# The First Airshow



## Njaco (Sep 12, 2009)

I was wondering - does anyone know when the first true airshow happened? Not the fairs and barnstorming like after WWI but the festival that we all enjoy today. Old warplanes, acrobatics, etc.


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## Airframes (Sep 12, 2009)

Good point Chris. The RAF Pageant at Hendon began in the mid 1920's, with other 'airshows' before and after, around the UK, but I'm sure there must have been others before these, around the World. I think, in the UK, the first 'proper' airshows after WW2 were the 'Battle of Britain' shows, originally at a number of RAF airfields around the UK on the same day, the nearest Saturday to September 16th, starting AFAIK, around 1950. But again, I'm sure there must have been others, especially in the USA.


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## syscom3 (Sep 12, 2009)

In 1910, Los Angeles had an airshow, located where the current Cal State Dominguez Hills campus is located.


1910 International Air Meet - Home Page


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## pbfoot (Sep 12, 2009)

Lionel Beechy did an airshow in Niagara Falls in 1911 in which he flew down the gorge then under the the Honeymoon Bridge (first suspension Bridge) with a crowd of 15000 people


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 12, 2009)

The very first airshow was held in Frankfurt, Germany in 1909.

It was called the Internationale Luftschiffahrt-Ausstellung and was held on July 10th. It later became known as the ILA (nternationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung), which is now held in Berlin every year. The ILA is the oldest and longest running airshow in the world.


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## wheelsup_cavu (Sep 12, 2009)

1903 at Kittyhawk. 


Wheels


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## GrauGeist (Sep 13, 2009)

wheelsup_cavu said:


> 1903 at Kittyhawk.
> 
> 
> Wheels





.


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## B-17engineer (Sep 13, 2009)




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## Tzaw1 (Sep 13, 2009)

June 4th, 1783 - Montgolfier Brothers


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## GrauGeist (Sep 13, 2009)

Or Daedalus and Icarus‎, 1100 b.c.


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## Tzaw1 (Sep 13, 2009)

GrauGeist said:


> Or Daedalus and Icarus‎, 1100 b.c.


But this wasn't the Airshow. This was the first operating use


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## GrauGeist (Sep 13, 2009)

Tzaw1 said:


> But this wasn't the Airshow. This was the first operating use


Daedalus had already flown, he then taught his son, Icarus how to fly and together, they flew away from Crete.

Quoting Ovid, "_Some angler catching fish with a quivering rod, or a shepherd leaning on his crook, or a ploughman resting on the handles of his plough, saw them, perhaps, and stood there amazed, believing them to be gods able to travel the sky_"


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