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machine and Johnson made brief flights on October 10th and 11th, which were terminated when he struck the top of one of the tents on take-off, but he was not injured. 

Shortly after this engagement all operations were moved from Hornell to Bath, New York where their Kirkham engine was made. Johnson then made exhibition flights at the Broome County Fair, Rochester, New York. Testing and development work continued at Bath through the late fall months of 1910 and the front elevator was removed. In December Johnson began flying from the ice on nearby Lake Salubria with runners on the plane. Testing continued during the winter months of 1910-1911 and the chain driven propeller was eliminated, converting to direct drive, still using the 4 cylinder Kirkham engine, and Johnson was then flying very well. 

In March, 1911 Thomas, Johnson, and Gene Bell all left Bath with the plane for exhibitions in the south where they had a contract to fly for the W. I. Swain Show Company of New Orleans. Swain had two other aviators in his troupe, William Evans of Kansas and J. J. DePraslin of St. Louis, both amateurs, and operations were started in Louisiana towns. Trouble soon developed with Swain, however, Johnson was the only one to fly and Thomas and his assistants left to fill dates by themselves at fairs and carnivals in Louisiana and Mississippi for two months. It was soon learned that more power was badly needed to operate from small fields under adverse conditions, and they began to plan a new and more powerful machine. 

Oliver had become seriously interested in these aviation developments, so during the spring of 1911 he left General Electric and joined William at Bath to assist in this activity. William and his group completed their exhibition contracts then returned to Math on March 11th where they started the design and construction of an all new plane, called the Model TA. It was a headless type pusher biplane of 31-1/2 foot span, again using the 4-wheel landing gear arrangement, but powered by a 6-cylinder 50 H.P. direct drive Kirkham aviation engine. When completed this new plane proved very successful and during tests two passengers were carried, then pontoons were soon added and the plane was successfully flown from the water. With Oliver in the organization the firm was soon known as The Thomas Brothers of Bath, New York. With this plane Walter Johnson made eighteen outstanding exhibition flights during the 1911 season which gave the Thomas Brothers much valuable early

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