The Los Angeles International Air Meet (January 10 to January 20, 1910) was among the earliest

airshow An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show ...

s in the world and the first major airshow in the United States."Men or Money May Soon Fly". Los Angeles Times, 1909-11-16, p. II14. It was held in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, at Dominguez Field, southwest of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe in present-day Rancho Dominguez, California. Spectator turnout numbered approximately 254,000 over 11 days of ticket sales. The

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

called it "one of the greatest public events in the history of the West."

Early airshows and preparations for Los Angeles

Los Angeles' place among the earliest airshows

While it is well documented that Wilbur and Orville Wright first flew on December 17, 1903, the early 1900s saw several competing claims to have made the first practical airplane. The Wrights filed for a patent on their ''flying machine'' on March 23, 1903, and Patent Number 821393 is dated May 22, 1906. They moved their flying north east of Dayton to a 100-acre field called Huffman Prairie and continued to develop their aircraft design. The year 1908 saw the Wrights' first publicized demonstration flights. On August 8, 1908, at the Hunaudières track near

Le Mans, France Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

, the Wrights silenced European doubters. In a first demonstration lasting only one minute 45 seconds, Wilbur Wright's effortless banking turns and ability to fly in a circle amazed and stunned onlookers, including several French aviation pioneers, among them

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...

. Several airshows featuring competitions, aircraft makers, and pilots were held in 1909, including ones at

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and Reims, France. The Frankfurt

, which began in July 1909 (now named ''Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (ILA)'') claims to be the world's first such multi-participant show. The Grande Semaine d'Aviation in Reims took place during August 1909, and attracted by over half a million spectators. Shortly after the Reims airshow, Charles Willard and

A. Roy Knabenshue Augustus Roy Knabenshue (July 15, 1876 – March 6, 1960) was an American aeronautical engineer and aviator. Biography Roy Knabenshue was born July 15, 1876, in Lancaster, Ohio, the son of Salome Matlack and Samuel S. Knabenshue. Samuel ...

resolved to stage the first such show in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, targeting the winter of 1909 - 1910 for its occurrence.

Los Angeles preparations

Knabenshue and Willard selected the

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, area for its favorable winter weather. After receiving a promise of participation from

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

, Knabenshue contacted Los Angeles promoter Dick Ferris, who in turn mobilized local businesses and formed an organizing committee. A field near

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

was considered, but physical obstructions such as tall trees led the aviators to search elsewhere. By December 1909, they selected Dominguez Field atop a small hill that had been developed by

Manuel Dominguez Don Manuel Domínguez (1803–1882) was a Californio ranchero, politician, and a signer of the Californian Constitution in 1849. He served as two terms as Alcalde of Los Angeles (mayor). He was one of the largest landowners in Southern Califo ...

on land once part of

Rancho San Pedro Rancho San Pedro was one of the first California land grants and the first to win a patent from the United States. The Spanish Crown granted the of land to soldier Juan José Domínguez in 1784, with his descendants validating their legal clai ...

, an early Spanish land grant. Once the site was finalised, promotion of the meet began and grandstands with a capacity of between 50,000 and 60,000"Aerial Advertising", Los Angeles Times, 1910-01-20, p. II4. were erected. An aviators' camp was also constructed nearby. The passenger platform at the local

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway syst ...

station was expanded to accommodate visitors to the rural site who might travel from downtown Los Angeles. Organizers invited pilots of

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

balloons A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light s ...

, and

dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

s. To reinforce the event's "international" billing, French aviator

Louis Paulhan Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan (; 19 July 1883 – 10 February 1963), was a French aviator. He is known for winning the first ''Daily Mail'' aviation prize for the first flight between London and Manchester in 1910. Biography Paulhan was b ...

, a notable from the 1909 Reims meet, was invited. Paulhan was guaranteed a small sum of money as encouragement to attend. Cash prizes were allotted for competitive events in altitude, speed, and endurance.

The event

Participants

The 1910 Air Meet drew many famous aviators, most of whom were American.

, American

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...

pioneer and founder of the

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decade ...

was the most famous. Other participants included

Roy Knabenshue Augustus Roy Knabenshue (July 15, 1876 – March 6, 1960) was an American aeronautical engineer and aviator. Biography Roy Knabenshue was born July 15, 1876, in Lancaster, Ohio, the son of Salome Matlack and Samuel S. Knabenshue. Samue ...

, Charles Willard,

Lincoln Beachey Lincoln Beachey (March 3, 1887 – March 14, 1915) was a pioneer American aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records. He was k ...

and

Charles K. Hamilton Charles Keeney Hamilton (May 30, 1885 – January 22, 1914) was an American pioneer aviator nicknamed the "crazy man of the air". He was, in the words of the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, "known for his dangerous dives, spectacular cras ...

, Howard Warfield Gill, and

Clifford B. Harmon Clifford Burke Harmon (July 1, 1866 – June 25, 1945) was a wealthy American real estate developer and founding partner of Wood, Harmon & Co., as well as a noted early amateur aviator. Early life Clifford Burke Harmon was born on July 1, 18 ...

, many of whom are listed among the

Early Birds of Aviation Gallery The Early Birds of Aviation is an organization devoted to the history of early pilots. The organization was started in 1928 and accepted a membership of 598 pioneering aviators. Membership was limited to ...

. French aviators at the event included

and Didier Masson. The Wright brothers did not take part in the event, but were there with their lawyers in an attempt to prevent Paulhan and Curtiss from flying. The Wrights claimed that the

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s on their aircraft infringed patents. Notwithstanding their allegations, Paulhan and Curtis still made flights. Paulhan gave

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

his first experience of flight. However,

William Boeing William Edward Boeing (; October 1, 1881 – September 28, 1956) was an American aviation pioneer who founded the Pacific Airplane Company in 1916, which a year later was renamed to The Boeing Company, now the largest exporter in the United S ...

, who had been enthused by the new invention of the airplane, was unable to get a ride on any aircraft at the air meet:

''While attending the first American Air Meet in Los Angeles, Boeing asked nearly every aviator for a ride, but no one said yes except Louis Paulhan. For three days Boeing waited, but on the 4th day he discovered Paulhan had already left the meet. Possibly, one of the biggest missed opportunities in Paulhan's life was the ride he never gave Boeing.''

As part of the larger Wright brothers' patent cases, the Wrights actually won monetary damages in U.S. courts for Paulhan's public performances that day.

Local creations

In addition to the aviators billed in the event's programs, there were many hobbyists and inventors wishing to make a name for themselves in the new aviation industry. A $1500 prize for a locally designed and built machine that successfully flew helped to ensure a high turn-out from California inventors and would-be aviators. Some of these were close copies or modifications on already successful designs, like the Bleriot monoplane or Curtiss biplane, but some were truly original creations in every sense of the word. Professor J

One of the more unusual was Los Angeles resident James Slough Zerbe's so-called "Multi-plane,""Various Types of Aeroplane". Los Angeles Times, 1909-12-12p.II14 a construction which boasted five separate "planes" of wings attached to an elaborate chassis. Unfortunately for Zerbe, his creation hit a hole in the field and collapsed during take-off, ruining several of the wings and making flight impossible. Zerbe was also responsible for the creation of a "double biplane" for W.J. Davis. This machine consisted of "four decks of equal size, arranged two fore and two aft" and two propellers. A.E. Mueller, another Los Angeles resident, created an aircraft which was so large for the time that it was dubbed "Mueller’s Monster" by the LA Times, who stated that it was "by far the largest aeroplane in existence". The plane measured seventy-five feet long by fifty feet wide, had a ., engine, and weighed around a ton. Mueller believed that by creating such a heavy machine he would be able to avoid "the necessity of delicate balancing in light wind currents." J.H. Klassen, also of Los Angeles, constructed a gyroplane for the contest, as well as entering a monoplane. His design, described by the LA Times as "quite novel", consisted of "two 12-foot circular planes in the front, and two 8-foot planes in the rear." Klassen hoped that the "gyroscopic motion of the revolving planes" would aid greatly in the craft's stability in the air.

Full list of participants

Airplanes

Attendance

An estimated 254,000 tickets were sold, and gate receipts were roughly $137,500. During the time the meet was running, streetcars ran to Dominguez Fields every 2 minutes from the

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...

station in Los Angeles. The great crowd turn-out, averaging more than 20,000 spectators per day, made it possible to return $1.25 to "the subscribers to the aviation fund for every dollar advanced". Probably not the only future-notable person to see the show, 9-year-old Florence Leontine Lowe, later better known as "Pancho" Barnes, was brought by her grandfather, aviation pioneer

Thaddeus S. C. Lowe Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe (August 20, 1832 – January 16, 1913), also known as Professor T. S. C. Lowe, was an American Civil War aeronaut, scientist and inventor, mostly self-educated in the fields of chemistry, meteorology, and a ...

. It was here that she was inspired to begin her own later career in aviation. By the end of the event, the backer announced a profit of $60,000 after disbursing prize money.

Competitive events

Aviators competed for the $75,000 in prizes according to a standard procedure. The aviators would first "notify the judges for which prize they ereabout to compete"Official Program, January 13, Page 1
at CSUDH Digital Archives and then fly around the course, always in an anti-clockwise direction. Aviators were informed that they "must not fly over the grand stand or any place where a crowd is assembled without permission of the judges." Violators of this rule were penalised. All flights taking place between 2 p.m. and sunset counted towards scoring for prizes. Aviators were encouraged to fly as many times per day as possible, and to make as many record attempts in the competitive events as possible. In fact, those contestants who "do not make a flight every day between the hours of two and five o'clock p. m. of one complete circuit of the course in competition for the speed or endurance competitions will be penalized five per cent of their best time for the prize." Only the best time was counted during the judging at the end of the meet. Ballooning competitions and events were also held in the Los Angeles suburb of

Huntington Park Huntington Park is a city in the Gateway Cities district of southeastern Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 58,114, of whom 97% are Hispanic/Latino and about half were born outside th ...

throughout the week. These events included attempts to reach a new altitude record and passenger flights.

Prizes offered

The following prizes were offered at the air meet. All prices are given in 1910 US dollars. *$10,000.00 for "the machine which, carrying two or more persons, breaks all worlds records for duration, altitude, distance and speed." *$7,500.00 for "the machine making the best general average in all events." *$5,000.00 for setting a new height record. *$5,000.00 for setting a new endurance record. *$500.00 for "the circuit of least diameter." *$500.00 for the shortest take-off time. *$500.00 for the shortest take-off distance. *$500.00 for the "greatest ability during flight (general average)." *$500.00 for the longest glide with the motor shut off. *$500.00 for the "best general average in landing at a given point." *$1,500.00 for any aircraft which was designed and built by a resident of California, Arizona, or Nevada which was able to fly five miles or more. *$500.00 for any aircraft which was designed and built by a resident of California, Arizona, or Nevada which was able to fly two miles or more. *$2,500 for an aircraft that could "soar (not glide) without power save that of the aviator." *$10,000.00 for a

flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. *$5,000.00 for a non-stop

flight with more than two passengers from Los Angeles to San Diego and back. *$10,000.00 for a

balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or lig ...

flight to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Coast without landing. *$5,000.00 for the first

flight to east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

without landing. *$2,500.00 for breaking Count de la Vaux's long-distance record of . *$2,500.00 for the first

to land within five miles (8 km) of San Francisco.

Prize winners

Paulhan dominated the Dominguez meet, winning $19,000 in prize money with the following accomplishments: * New flight endurance record; carrying a passenger almost 110 miles (177 kilometers) in his

Farman III The Farman III, also known as the Henry Farman 1909 biplane, was an early French aircraft designed and built by Henry Farman Paul W. Beck Paul Ward Beck (1 December 18764 April 1922) was an officer in the United States Army, an aviation pioneer, and one of the first military pilots. Although a career Infantry officer, Beck twice was part of the first aviation services of the U.S. ...

aloft on January 19 for one of the first tests of aerial bomb-dropping. Glenn Curtiss set a new air speed record of approximately 55 miles per hour (89 kilometers per hour), and took home the prize for the best quick start. In all, he won approximately $6,500.

Historical Landmark

The site of Dominguez Field became a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

(No. 718) on Dec. 2, 1959. The commemorative plaque near the site reads:californiahistoricallandmarks.com 718
/ref>

About one half mile southeast of this spot, on Dominguez Hill in historic Rancho San Pedro, the first air meet in the United States was held during January 10–20, 1910. Subsequently, this area has evolved into one of the world's leading aviation-industrial centers.

References

External links

1910 Los Angeles International Aviation Meet Research Collection
at California State University Dominquez Hills (CSUDH) Digital Collections
1910 International Air Meet Website
offline, backup at Archive.org.
1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet Documentary
California State University, Dominguez Hills.
1910 Los Angeles International Aviation Meet Research Collection Finding Aid
at California Digital Library
1910 Air Meet, Dominquez Hills
at LA Public Library Digital Collections. — 115 photos.

Water and Power Associates — 37 photos. {{DEFAULTSORT:1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet At Dominguez Field Aviation competitions and awards 1910 in California 1910 in aviation January 1910 events Aviation history of the United States Aviation in California