Dec. 27, 1910: The year ends as it began, with an aviation meet. Despite  50-mph winds that swept Dominguez Field, Arch Hoxsey of Pasadena sets a new altitude record of 11,474 feet in a Wright biplane.

"The young aviator looked more like a deep sea diver than a bird man," The Times' Harry Carr wrote. "He wore long rubber leggings, like a duck shooter, to his hips, a cap like an Arctic explorer with fur trimming. Gloved and booted and almost hidden in a great leather automobile coat, he climbed through the wires and was off to scrape the sky.”

French aviator Hubert Latham crashed his aircraft to splinters against a barbed-wire fence in trying to land in the heavy winds. According to the Herald, Latham pulled off pieces of the broken wing and set fire to them. "It will be cold working here," he said. "We may as well have a little fire."

ALSO

1910 Aviation Meet on the Daily Mirror

Coverage in the Herald