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Chicago, which Mrs. Vilas christened L.A.V.II at Clarendon Beach on May 14th. He started flying it at once on the Chicago lake front and maintained a very active season of flying there that year. Charles Witmer was flying the Curtiss boat owned by Harold McCormick in the Chicago area and he and Vilas were kept busy carrying passengers and making commuting flights. On June 7th Vilas rescued Tony Stadlman from the lake after [[strikethrough]] he [[/strikethrough]] Tony had crashed a hydro [[strikethrough]] aeroplane [[/strikethrough]] airplane off Lincoln Park.

During June the Chicago Parks Commission established a Hydro and Flying Boat Haven at Lincoln Park with two new hangars, where Vilas and Witmer made their headquarters. On July 4th they flew for the Yacht Club Regatta and carried passengers. Vilas made 39 flights that day and carried 61 passengers. On July 17th Vilas flew for some movies made by a Herald news camera man, and on August 21st flew to Racine, Wisconsin, to carry passengers there. With his mechanic, William Hoover, he flew the 61 miles in [[strikethrough]] 63 [[/strikethrough]] sixty-three minutes, then returned to Chicago on the 27th. In early September Vilas laid up his boat for the season and overhaul.

In the early spring of 1915 McCormick offered his Curtiss flying boat for sale to possible buyers. Later Vilas took his machine to Trout Lake in northern Wisconsin near Manitowish, where he spent the summer season flying about the numerous lakes of the area. On June 22nd while carrying State Forester Griffith as a passenger, they located a forest fire from the air, and as a result Vilas was enlisted in the State Forestry Service to watch for fires in that area.

Vilas remained there that season, then early in 1916 advertised his flying boat for sale. In April he was made Company Commander of the newly formed Company A of the U. S. Central Aviation Reserves, and recruited a group of North Shore young men to form the Company. In June this organization was made official at a meeting at the Stratford Hotel, with Charles Dickenson, President and Charles Dawes, Treasurer. From this beginning Vilas was active in the planning of military aviation just prior to World War I in the Chicago area.

In 1917 Vilas assisted in the formation of the aviation section of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station at Chicago, and joined the Navy at that time as Ensign. He never lost his interest in aviation and over the years has 

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