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233
From the Flying Pioneers Biographies of Harold E. Morehouse

Louis Mitchell
Early Wright - Wealthy Sportsman Exhibition Pilot

Louis Mitchell was reportedly from Camden, Arkansas. Developing an early enterprising business ability, he settled in Memphis, Tennessee, about 1902. There he started a motion picture film agency and made a small fortune from his business.

Mitchell saw his first [[strikethrough]] flying [[/strikethrough]] airplane when the Moisant International Aviators flew an extended exhibition engagement at Memphis December 1-17, 1910. This event was sponsored by the local newspaper, the Commercial-Appeal. The pilots were John Moisant, Charles Hamilton, John Frisbie and French Aviators Barrier, Simon, Garros and Audemars. At that event Moisant raced auto driver Joe Seymour in a Fiat. Also at Memphis, on April 6, 1911, Mitchell saw Glenn Curtiss, Charles Willard and Bud Mars flying as part of a four-day engagement.

He became very interested and started to investigate the exhibition-flying business which appeared to be flourishing. Aviators and exhibition flights were in great demand. Mitchell [[strikethrough]] was reportedly heard to remark [[/strikethrough]] believed that there was [[strikethrough]] undoubtedly [[/strikethrough]]"big money to be made" in the flying game and he made up his mind to cash in on it. September 22-28, 1910, he saw flights by Phil Parmelee, a Wright Company Aviator, that further stimulated his interest. As a result he contacted some of the early flying schools about instruction, but they tended to discourage him [[strikethrough]] due to the fact that [[/strikethrough]] because he was a large man weighing over two hundred pounds. This did not alter Mitchell's intense interest, however, and in the early spring of 1911 he formed a company known as American Aviators, to give flight exhibitions about the country. His new firm was