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182:. Pilot Cadet Locklear was flying with his instructor. He had to interpret a message being flashed to him from the ground to pass a test, but the wing and engine housing blocked his view. So he left the airplane in the hands of his instructor and climbed out onto the wing to read the message, possibly becoming the first wing walker. (He passed the test.) Locklear also perfected such stunts as handstands on the wing. He may have been the first to transfer from one airplane to another in mid-air, in 1919, and from a speeding car to an airplane. He helped develop another standard flying stunt: hanging onto a trapeze or rope ladder with just his teeth. He starred in the 1919 film
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194:, but did not live to see it released. A nighttime stunt went fatally awry. On 2 August 1920, he and co-pilot Milton "Skeets" Elliot were to spiral down perilously close to the ground. The scene was illuminated by searchlights, which were supposed to be turned off when they got as low as was safe to let the pilots know when to pull up. However, the lights were not extinguished, and both men were killed in the ensuing crash.
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trainer biplanes for as little as $ 200; 90% of
American World War I pilots had been trained using the Jenny. It was a two-seater, so paying passengers could get their first taste of flying and wing walkers had a place to wait to perform. Barnstormers would often land in a local farmer's field and
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Inevitably, barnstormers attempted more and more dangerous stunts to outdo their competitors, resulting in numerous fatalities and injuries. Eventually, the federal government stepped in to regulate aviation, bringing about the end of barnstorming.
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Employment was also available in movies. The public's fascination with aviation translated into a demand for films involving flying, with their attendant stunts.
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to earn a living, traveling across the country performing stunts and providing rides. It was helpful that the US government was selling plentiful, now-surplus
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On 1 June 1919 in
Atlantic City, Ormer Locklear of Locklear's Flying Circus waited on the top wing of one biplane for a second one trailing a rope ladder.
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Barnstormers worked individually or in groups called "flying circuses". Probably the most successful of these was the Gates Flying Circus, founded by
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showed that motor-powered flight was possible, with their first sustained flight on 17 December 1903. Aerobatics followed within a decade. Frenchman
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59:(1914–1918) was a major impetus to the development of aerobatics. Those who mastered it were more likely to survive
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260:(1919–1978), also cofounders of Tallmantz Aviation, which provided pilots and equipment for movies and television
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232:(1891–1923), American pioneer of many of the popular stunts used in the early barnstorming air shows
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After the war ended, some of these pilots used the skills they had mastered by
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204:(1901–1975), the first female Hollywood stunt pilot and the organizer of the
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was the first to fly inverted, on 1 September 1913. On 9 September, Russian
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negotiate to put on a show there, hence the "barn" in barnstorming.
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refers to any stunts performed in an aircraft. It encompasses
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455:"Flying and Dying for Hollywood in the 1920s"
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244:(1878–1909), reportedly the first stunt pilot
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483:. U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission.
391:"Gates, Stunt Flyer, Ends Life by Leap"
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355:. U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission.
39:From the Wright brothers to World War I
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334:Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
369:Correll, John T. (25 January 2021).
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453:Schiller, Gerald A. (March 2005).
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197:Other noted stunt pilots include:
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67:The 1920s: era of the barnstormer
206:Associated Motion Picture Pilots
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286:Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies
180:American entry into World War I
16:Stunts performed in an aircraft
433:National Aviation Hall of Fame
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336:(World Air Sports Federation).
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178:in October 1917 after the
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153:List of air display teams
429:"Pangborn, Clyde Edward"
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294:The Great Waldo Pepper
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185:The Great Air Robbery
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55:flew the first loop.
371:"Romance of the Air"
148:Patrouille de France
399:. 25 November 1932.
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376:Air Force Magazine
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77:Curtiss JN-4 Jenny
308:(1980), starring
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248:Charles Lindbergh
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129:October 2022
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73:barnstorming
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28:wing walking
20:Stunt flying
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278:Stunt Pilot
230:B. H. DeLay
220:(1898–1948)
214:(1887–1915)
57:World War I
495:Categories
316:References
254:Paul Mantz
236:Dick Grace
102:Aerobatics
24:aerobatics
91:in 1921.
61:dogfights
34:History
501:Stunts
289:(1973)
281:(1939)
159:Pilots
271:Films
208:union
43:The
415:PBS
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