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aeroplane factory helping build and develop plans which he and his classmates flew. During this time North made rapid progress with his flying ability and was soon making flights over Fenton and surrounding vicinity and even underlook some altitude flying. That winter he also built a propeller-driven ice-boat which was used on the lake. 
In February 1916, North applied for license tests from the Aero Club of America. Owen Armstrong, an automobile spring manufacturer of Flint, Michigan had been appointed official observer for that locality. A recording barograph was a necessary part of the regulations and one could not be obtained at that time, so the tests were deferred.
As a result, North continued his flying through association with Williams until early spring, when he started exhibition work for the company through Texas. While there he helped establish a second flying school for Williams at Waco, Texas. While flying an exhibition at Galveston, Texas, he had his first smash-up. Shortly after taking off from the beach his crankshaft broke and in attempting to land back where he had taken off, he saw that many of the spectators witnessing his flight had crowded onto the beach. To avoid injury to these people he ditched his plane in the surf offshore, resulting in serious damage to the plane, although he was not hurt. He shipped the wreck back to their base at Waco and got another plane to fill the engagement. Later, at Smithville, Missouri, he had another smash-up in taking off from a small curved race track at a Fair Grounds. Immediately after leaving the ground the copper tips of his propeller came off, and after jumping the grandstand he found himself heading straight for a large tree, so he turned back into the racecourse infield where he landed on a fence, but again he was lucky and was not injured.
Following this, he returned to Michigan, left Williams, and joined the Janney Aircraft Company of Monroe, Michigan to help build a new plane. The company soon went out of business and North secured an exhibition engagement in September at Windsor, his hometown, to fly at the local fall fair. There, while stunting, his motor quit, forcing him to attempt a landing in a plowed field. The ground was so soft he turned over and smashed up, pinning him in the wreckage in such a manner that the radiator spilled scalding water over the upper part of his body burning him severely and he very nearly had to have an arm amputated. This accident grounded him for some time and left him unable to pass a military physical for World War I flying, which was his most cherished ambition. After his recovery, he became assembly supervisor and test