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

Park, Maryland, and Prodger was made assistant instructor. A substantial amount of flying was done there and in March a 7-cylinder 50 H.P. Gyro rotary engine was installed in one of their Wright machines for the Gyro Motor Company of Washington, D.C. for demonstration purposes. This motor gave the Wright plane unusual performance, and weight carrying and endurance flights were made to test the new installation.  Some pupils were taught, then in July Beatty went to England with the Gyro-Wright on a demonstration trip for the engine company.  Evidently the school was discontinued at that time and Prodger returned to the Long Island fields where he did considerable test flying for the remainder of that year.

He returned to his home at Great Falls, Montana that winter and during the spring of 1914 started an aviation company there to carry passengers, using a Wright machine.  Evidently nothing much came of this and he soon went to England to join Beatty, who had started a flying school at Hendon Aerodrome and was doing a flourishing business.  Prodger continued as instructor there for about one year, and during that time saw the need for experimental test and acceptance pilots.

In mid-1915 he joined a well-known pioneer British pilot, Sidney Pickles, to form a company to offer flight test services to the British aircraft industry, with an office in London.  Leaving Beatty, Prodger went on to become internationally known in this work during World War I and conducted tests on all types and sizes of war planes, from the largest 4-engine bombers to the smallest scout machines.  His reputation spread rapidly and his services, expert opinion and judgement were in demand wherever new types of planes were produced.

During these activities Prodger established some notable flying records.  In the fall of 1918 he set up a new world record for passenger carrying when he flew to 7,000 feet altitude in a Handley-Page bomber with 21 adults.  In early 1919 he carried 40 passengers on a flight over London, and in May made a flight from Belfast, Ireland to Falkstone, England, 410 miles, in a heavily loaded Hanley-Page machine.

Prodger continued in this work until March. 1920 when he returned to the United States for a rest at his home in Great Falls, Montana. His work in Europe had been a great credit to him and the British aircraft firms tried in every way

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