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was a contestant in the famed air meet at Grant Park from August 12th to 20th. This was a large International event with the leading aviators in the world assembled. Parmelee made a wonderful daily showing and on August 18th set a new American altitude record of 10,837 feet. On the 19th he set a new weight record, carrying 458 pounds for an extended flight. Late in the afternoon of the last day Lincoln Beachey pulled a trick on the Wright Team when he went up and broke Parmelee's altitude record by flying to 11,642 feet, knowing there would be no time left for Parmelee to make another attempt.
 
Parmelee flew at the Iowa State Fair, Des Moines, Iowa with Turpin August 26th to September 1st, then at the Eastern Iowa Exposition October 3d to 10th. He was a contestant at the St. Louis Meet October 14th to the 24th where Turpin, Gill, Drew, Elton, Beatty, and Walden also flew. There Parmelee was flying a Wright Model EX single seat machine and did some sensational flying. On the 23d he was up to 7,500 feet above the clouds and soon was lost but succeeded in getting back to the field. November 2d to 5th Parmelee and Turpin flew at Louisville, Kentucky. 

About November 15th the Wrights decided to withdraw from the exhibition business and released all of their team aviators except Al Welsh, who was retained as an instructor and test pilot. Since their training period at the Wright School Parmelee and Turpin had been close friends and had flown together many times on exhibition dates. After their release they decided to go to California for the winter, and took two Wright planes with them intending to do exhibition and passenger flying. One plane was a standard passenger model and the other an EX single seat machine. They entered the Los Angeles Meet, held January 14th to 28th, 1912 and Turpin made check flights on both planes at Domingues Field on January 9th just after they had been assembled. There, on January 13th, Parmelee took the well known airship pilot Frank Goodale for a cross-country ride and Turpin flew the EX. The Los Angeles Meet was a large event and Parmelee's flying was outstanding, running a close race with Beachey for popularity.  On the opening day he made several flights in a Wright-type glider and received a tremendous ovation.  He won first in altitude, 7,725 feet; second in daily duration and first in mail carrying.

[left margin] FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE [/left margin]

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