 In 1912 Somerville hired pilot George Mestach to fly mail using his aircraft between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.Mestach was involved in a mid-air crash with a Wright biplane in Chicago later in the year that killed pilot Howard Gill but left Mestach uninjured.Mestach was flying a Borel-Morane biplane, which was used as the basis for Somerville's first monoplane, which featured wing leveling stabilizers.