Selling Aviation: The Meaning of Air Shows in America

This dissertation is a social and cultural history of air shows in the United States between the end of World War II and 2012. Many people, both scholars and the general public, consider air shows during this period to serve primarily as entertainment, and dangerous entertainment at that. This study suggests that air show organizers, performers, and community boosters employed air shows to educate spectators and the larger world about their perceived benefits of aviation and the host communities. From the invention of aviation in 1903 until 1939, the primary purpose of air shows and public air demonstrations was to prove the existence of powered flight to the American public. As Americans acclimated to this concept, air show participants used the programs to demonstrate technical advancements or to excite crowds with increasingly complex aerobatic maneuvers. Both demonstrations increased the risk of injury and death for participants and spectators as pilots flew their aircraft closer to the edge of aerodynamic failure. By the start of World War II, the air show as a viable marketing technique was largely discredited. World War II and the postwar growth of commercial aviation seemed to further negate the need for air shows to demonstrate aviation's value. This study demonstrates there were at least four distinct goals present in most air shows organized since the end of World War II. First, military officials and military supporters used air shows to demonstrate their success at developing equipment and techniques to defend the nation in an economically responsible way. Second, civilian aviation officials utilized air shows to exhibit the products of corporate America and to build brand recognition for individual aerospace brands. Third, community leaders and boosters employed air shows to foster community socialization and to market community assets to tourists, business officials, and government representatives. Finally, participants used historic and replica aircraft to teach a version of aviation and American history to spectators.