By the 1930s, flying had become a national pastime. Airports and airfields all over the country hosted exciting air meets and air shows attracted thousands of spectators. Cars packed with picnic lunches and men, women, and children dressed in their Sunday best would come to College Park Airport and make a whole day of it. They watched some of the best-known aviators of the day participating in air races, mock bombing competitions, and stunt flying expositions.

The Washington Air Derby Association, DC Air Legion, Washington Women's Pilot Association and other aviation groups sponsored these huge events with airport manager George Brinckerhoff. "Brinck" so thrilled the nation's capital that requests began to pour in for him to repeat his popular airshows. Some of the most notable pilots of the time, both men and women, flew in these meets, including stunt flyers "Squeak" Burnett and Jessie Woods, as well as famous female pilots Helen MacClosky, Edna Gardner, Helen Frigo and others.

The Monocoupe, which went into production in the early 1930s was a common sight at many of these air meets. This powerful little plane was often the choice of pilots racing in the airfield's most well-known contest - the Langley Day Air Meet, named in honor of aviation pioneer Samuel Langley. This event, like most others at the field took on an almost social quality, providing entertainment and sport for a nation hungry for such a diversion.