Aviator P. O. Parmelee, Who Has National Reputation, To Fly Here. Is Leader of Wright Squad. News Reached Grand Forks Last Evening of the Change. Frank Coffyn, Whom It Was Supposed Would Fly Here, Will Probably go to Langdon – Grand Forks However, Gets Man Who Is One of Most Successful and Daring Bird Men in the Business. Philip O. Parmelee, an aviator of national reputation and since the retirement of Walter Brookins, the leading man on the Wright squad, will fly at the North Dakota state fair. This news was flashed over the wire last evening from Dayton, Ohio, to Secretary Bacheller, with the result that the state fair officials are literally hugging themselves with glee. It now develops that Frank Coffyn, who is giving the exhibitions at Winnipeg will go from there to Brandon and Parmelee will make the North Dakota fair. Parmelee is the man whom Secretary Bacheller wanted because he is known wherever aviation is known as one of the most skillful and daring of all present day bird men.
Philip Parmelee is the man who on Nov. 7 last flew in a Wright biplane from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio, carrying five bales of silk valued at $1,000, which he delivered to a shop in Columbus. The distance of approximately 70 miles was covered in one hour and six minutes making an average of practically a mile a minute. Parmelee started from the Wright Bros. aviation field near Dayton at 10:45 o’clock in the morning and landed in Columbus at 11:51. His altitude through the journey was close to 1,000 feet. Thousands of people turned out to greet him on his arrival. Five thousand dollars was paid to the Wright company for the delivery of the cargo, the weight of which was 47 pounds. Even more remarkable than this was the flight made by Parmelee carrying Lieutenant Foulois of the United States army as a passenger when the daring aviator and companion covered the distance from Laredo to Eagles’ Pass, a distance of 106 miles, setting a new American record for continuous flight with a passenger in a heavier than air machine. The aeroplane was the one lent to the army for scouting and maneuver purposes. It took Parmelee just two hours and seven minutes to cover the distance. The machine traveled at an altitude of 2,000 feet at a rate of 50 miles an hour.
These and many more flights of a similar nature have placed Aviator Parmelee right up in the front rank of present day flyers and state fair patrons are assured of as fine an exhibition as it is possible to give. Parmelee will use a 1911 model Wright and not the old style machine that is being used at Winnipeg by Coffyn. The new Wright is smaller, faster and gives a chance for those daring feats of aviation that add zest and interest to the flights. The “Baby Wright” as it is called does not have the front elevator and there are other improvements that add to the appearance and general efficiency of the machine. Parmelee made the fairs in the south and east last year while the late Arch Hoxsey was flying in the west and on the Pacific coast. Mr. Parmelee was just as successful in his southern trip as Hoxsey was in his fair work last summer and North Dakota is indeed fortunate. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Sunday Morning, July 16, 1911, Volume XXX, Number 222, Page 6)