Aero Club of California

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The beginning of the Aero Club of California (ACC) appears to be an article in the 20 May 1908 LA Times inviting persons interested in aerostatics, including the navigation of the air by balloons, airships, flying machines, etc., to a meeting at the Times on 26 May to form the So. Cal. Aero Club. At that meeting, the 25 interested men formed instead the ACC. The ACC's purpose was to obtain grounds for experimental ascents and maintain construction and repair shops. In Nov. 1909, it was described as seeking to boost the science of aeronautics and to invent and build aeroplanes. By-laws were adopted in 1909 and 1911; articles of incorporation adopted 2 Apr. 1910 were filed on 14 May 1910. It affiliated with the Aero Club of America (ACA) in 1909 and was the state rep. to the ACA until terminating affiliation on 14 July 1916. The 1916 ACA Annual lists as affiliates both the ACC and, for the first time, the Aeronautical Society of California (ASC). In the 1917 annual, only the ASC is listed; we know nothing that suggests an ACC-ASC merger. (In January 1910, the ACC had proposed to form a state federation in which it, Pacific AC, and AC of Oakland, would each become branches; the Aeronautical Squad of the Cal. Nat'l Guard would become the military branch; and the Cal. Aviation Soc. would be absorbed.)

The call for the 26 May 1908 meeting was issued by Henry Stenerson, a practicing mechanic with ambitions to institute a club and locate permanent headquarters where aeronautics may be studied. Officers elected 2 June 1908 included J. S. Zerbe, pres.; Robert M. Dungan and Leon L. Cooley, VPs; J. D. Minster, sec.; and M. P. Dodge, treas. Charter members, Zerbe, McCullon, Daniel J. Johnson, and W. A. Hall, were then building aeroplanes, and Dunghan had completed plans for a balloon. The club soon had use of a large building at Chutes Ball Park for storing and erecting balloons and aeroplanes as well as an open space for experiments. Officers elected at the annual meeting 1 June 1909 included Prof. H. LaV. Twining, pres.; E. J. Campbell and E. L. Graves, VPs; Parke Hyde, sec., and E. W. Murch, treas; either Hyde was soon followed by Wm. Stevens or Stevens was 2d sec. 200 members in 1909; 225 in June 1910. Held an aeronautic exhibition 24-25 Apr. 1909. Its international meet on 10-20 Jan. 1910, at which 10 aeroplanes were entered, was the first of its kind to be held in the U.S. and only the second such meet to be sanctioned by the FAI (the first being at Rheims, France); the meet's site was at what later became Dominguez Field. A second international meet was held 24 Dec. 1910-3 Jan. 1911.

An auxiliary club consisting of 30 students at the Polytechnic High School was established in December 1908. Financing for the January 1910 aviation meet was provided by the California Aviation Society (CAS), an entity formed by Dick Ferris in November 1909 for that purpose. CAS president, Henry E. Huntington, donated $50,000, an amount said matched by the people of LA; $80,000 in prizes was distributed. The CAS had hopes that the ACA would accept its affiliation over that of the ACC but was informed that could not happen due to the priority of the application from the ACC. [Re CAS see 1909 SFC, 7 Nov. and 13 & 15 Dec.; LAT, 16 Nov.; LA Herald, 1 Dec.; and 5 Aeronautics 215; also see re 1910, Dick Ferris letter, 3 Mar. 1910, in 6 Aeronautics 217-218 (1910); also see J. Thorpe, Henry Edwards Huntington (1994), pp. 245-246.]

Something similar appears repeated in 1911. That July, some LA businessmen incorporated the Aeronautical Society of California (ASC) as a general aeroplane business. Its president was the millionaire Earle Remington. The ACC was to provide contest rules and technical work for an aviation meet proposed to be held in LA around Thanksgiving 1911 while the ASC was to attend to business and financial needs. News of the ASC appears to have petered during September 1911 and it has not been ascertained that the meet was held. (Re this ASC, see 1911 CSM, 20 July; LAT 22 Aug. and 10 Sept., and SFC, 19 Sept.) In 1915, Oscar Brindley, representing the ACC, won the first Curtiss Marine Flying Trophy. Miscellaneous records of the ACC, 1910-1912 and 1916, are in the Griffith Family Papers, UCLA Young Research Library. A new and apparently unrelated ACC was formed in February 1920 at Los Angeles.

Affiliated with ACA in 1909-1916.

  • Address: P.O. Box 287, Los Angeles (1910-1911); took rooms at 349 So. Hill St., Los Angeles, 1911; Controlled Dominguez Field, Los Angeles, under an option from the American Aviation Co., Oct. 1911-Oct. 1913; field was at Griffith Aviation Park, Los Angeles (1913-1915)

Sources

  • 1908 LA Times, 20 & 27 May, 3 June, 7 Nov., and 10 Dec.
  • 1908 Baltimore Sun, 9 Aug.
  • 1909 LAT, 7 Feb., 13 Apr., 13 Nov. and 25 Dec.
  • 2:6 Aeronautics (NYC) 56 (June 1908)
  • 3:1 Aeronautics (NYC) 36 (July 1908)
  • 3:6 Aeronautics (NYC) 31 (December 1908)
  • 5 Aeronautics (NYC) 11, 165 (1909)
  • 1 Am Aeronaut 136 (1909)
  • 1910 Boston Daily Globe, 9 Jan. and 13, 14, & 16 Aug.
  • 1910 LAT, 5 Jan.
  • 1910 Machinery, 1 Apr.
  • 1910 NYT, 3&23 June
  • 1911 Christian Science Monitor, 20 July
  • 1911 LAT 22 Aug., 10 Sept.
  • 1911 SF Chronicle, 19 Sept.
  • 1912 Aircraft, 1 Jan.
  • ACA annuals (1910-1917, 1919)
  • 2:11 Flying 34 (1913)
  • 2 Aerial Age Weekly 178 (1915)
  • 5 Flying 124 and 250 (1916)
  • 1920 LAT, 15 Feb
  • 1958 LAT 3 June; WorldCat.org and WorldCat-OCLC
  • Finding Aid for the Griffith Family Papers, 1845-1973, in Online Archive of California, http://findaid.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt4199q2rv
  • Cal. Sec'y of State Business Search, http://Kepler.sos.ca.gov


Organization names Aero Club of California
Entity type
Country US
City Los Angeles, California
Affiliated with ACA
Scope State
Started aero 1908
Ended aero appears to be 1916
Keywords
Key people
Wikidata id
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