First U.S. Air Show at Dominguez Field

Flaunting the mild winter weather the way the Rose Parade carriages did, California staged the nation’s first air show at Dominguez Field, now the site of Cal State Dominguez Hills. Thousands of flight enthusiasts gathered to gawk at Glenn Hammond Curtiss, who broke the world air speed record by whizzing along at 55 mph. They also watched the first bombing experiment, a passenger in a biplane dropping 2-pound sandbags on target. And the show motivated a tough 13-year-old named Jimmy Doolittle, who would become a World War II general and celebrated pilot himself.