Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which
stunt pilot Stunt flying refers to any stunts performed in an aircraft. It encompasses aerobatics, wing walking, and transferring from one airplane to another or to a moving vehicle on the ground, such as an automobile or train, and vice versa.
History From th ...
s performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes,"
it became popular in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
during the
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the ...
.
Barnstormers were pilots who flew throughout the country to sell airplane rides and perform stunts.
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
first began flying as a barnstormer.
Barnstorming was the first major form of
civil aviation
Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work ...
in the
history of aviation
The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets.
Kite flying in Chi ...
.
History
Background
The
Wright brothers and
Glenn Curtiss
Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...
had early flying exhibition teams, with solo flyers like
Lincoln Beachey
Lincoln Beachey (March 3, 1887 – March 14, 1915) was a pioneer American aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records.
He was k ...
and
Didier Masson
Didier Masson (23 February 1886 – 2 June 1950) was a pioneering French aviator. He was born in Asnières, France. He died and was buried in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. Among his adventures was his life as a pioneering barnstormer, bein ...
also popular before
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, but barnstorming did not become a formal phenomenon until the 1920s. The first barnstormer, taught to fly by Curtiss in 1909, was one
Charles Foster Willard, who is also credited as the first to be shot down in an airplane when an annoyed farmer broke his propeller firing a
squirrel gun.
During World War I, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
manufactured a significant number of
Curtiss JN-4
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for th ...
“Jenny”
biplanes to train its
military aviators, and almost every U.S. airman learned to fly using the plane. After the war the U.S. federal government sold off the surplus material, including the Jennys, for a fraction of its initial value (they had cost the government $5,000 but were being sold for as low as $200).
[ This allowed many servicemen who already knew how to fly the JN-4s to purchase their own planes. The similar-looking ]Standard J
The Standard J is a two-seat basic trainer two-bay biplane produced in the United States from 1916 to 1918, powered by a four-cylinder inline Hall-Scott A-7a engine. It was constructed from wood with wire bracing and fabric covering. The J-1 ...
-1 biplane was also available.
At the same time, numerous aircraft manufacturing companies sprang up, most failing after building only a handful of planes. Many of these were reliable and even advanced designs which suffered from the failure of the aviation market to expand as expected, and a number of these found their way into the only active markets—mail carrying, barnstorming, and smuggling. Sometimes a plane and its owner would drift between the three activities as opportunity presented.
Combined with the lack of Federal Aviation Regulations
The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). A wide variety ...
at the time, these factors allowed barnstorming to flourish.
Growth and heyday
Barnstorming was performed not only by former military men, but also by women, minorities, and women minorities. For example, on July 18, 1915, Katherine Stinson
Katherine Stinson (February 14, 1891 – July 8, 1977) was an aviation pioneer who in 1912 became the fourth woman in the United States to earn the FAI pilot certificate. She set flying records for aerobatic maneuvers, distance, and endurance. ...
became the first woman in the world to perform a loop.[ ]Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman (January 26, 1892April 30, 1926) was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license. She earned her license from the '' Fédération Aéronautique I ...
, an African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
woman, “not only thrilled audiences with her skills as a barnstormer, but she also became a role model for women and African Americans. Her very presence in the air threatened prevailing contemporary stereotypes. She also fought segregation Segregation may refer to:
Separation of people
* Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space
* School segregation
* Housing segregation
* Racial segregation, separation of humans ...
when she could by using her influence as a celebrity.”[
“More than any single event, Lindbergh's historic 1927 flight made Americans aware of the potential of commercial aviation, and there followed a boom in aviation activity during 1928 and 1929.”][ In fact, ]Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
engaged in barnstorming in his early years; Errold Bahl hired him as an assistant, and as a promotional stunt, Lindbergh “volunteered to climb out onto the wing and wave to the crowds below,” which came to be known as “wing-walking.”
Regulation and decline
The sensational journalism and economic prosperity that marked the Jazz Age in the United States allowed barnstormers to publicize aviation and eventually contributed to bringing about regulation and control.[ In 1925, the U.S. government began regulating aviation, when it passed the Contract Air Mail Act, which allowed the ]U.S. Post Office
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...
to hire private airlines to deliver mail with payments made based on the weight of the mail. The following year, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act, which shifted the management of air routes to a new branch in the Department of Commerce, which was also responsible for “licensing of planes and pilots, establishing safety regulations, and general promotion.”
Barnstorming “seemed to be founded on bravado, with ‘one-upmanship’ a major incentive.” By 1927, competition among barnstormers resulted in their performing increasingly dangerous tricks, and a rash of highly publicized accidents led to new safety regulations, which led to the demise of barnstorming. Spurred by a perceived need to protect the public and in response to political pressure by local pilots upset at barnstormers stealing their customers, the federal government enacted laws to regulate a fledgling civil aviation sector.
The laws included safety standards and specifications that were virtually impossible for barnstormers to meet, and restrictions on how low in altitude certain tricks could be performed (making it harder for spectators to see what was happening). The military also stopped selling Jennys in the late 1920s. This made it too difficult for barnstormers to make a living. Clyde Pangborn
Clyde Edward Pangborn ( ''c''. October 28, 1895 – March 29, 1958), nicknamed "Upside-Down Pangborn", was an American aviator and barnstormer who performed aerial stunts in the 1920s for the Gates Flying Circus. He was its half-owner, chief pil ...
, who was pilot of the two-man aviation team who were the first to cross the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
nonstop in 1931, ended his barnstorming career in 1931. Some pilots, however, continued to wander the country giving rides as late as fall 1941.
Performances
Planning
“Barnstorming season” ran from early spring until after the harvest and county fairs in the fall. Most barnstorming shows started with a pilot, or team of pilots flying over a small rural town to attract local attention. They would then land at a local farm (hence the term “barnstorming”) and negotiate for the use of a field as a temporary runway from which to stage an air show and offer airplane rides. After obtaining a base of operation, the pilot or group of aviators would “buzz” the village and drop flyers.[ In some towns the arrival of a barnstormer or an aerial troupe would lead to a town-wide shutdown as people attended the show.
]
Stunts
Barnstormers performed a variety of stunts, with some specializing as stunt pilots or aerialists. Stunt pilots performed a variety of aerobatic maneuver
Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in formation with several others. Nearly all aircraft are capab ...
s, including spins, dives, loop-the-loops and barrel roll
A barrel roll is an aerial maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation on both its longitudinal and lateral axes, causing it to follow a helical path, approximately maintaining its original direction. It is sometimes described as a " ...
s. Meanwhile, aerialists performed feats of wing walking
Wing walking is the act of moving along the wings of an aeroplane (most commonly a biplane) during flight, sometimes transferring between planes. It originated as a daredevil stunt in the aerial barnstorming shows of the 1920s, and became the sub ...
, stunt parachuting, midair plane transfers, or even playing tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
, target shooting, and dancing on the plane's wings. Other stunts included nose dives and flying through barns, which sometimes led to pilots crashing their planes.
Business
Barnstormers offered plane rides for a small fee. Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
, for example, charged five dollars for a 15-minute ride in his plane. However exciting and glamorous, it was not an easy way to make a steady living. To make ends meet, the barnstormers—including Charles Lindbergh—had to moonlight as flying instructors, handymen, and sometimes even as gas station attendants.[ Barnstormers often traded plane rides for room and board, both for commercial lodging and in private homes.][
]
Flying circuses
Although barnstormers often worked in solitude or in very small teams, some also put together large “flying circuses” with several planes and stunt people. These acts employed promoters to book shows in towns ahead of time. They were the largest and most organized of all of the barnstorming acts. Some of the most famous were “The Five Blackbirds” (an African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
flying group), “The Flying Aces Air Circus,” “The 13 Black Cats,” “Mabel Cody’s Flying Circus,” “Inman Brothers Flying Circus,” and the “Gates Flying Circus,”[ to which ]Clyde Pangborn
Clyde Edward Pangborn ( ''c''. October 28, 1895 – March 29, 1958), nicknamed "Upside-Down Pangborn", was an American aviator and barnstormer who performed aerial stunts in the 1920s for the Gates Flying Circus. He was its half-owner, chief pil ...
belonged until 1928.
Significance
At an individual level, barnstorming “provided an exciting and challenging way to make a living, as well as an outlet for their creativity and showmanship” for many pilots and stunt fliers. For example, it allowed Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
to make a marginal living, and he always spoke fondly of the “old flying days” and the freedom of movement. It was during a barnstorming tour in Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
in 1923 that led to his “decision to pursue further formal instruction with the U.S. Army Air Service.”[
Cadet Squadron 23 at the ]United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and U ...
is known as the “Barnstormers.”
Notable barnstormers
* Jimmie Angel
James "Jimmie" Crawford Angel (August 1, 1899December 8, 1956) was an American aviator after whom Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tallest waterfall in the world, is named.
Early life
James Crawford Angel was born August 1, 1899, near Cedar Valle ...
* Pancho Barnes
* Lincoln Beachey
Lincoln Beachey (March 3, 1887 – March 14, 1915) was a pioneer American aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records.
He was k ...
* Lillian Boyer
* Jerrie Cobb
Geraldyn M. Cobb (March 5, 1931 – March 18, 2019), commonly known as Jerrie Cobb, was an American aviator. She was also part of the Mercury 13, a group of women who underwent physiological screening tests at the same time as the original Mer ...
* Alan Cobham
Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer.
Early life and family
As a child he attended Wilson's School, then in Camberwell, London. The school relocated to the former site of Croydo ...
* Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman (January 26, 1892April 30, 1926) was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license. She earned her license from the '' Fédération Aéronautique I ...
* Doug Davis
* Roland Garros
* Tex Johnston
Alvin Melvin "Tex" Johnston (August 18, 1914 – October 29, 1998) was an American jet-age test pilot for Bell Aircraft and the Boeing Company.
Early life
Johnston was born August 18, 1914, in Admire, Kansas, to farmers Alva and Ella Johnst ...
* Hubert Julian
Hubert Fauntleroy Julian (21 September 1897 – 19 February 1983) was a Trinidad-born aviation pioneer. He was nicknamed "List of military figures by nickname, The Black Eagle".
Early years
Hubert Fauntleroy Julian was born in Port of Spain, Tr ...
* William Carpenter Lambert
* Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
* Didier Masson
Didier Masson (23 February 1886 – 2 June 1950) was a pioneering French aviator. He was born in Asnières, France. He died and was buried in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. Among his adventures was his life as a pioneering barnstormer, bein ...
* John Moisant
John Bevins Moisant (April 25, 1868 – December 31, 1910), known as the "King of Aviators," was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, flight instructor, businessman, and revolutionary. He was the first pilot to conduct passenger flight ...
* Clyde Pangborn
Clyde Edward Pangborn ( ''c''. October 28, 1895 – March 29, 1958), nicknamed "Upside-Down Pangborn", was an American aviator and barnstormer who performed aerial stunts in the 1920s for the Gates Flying Circus. He was its half-owner, chief pil ...
* Louis Paulhan
Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan (; 19 July 1883 – 10 February 1963), was a French aviator. He is known for winning the first ''Daily Mail'' aviation prize for the first flight between London and Manchester in 1910.
Biography
Paulhan was b ...
* Adolphe Pégoud
Adolphe Célestin Pégoud (13 June 1889 – 31 August 1915) was a French aviator and flight instructor who became the first fighter ace in history during World War I.
Biography
Adolphe Célestin Pégoud was born 13 June 1889 in Montferrat, F ...
* Wiley Post
Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the interwar period and the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop on ...
* Harriet Quimby
Harriet Quimby (May 11, 1875 – July 1, 1912) was an American pioneering aviator, journalist, and film screenwriter.
In 1911, she became the first woman in the United States to receive a pilot certificate, issued to her by the Aero Club of Ame ...
* Tex Rankin
John Gilbert "Tex" Rankin (January 20, 1894 – February 23, 1947) was an aerobatic pilot, barnstormer, air racer, and flight instructor from the 1920s to the 1940s. He created the Rankin Flying Service which trained thousands of pilots at Ra ...
* Abraham Whalomie Raygorodsky
* René Simon
René Simon (1898 in Troyes – 1971) was a French actor and founder in 1925 of the Cours Simon drama school in Paris. Notable alumni of Cours Simon include Benoît Petitjean and Jean Reno
Jean Reno () (born 30 July 1948), is a French acto ...
* Slonnie Sloniger
* Dean Smith
Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel H ...
* Roscoe Turner
Roscoe Turner (September 29, 1895 – June 23, 1970) was a record-breaking American aviator who was a three-time winner of the Thompson Trophy air race and widely recognized by his flamboyant style and his pet, Gilmore the Lion.
Early life ...
* Ernst Udet
* Odo Valentine
In popular culture
Books
* William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
's 1935 novel '' Pylon'' tells the story of a group of barnstormers
* Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect ...
's 1951 novel ''Round the Bend
''Round the Bend!'' is a satirical British children's television series, which ran on Children's ITV for three series from January 6, 1989, to May 7, 1991. The programme was produced by Hat Trick Productions for Yorkshire Television. After its ...
'' gives a detailed account of the activities of Alan Cobham
Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer.
Early life and family
As a child he attended Wilson's School, then in Camberwell, London. The school relocated to the former site of Croydo ...
's National Aviation Day
The National Aviation Day (August 19) is a United States national observation that celebrates the development of aviation.
The holiday was established in 1939 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who issued a presidential proclamation which designated ...
. Archive sources show that Shute, in research for writing the book, wrote to Cobham to check details.
* Many of Richard Bach's novels feature modern barnstormers as protagonists, or otherwise incorporate barnstorming
* Philip Jose Farmer's 1982 book '' A Barnstormer in Oz'' featured a barnstorming pilot named Hank Stover
* In the ''Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...
'' comic strip, Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...
's alter ego, the World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Flying Ace, states that he may do a little barnstorming after the war
* The novel “ The Flying Circus” by Susan Crandall follows the exploits of a trio of individuals who come together to create their own barnstorming troupe.
Movies and TV
*''The Tarnished Angels
''The Tarnished Angels'' is a 1957 black-and-white American CinemaScope drama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, and Robert Middleton. The screenplay by George Zuckerman is based on ...
'' (1957) – melodrama by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Sirk started his career in Germany as a stage and screen director, but he left for ...
based on the Faulkner novel about barnstorming
*''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes'' is a 1965 British period comedy film that satirizes the early years of aviation. Directed and co-written by Ken Annakin, the film ...
'' (1965) – comedy about the “pioneer era” (1903-1914) of air racing and barnstorming in Europe
*''Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ca ...
'' (1973) – movie by Steven Spielberg starring Cliff Robertson
Clifford Parker Robertson III (September 9, 1923 – September 10, 2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned over six decades. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film '' PT 109'', and won the 19 ...
as a Jenny
Jenny may refer to:
* Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people
* Jenny (surname), a family name
Animals
* Jenny (donkey), a female donkey
* Jenny (gorilla), the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of ...
pilot who barnstorms with his young son
*''The Great Waldo Pepper
''The Great Waldo Pepper'' is a 1975 American drama film directed, produced, and co-written by George Roy Hill. Set during 1926–1931, the film stars Robert Redford as a disaffected World War I veteran pilot who missed the opportunity to fly ...
'' (1975)
*''Nothing by Chance'' (1975) – documentary by Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs (February 14, 1921July 1, 2020) was an American radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer. A regular t ...
about the biplanes that barnstormed across America in the 1920s
*''Days of Heaven
''Days of Heaven'' is a 1978 American romantic period drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick, and starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. Set in 1916, it tells the story of Bill and Abby, lovers who travel ...
'' (1978) – movie by Terrence Mallick in which a barnstorming troupe visits a farm and performs
*''The Gypsy Moths
''The Gypsy Moths'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1955 novel of the same name by James Drought and directed by John Frankenheimer. The film tells the story of three barnstorming skydivers and their effect on a Midwestern American to ...
'' (1969) – American drama film directed by John Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' (1962), '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ( ...
starring Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, based on the novel of the same name by James William Drought
* The MTV show ''Nitro Circus'' features Travis Pastrana
Travis Alan Pastrana (born October 8, 1983) is an American professional motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several disciplines, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, a ...
, Jolene Van Vugt
Jolene Van Vugt (born September 17, 1980) is a Canadian motocross rider. She is the first CMRC Women's Canadian Motocross National Champion, first woman to backflip a full-sized dirt bike, holder of multiple Guinness World Records, and co-star ...
, and Erik Roner wing-walking on a biplane without chutes or harnesses
*'' The Fall Guy
''The Fall Guy'' is an American action/adventure television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who mo ...
'' (1981-1986)- An action/ adventure television series originally airing on ABC. The show was about a stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter using his skills as a stuntman to catch the bad guys. A scene in the intro shows of a biplane running through a farm field and crashing/ “barnstorming” into the side of a barn.
Video games
* In 1982 Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
produced a ''Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in ...
'' game cartridge for the Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocesso ...
* In '' RollerCoaster Tycoon 2'', the “Barnstorming Roller Coaster” has coaster cars that are replica biplanes
* In ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3'' is a 2004 construction and management simulation video game. It is the third installment in the '' RollerCoaster Tycoon'' series. ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3'' places players in charge of managing amusement parks; rides ...
's'' Wild! Expansion Pack, a “Barn Stormer” ride can be built
* In '' Kentucky Route Zero'', the small town surrounding 5 dogwood drive was established and lived in by a troupe of barnstormers.
Music
*“The Immelmann Turn,” by Al Stewart, a song set in the 1920s barnstorming era which refers to an aerobatic maneuver of the same name
*”Barn Storming,” by State Radio
See also
* Air show
* Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum
The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum, located at Creve Coeur Airport in Maryland Heights, Missouri, United States, is dedicated to restoring and preserving historical aircraft. The airplanes in the collection are all fabric-covered, and most ...
* United States government role in civil aviation
The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created an Aeronautic Branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Its functions included testing and licensing of pilots, certification of aircraft and investigation of accidents.
In 1934, the Aeronautics Bran ...
References
{{reflist
Air shows
History of aviation
Stunts