[1] He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on October 24, 1878, to Julia (Haskell) and George M. Coffyn, a banker.

Wilbur invited Coffyn to Dayton, Ohio, where he began flight instruction in May 1910.

[2][5] Coffyn flew with the Wright Exhibition Team until December 1910 where he trained pilots in Dayton, Ohio, and he delivered aircraft to the United States Army in Texas.

In 1912 he was hired by Russell A. Alger Jr. (1873–1930) of Detroit, Michigan, to fly a Wright Flyer Model B over New York City.

[2] The Vitagraph Film Company had him shoot the first aerial footage of New York City where he flew under the Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge in his Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works plane.