On February 11, 1912, at what was then the Tulare County Fairgrounds, Frank Bryant piloted the first airplane to land in Tulare County. The plane, a Curtiss pusher-type biplane, had been used by Glenn Curtiss to win a world speed title in France in 1909. After a crash, Bryant rebuilt it and taught himself to fly the wood-and-bamboo aircraft, which was held together by wire and had canvas-covered wings. During a two-day air show, Bryant put the plane through dips, dives, and turns at 60 miles an hour, and it also raced an automobile around a kite-shaped track. Roy Francis joined him for the show, flying a Gage biplane built in Los Angeles by the Eaton Brothers. Crowds packed the fairgrounds grandstand and paid $10,000 in admissions to see the pilots and their flying machines, helping usher Tulare County into the modern age of aviation.