Barely six years after the Wright Brothers made the first successful powered flight, Los Angeles hosted an unprecedented event designed to dazzle the public with flying demonstrations of airplanes, dirigibles and manned balloons. The year was 1910, and a quarter of a million people traveled to a large open field in Dominguez Hills to witness what for many was their first view of airplanes in flight.

Now the Aero Club of Southern California (SCAA) has begun working with aviation, academic and veterans’ groups to plan a centennial celebration in 2010 of the event that put Southern California firmly at the forefront of American aviation. Aero Club President Nissen Davis and several Board members including Ramona Cox, Jim Ragsdale and Bill Withycombe are serving on a committee to plan a year-long series of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first major air show in the nation.

Heading the planning group is Dr. James Sudalnik, a professor at California State University at Dominguez Hills, whose campus is now located adjacent to the site of the 10-day 1910 L.A. International Aviation Meet. According to Sudalnik and the Aero Club’s Davis, events being planned for next year include a traveling exhibit scheduled to open in January, an Aviation Day next June 12, workshops for schoolchildren on four different dates, a speaker series, and a possible air show. Also being planned are a documentary film for TV broadcast and a souvenir book.

Several of the events are being managed by the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, located near the university campus and the original Air Meet site.

Further details and exact dates will be posted on this web site as they become available. Also, many details and a history of the 1910 event can be seen on the university-sponsored website HERE