Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in whichstunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were calledflying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes,"[1] it became popular in theUnited States during theRoaring Twenties.[2]
Barnstormers were pilots who flew throughout the country to sell airplane rides and perform stunts.Charles Lindbergh first began flying as a barnstormer.[3] Barnstorming was the first major form ofcivil aviation in thehistory of manned flight.
TheWright brothers andGlenn Curtiss had early flying exhibition teams, with solo flyers likeLincoln Beachey andDidier Masson also popular beforeWorld War I, but barnstorming did not become a formal phenomenon until the 1920s. The first barnstormer, taught to fly by Curtiss in 1909, was oneCharles Foster Willard, who is also credited as the first to be shot down in an airplane when an annoyed farmer fired asquirrel gun and broke his propeller.[4]
During World War I, theUnited States manufactured a significant number ofCurtiss JN-4 "Jenny"biplanes to train itsmilitary aviators, and almost every American 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 their initial value (they had cost the government $5,000 each, but were being sold for as low as $200).[5] This allowed many servicemen who already knew how to fly the JN-4s to purchase their own planes. The similar-lookingStandard J-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 ofFederal Aviation Regulations at the time, these factors allowed barnstorming to flourish.
Although barnstormers often worked alone or in very small teams, some also organized large "flying circuses" with multiple planes and stunt people. These acts employedpromoters to book shows in towns ahead of time. They were the largest and most organized of all of the barnstorming acts. Well-known circuses included the Five Blackbirds (anAfrican American flying group), the Flying Aces Air Circus, the13 Black Cats, Mabel Cody’s Flying Circus, the Inman Brothers Flying Circus, and theMarie Meyer Flying Circus.[6] Perhaps the largest and most successful of these was theGates Flying Circus, which attracted in its heyday tens of thousands to a single show.[7] ATime magazine article estimated it staged 2000 air meets in 44 states.[8][9]
Barnstorming was performed not only by former military men, but also by women, minorities, and minority women.[10] For example, on July 18, 1915,Katherine Stinson became the first woman in the world to perform a loop.[5]Bessie Coleman, anAfrican-American woman, "not only thrilled audiences with her skills as a barnstormer, but she also became arole model for women and African Americans. Her very presence in the air threatened prevailing contemporary stereotypes. She also foughtsegregation when she could by using her influence as a celebrity."[10]
Charles Lindbergh engaged in barnstorming in his early years, with theMarie Meyer Flying Circus and others, making a marginal living; 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," a performance known as "wing walking."[1] During a barnstorming tour inMinnesota andWisconsin in 1923, he made the "decision to pursue further formal instruction with theU.S. Army Air Service."[3]
The sensational journalism and economic prosperity that marked theJazz Age in the United States allowed barnstormers to publicize aviation and eventually contributed to bringing about regulation and control.[3] In 1925, the U.S. governmentbegan regulating aviation, when it passed the Contract Air Mail Act, which allowed theU.S. Post Office to hire private airlines to deliver mail with payments made based on the weight of the mail. The following year, PresidentCalvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act, which shifted the management of air routes to a new branch in theDepartment of Commerce, which was also responsible for "licensing of planes and pilots, establishing safety regulations, and general promotion."[11][12]
Barnstorming "seemed to be founded on bravado, with 'one-upmanship' a major incentive."[13] 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 competing for local 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,[citation needed] such as the minimum altitude at which 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, who was the pilot of the two-man aviation team who were the first to cross thePacific Ocean nonstop in 1931, ended his barnstorming career in 1931.[14] Some pilots, however, continued to wander the country giving rides as late as fall 1941.[citation needed]
"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 dropflyers.[1] In some towns the arrival of a barnstormer or an aerial troupe would lead to a town-wide shutdown as people attended the show.
Barnstormers performed a variety of stunts, with some specializing as stunt pilots or aerialists. Stunt pilots performed a variety ofaerobatic maneuvers, including spins, dives, loop-the-loops andbarrel rolls. Meanwhile, aerialists performed feats ofwing walking, stuntparachuting, midair plane transfers, or even playingtennis, target shooting, and dancing on the plane's wings.[5]
Barnstormers offered plane rides for a small fee. Lindbergh, for example, charged five dollars for a 15-minute ride in his plane.[3] However exciting and glamorous, it was not an easy way to make a steady living. To make ends meet, the barnstormers—including Charles Lindbergh—often had to moonlight as flying instructors, handymen, gas station attendants, etc.[1] Barnstormers often traded plane rides for room and board, both for commercial lodging and in private homes.[3]
It was a Boston man who figured in the first case recorded of an aeroplane brought to earth by a bullet...Charles F. Willard, whose machine was wrecked in Joplin, Mo., during a cross-country flight