Aviation and Aerospace History in the South Bay

Updated October 18, 2026.

If you live in El Segundo, Hawthorne, Torrance, Westchester or Carson, or you are looking at a home there, this page tells you the aviation history behind those streets, from the 1910 air meet at Dominguez Field to Space Systems Command at Los Angeles Air Force Base today, and where to see what remains.

The story runs in time order: Mines Field becoming LAX, the Douglas and Northrop plants of the 1930s, the Aerospace Corporation’s early space work, and the Western Museum of Flight, which grew from one recovered floatplane. Where sources tell a fact differently, such as which air meet came first, every version is listed near the end.

What happened at the 1910 Dominguez air meet?

The Los Angeles International Air Meet ran January 10 to 20, 1910, at Dominguez Field, on land next to today’s California State University, Dominguez Hills campus. CSUDH calls it the first international air meet held in the United States. The City of Carson says more than 175,000 people came, a crowd it puts at more than half the population of Los Angeles. The site is California Historical Landmark No. 718.

The meet took place on Dominguez family land. Dr. Gregorio Del Amo, husband of Susana Dominguez, arranged for the rancho to host the 10-day event, according to the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, and it gave many West Coast residents their first look at an airplane in flight. Timber baron William E. Boeing was in the crowd and came away with a passion for aviation, his company’s chronology says.

How did Mines Field become LAX?

Before the airport, the land was the Bennett Rancho, where Andrew Bennett grew wheat, barley and lima beans, and pilots of the 1920s used part of it as a makeshift landing strip. In July 1927 real estate agent William W. Mines, acting for the Martin interests, offered 640 acres of the former rancho to the City of Los Angeles, and the site became known as Mines Field. The City Council chose it on July 25, 1928, and Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) dates the start of Los Angeles Municipal Airport, originally known as Mines Field, to October 1, 1928. The lease was executed that October.

The first building, Hangar No. 1, went up in June 1929, LAWA says. The airport was officially dedicated on June 7, 1930, and commercial airline service began on December 5, 1946. Hangar One still stands at 5701 W. Imperial Hwy., and the National Park Service record credits architects Gable and Wyant and shows its National Register listing on July 30, 1992. The hangar was refurbished in 1990.

The Theme Building, designed by Pereira and Luckman, was completed in 1961, the year Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson dedicated the airport’s new Jet Age satellite terminals on June 25. The City Council made it a City Cultural and Historical Monument on December 18, 1992, and after a renovation its observation deck reopened on July 2, 2010. The farmland before the airport is covered on our Westchester and Playa del Rey history page.

When did Douglas, Northrop and Hughes come to the South Bay?

In January 1932 Donald W. Douglas Sr. set up Northrop Corp. at El Segundo after John K. “Jack” Northrop returned to Douglas Aircraft, according to Boeing’s chronology, which covers its heritage companies. On September 1, 1937, Douglas bought the remaining 49 percent of the El Segundo subsidiary, and in August 1938 the plant began operating as the Douglas El Segundo Division. The city’s own beginnings are on our El Segundo and Hawthorne history page.

Howard R. Hughes Jr. formed Hughes Aircraft Co. as a division of Hughes Tool Co. in 1932, the same chronology says. Friends of Ballona Wetlands, a nonprofit steward group, says he bought land around Ballona before World War II for an aircraft factory. Northrop had a plant in Hawthorne by 1979, when a recovered World War II floatplane arrived there for the restoration that led to the Western Museum of Flight.

What is the Aerospace Corporation?

In the 1960s the Aerospace Corporation worked on turning Atlas, Titan and Minuteman missiles into space boosters, on making the Atlas more reliable for the Project Mercury astronauts, and on the Discoverer and Corona satellite programs. Its first president was Dr. Ivan Getting. Its Project 621B was a forerunner of GPS, and in 1992 the company shared the Collier Trophy as part of the GPS team.

Today the company lists its headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia, and calls El Segundo a major regional office, with an upgrade of its technology campus under way. It reports more than 4,800 employees nationwide. The El Segundo campus at 2310 E. El Segundo Blvd. is a working site that is not open to the public.

What is Los Angeles Air Force Base?

Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo hosts Space Systems Command and calls itself the only active duty military installation in Los Angeles County. It serves members of every military branch in the greater Los Angeles area. Its fact sheets show it was home to the Space and Missile Systems Center, whose Launch Enterprise Systems Directorate stood up there on October 14, 2015.

The base’s military family housing is at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, where it also runs a satellite clinic and teen center. Fort MacArthur was a U.S. Army post that guarded Los Angeles Harbor from 1914 to 1974, according to the Port of Los Angeles’ LA Waterfront site. The fort’s story is on our San Pedro and Port of Los Angeles history page.

How did the Western Museum of Flight begin?

The Western Museum of Flight grew out of one restoration. The first Northrop N-3PB floatplane flew at Lake Elsinore on December 22, 1940, with test pilot Vance Breese, and 24 were built for the exiled Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. On April 21, 1943, one of them made a forced landing in Iceland’s Thjorsa River.

In 1979 Northrop and aviation historical societies in Iceland and Norway recovered that plane and brought it to Northrop’s Hawthorne plant. About 340 volunteers, some of whom had built the original planes, finished restoring it in November 1980, and it went back to Norway. That project led to the Southern California Historical Aviation Foundation in 1983, which runs the museum today.

The collection includes aircraft, prototypes, target drones, piston and jet engines and a large model collection. The museum sits at what it calls the historic Louis Zamperini Field, Torrance’s airport. Olympedia lists Zamperini Field among airports named for Olympians, and Zamperini, a Torrance distance runner, finished eighth in the 5,000 meters at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. His story is on our Torrance, Lomita, Gardena and Carson history page.

Where can you see it today?

• Western Museum of Flight, 3315 Airport Drive, Red Baron #3, Torrance: aircraft, engines and models at Zamperini Field, open Friday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with general admission of $10.
• California Historical Landmark No. 718 plaque, 1850 Wilmington Avenue, Carson: a bronze plaque the City of Carson places about half a mile northwest of the 1910 meet site, on the city’s highest point at about 195 feet.
• Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, 18127 South Alameda Street, Rancho Dominguez: the Dominguez family adobe, whose museum also covers the air meet.
• Theme Building, 209 World Way, Los Angeles: the 1961 Pereira and Luckman building in the central terminal area; LAWA says LAX is closed to the general public except passengers, people meeting or helping them, and airport staff.
• Hangar One, 5701 W. Imperial Hwy., Los Angeles: the 1929 hangar, on airport property.
• The Aerospace Corporation, 2310 E. El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo: a working campus that is not open to the public.
• Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo: closed to the public; the base says a Metro rail station at Douglas Street is one block from its main gate.

Where do the sources differ?

• Which air meet came first: CSUDH calls the 1910 meet “the first International Air Meet held in the United States.” The City of Carson calls it “the very first air show ever had in the United States.”
• The plaque’s street: the City of Carson’s page gives the address as 1850 Wilmington Avenue and, elsewhere on the same page, calls the street Wilmington Blvd.
• Whether Hangar No. 1 is a National Historic Landmark: LAWA’s Just the Facts page says it “is accepted as a National Historic Landmark” and was listed on the National Register on July 30, 1992. The National Park Service record shows that National Register listing and no landmark designation.

Questions people ask about South Bay aviation history

When was the 1910 air meet at Dominguez Field?

The Los Angeles International Air Meet ran January 10 to 20, 1910, at Dominguez Field, next to today’s California State University, Dominguez Hills campus. CSUDH calls it the first international air meet held in the United States. The City of Carson says more than 175,000 people came. A California Historical Landmark No. 718 plaque stands at 1850 Wilmington Avenue in Carson.

Why was LAX first called Mines Field?

In July 1927 real estate agent William W. Mines, acting for the Martin interests, offered 640 acres of the former Bennett Rancho to the City of Los Angeles, and the site became known as Mines Field. LAWA dates the start of Los Angeles Municipal Airport, originally known as Mines Field, to October 1, 1928.

When did Douglas come to El Segundo?

Boeing’s chronology says Donald W. Douglas Sr. set up Northrop Corp. at El Segundo in January 1932. Douglas bought the remaining 49 percent on September 1, 1937, and in August 1938 the plant began operating as the Douglas El Segundo Division.

Can you visit Los Angeles Air Force Base?

No. Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo is not open to the public. It hosts Space Systems Command, and its military family housing is at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro. To see the region’s aerospace story in person, visit the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance.

Where is the Western Museum of Flight?

The Western Museum of Flight is at 3315 Airport Drive, Red Baron #3, at Zamperini Field in Torrance. It is open Friday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with general admission of $10. It grew from the restoration of a World War II Northrop N-3PB floatplane at Northrop’s Hawthorne plant, finished in November 1980.

We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it. Sources were read October 18, 2026.

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