On July 13, 1911, as the grand finale of his flight from Boston to Washington, Harry Atwood flew the F-19 over Washington DC, circling the Capitol, the Library of Congress, Union Station, and the Washington Monument. President Taft, who was golfing in Maryland, missed the performance.

The next day, Atwood flew back through the rain to the city from College Park, Maryland. When he was signalled that the President had finished his lunch, Atwood flew in over the South Lawn and landed, the aircraft rolling to a stop thirty feet from Taft. After a brief ceremony during which he was presented with a gold medal by the President, Atwood took off, declining his mother a ride for fear of the restricted space he had to leave the grounds.

Harry Atwood went on to greater fame as an aviator and inventor, but the F-19 was not as lucky. A week later, while on the ground, the airplane was smashed to pieces during a severe thunderstorm (Mansfield, pp. 37-48).