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In January of 1911, an Aviation Meet was held at Tanforan Aviation Park, also called Selfridge Field. At the time, the park was primarily used as a horse racing venue. Today it is the site of Tanforan shopping mall near San Francisco International Airport. This was the second major aviation meet to be held near San Francisco. Aviators featured at the meet included Glenn Curtiss, Hubert Latham, Eugene Ely, Charles Willard, Walter Brookins, and a new novice aviator Lincoln Beachey. Daily prizes were offered for altitude, speed, and transporting a passenger. The event also offered two world record prizes for altitude and speed at $5,000 each. Shortly after the meet, on January 18, Eugene Ely completed the world’s first successful shore-to-ship-to-shore round trip flight from Selfridge Field by landing on and taking off from the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco Bay. Read the entire program on our tumblr blog (http://sfomuseum.tumblr.com). #SFHistory Official Souvenir Program, Aviation Meet (Tanforan - San Francisco) 1911 SFO Museum Collection Gift of Edwin I. Power, Jr. and Linda Liscom 2001.097.004
This image was posted on March 04, 2016.