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W.H (TURK) MINNERLY Early Thomas Brothers Pilot W.H. Minnerly was born at Helena, Montana, November 18, 1890. He attended grade schools there until 1904 when the family moved to Missoula, Montana, where he attended high school. Following this Minnerly entered the University of Montana but became intensly interested in aviation when he saw Curtiss exhibition aviator Bud Mars fly one of the first Curtiss pusher biplanes with a front elevator and[[crossed-out]]a[[/crossed-out]] 4-cylinder engine at the Montana State Fair September 26 to October 1, 1910. Mars made several flights there; the first ever made in the state. After this event Minnerly lost interest in college completely, and airplanes and flying were foremost in his mind. About this time he was offered a scholarship in chemistry at the University of Chicago but turned it down, and a time later he decided to leave school because he could not apply himself to his studies. Determined to fly, Minnerly went to East St. Louis, Illinois, and signed up for flying lessons with the United Aviation Company but this firm proved to be a hoax for he received no instruction and lost his advance payment. Minnerly then went to work as a mechanic with Curtiss exhibition aviator George Underwood and remained with him until Underwood was killed in a crash at Callao, Missouri, on September 20, 1912. On April 1, 1913, Minnerly signed up for a flying lessons at the Thomas Brothers School at Bath, New York, where his instructor was Walter Johnson. By late May he was flying well enough that he sent in his application for a flying license and the last of June was to fly the tests, but another student smashed up the plane preventing him from doing so. The plane was hurriedly rebuilt in time for Minnerly to fly his first scheduled exhibition date at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, on July 4th where he made two successful flights at a local centennial celebration.