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1912 and began carrying passengers on occasion, his first one a boy between 12 and 14 years of age. That summer he made one flight that almost resulted in serious trouble. Determined to see how high he could get Timm filled the gas tank, checked everything carefully, and took off. About 20 miles from the field he reached his absolute ceiling and could not nurse the plane higher. The gas was getting low so he started down when suddenly there was a terrifying noise back of him, then dead silence. Momentarily surprised, he found himself in a sta[[strikethrough]] ff [[strikethrough]]ll but quickly nosed down and headed back toward the field where he succeeded in making a safe landing after considerable maneuvering to miss tree tops and a haystack. Upon investigation he found a rocker arm support casting had failed and all of the arms and pushrods were missing. These parts had gone into the propeller which had thrown them through the lower wind, shearing off ribs and nearly severing a rear spar completely. 

After repairing the plane and doing more flying Timm decided he was ready to start exhibition work but not in a plane with the engine behind him, so in early 1913 he sold his interest in the Cory, Pennsylvania, venture and went back to Chicago to build his first tractor biplane. There he made arrangements with plane builders Partridge and Keller to help him build his new plane in their shop. At that time there was no worthwhile information available when planning the design and construction of a new plane. Aerodynamic theory and the strength of materials for aircraft were largely guesswork and the undertaking of such a project was by the uncertain method of trial and error. 

After a considerable amount of experimenting with design ideas Timm completed his first tractor biplane in 1913, incorporating a number of new and novel features. It was equipped with a 50- [[strikethrough]] horsepower [[/strikethrough]] h.p. Kirkham engine and had a semi-Farman-type landing gear. He started flying it at Cicero Field but was disappointed in the performance. The engine and entire fuselage were not cowled or covered, and in flight he was sprayed with oil from the engine and

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