One Hundred Years of Air Shows

Air Shows Honor Aviation Heritage In 100th Anniversary Year

While many industries may have some trouble pinpointing a single date that marks the moment they began, that is not the case for the air show business. In January of 1910, aviation enthusiasts gathered at the Dominquez Air Meet in southern California. The event drew an estimated 175,000 spectators to a hilltop mesa outside of Los Angeles to watch aviation pioneers showcase their aircraft and create a new kind of entertainment industry.

The Los Angeles air meet was the first of three major air shows in 1910. September would feature the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet in Atlantic, MA that included the Wright Brothers and aviation pioneers Glenn Curtiss and Claude Grahame-White, dispersing $90,000 in fees and prizes and featuring a mock bombing run where plastic bombs were dropped on warships.

The Belmont Aviation Tournament, held October 22-31, 1910 in New York, featured an altitude duel in which Ralph Johnstone ascended to a record height of 9,714 feet, a precision landing event won by Charles Hamilton, and, finally an air race from Belmont across New York Harbor, around the Statue of Liberty, and back to Belmont. Using new navigational equipment, pilot John Moisant flew to victory.

During the intervening 100 years, the air show business has evolved into the ultimate platform for showcasing airplanes, pilots and world-class airmanship. The industry never would look back, not only playing host to millions of spectators each year, but also becoming a compelling recruitment tool for the U.S. armed forces through the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and USAF Thunderbirds military demonstration teams.