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After an active 1914 summer season Minnerly and C. A. Herrman rebuilt the Thomas flying boat at Bath, New York, and then shipped it south for the winter to  [[crossed out]]at[[/crossed out]]West Palm Beach, Florida. While there Minnerly also made a flight up the coast to Daytona Beach with stops along the route, one at what is now Cape Canaveral [[crossed out]]Kennedy[[/crossed out]] when it was a reed-covered sandy island.
In 1916 Minnerly took a Nieuport plane, with rotary engine, to Guatemala where he was engaged to fly it in the army of Estrada Cabrerra. His assignment was to fly regular sorties over rebel camps for reconnaissance and to drop homemade [[crossed out]hand[[/crossed out]]bombs into their areas. His plane was underpowered and, with the bomb load was [[crossed out]] his disposable loads[[/crossed out]]risky to fly. This led to a bad smashup when he was seriously injured, sustaining a fractured skull and a bad concussion. He lay unconscious in a Guatemala hospital for over a week, then slowly recovered and eventually got out of the country with his wife and baby just before the victorious rebels had an opportunity to carry out their avowed threat to execute him. He returned to New York state where he was some time regaining his strength.
At the beginning of World War I Minnerly tried to enlist in the Air Service but was rejected due to his continuing disabilities, so he went to work as a foreman and senior factory test inspector on OX engines for Curtiss at Hammondsport, New York. Later during the war, he was a civilian flying instructor with the Army Signal Corps at Garden City, Long Island, New York. There when Minnerly refused to approve the solo efforts of the son of a well-known United States SEnator from New York, the Army discharges him from the service.
After World War I Minnerly moved his family back to Missoula, Montana, where he became a fireman for the Northern Pacific Railroad, later advancing to engineer, a position he held for some forty years before retirement on September 15, 1960. In Monatna Minnerly evidently continued to fly to some extent until about 1920 when he abandoned aviation entirely.
Following several heart attacks Mr. Minnerly passed away on February 23, 1974, at age 84. He was survived by his wife, Marie, one daughter and one son. Burial was in St. Marys Annex Cemetery, Missoula, Montana. He was a member of the Locomotive Engineers and Railroad Retirement Association. 
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