key West the Navy agreed to help and he made a quick trip to Havana by boat to look over the possibilities. As a result McCurdy attempted the flight on January 30th with four Navy torpedo boats stationed along the route to guide him. Two locally made pontoons had been attached to his plane as a safeguard in case he was forced down to the water. These served him well, as it was necessary to land on the water when a leaking oil tank caused burned out engine bearings as he approached the Cuban coast. The U.S.S. "Terry" quickly took McCurdy and his plane on board, then went to the docks in Havana where an excited crowd smothered him with an affectionate welcome. Even though he failed to quite finish his flight he had set two new records - the longest in distance and the world's longest overwater flight of about 90 miles in 1 hour, 59 minutes. It was also the first time a man had flown over water out of sight of land in any direction on a clear day.

At Havana an air meet was in progress and McCurdy joined Beachey, Ward and Russell until February 5th. There he flew at Camp Colombia and over Morro [[strikethrough]] w [[\strikethrough]] Castle.

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