When was the first airshow?

The first major U.S. airshow took place at Dominguez Field, just south of Los Angeles, from January 10-20, 1910. The key participants included Glenn Curtiss (the American hero who had won the prestigious Gordon Bennett Cup race at Reims), Charles Hamilton (a future American daredevil aviator), Lincoln Beachey (who was still flying dirigibles at that time, but who would become America's greatest early exhibition pilot), and Louis Paulhan (a Frenchman who had started working in a military balloon factory and eventually taught himself to fly).

Paulhan dominated the Dominguez meet. First, he set a new flight endurance record by carrying a passenger almost 110 miles (177 kilometers) in his Farman biplane in 1 hour, 49 minutes. Then he went on to achieve a new altitude mark of approximately 4,164 feet (1,269 meters). He also performed several aerial feats during the week, and near the end of the show, carried U.S. Army Lieutenant Paul Beck aloft to perform one of the first aerial bomb dropping tests, using weights to simulate the bombs. Overall, Paulhan ruled the skies over Los Angeles, winning as much as $19,000 in prize money.

Although the Frenchman dominated the Los Angeles meet, spectators could celebrate at least a couple of American victories. 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.

The Dominguez Air Meet was highly successful. Spectator turnout numbered somewhere between a quarter and a half-million people. The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the greatest public events in the history of the West." Notably, the Dominguez event also motivated at least one would-be aviator, Lincoln Beachey, to learn to fly. Although Beachey had begun the meet as a dirigible pilot, by its end, he had been so inspired by the airplane pilots that he approached Glenn Curtiss and asked Curtiss to teach him to fly. Within a year, Beachey would become America's leading exhibition airplane aviator.

*At the photo enclosed Ralph Johnstone, a member of the Wright exhibition team, set a world record for altitude, climbing to 9,712 feet in his Model B at Belmont Park. He consistently competed against Arch Hoxsey to set new records. Johnstone died in November 1910 in Denver while putting on a demonstration flight

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