On August 1st, 1909 Glenn Martin flew the first successful aircraft built in California. Martin had built the contraption himself in an abandoned Methodist church in Santa Ana.
Historians have written that Martin flew one hundred feet over an Irvine-owned pasture at a height of eight feet off the ground.
Martin financed his plane building enterprise by barnstorming. He became the highest ranked in the West, exhibiting at 4th of July shows and county fairs. His first year he made $12,000 and re-invested in manufacturing flying machines from a former packing house in Santa Ana. Eventually, Martin outgrew the facilities and moved his operations to Los Angeles. Today Martin-Marietta remains one of the giants of the aeronautics industry.
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