On October 21, 1928, seventeen-year-old Elinor Smith flew under all four East River bridges solo, becoming one of aviation's most skilled and overlooked record-setters.
TaildraggerBefore the Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh spent two years barnstorming the Midwest in a surplus Curtiss Jenny, earning two dollars a ride and building the instincts that would cross the Atlantic.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear became America's most famous aviator in 1919 by walking on the wings of flying biplanes - and died doing it at 28.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear invented wing walking as a maintenance fix in 1918, became Hollywood's first aviation stuntman, and died on camera at 28 before the barnstorming era he created had peaked.
TaildraggerHow Ivan Gates turned post-WWI surplus planes and unemployed pilots into America's most famous barnstorming operation, putting over a million people in the air.
TaildraggerIvan Gates built America's most famous flying circus in the 1920s without ever piloting a plane - transforming surplus WWI Jennys into a nationwide spectacle.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear was barnstorming's greatest showman - a Fort Worth carpenter who turned wing walking into art before dying on camera in 1920.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear invented wing-walking out of in-flight necessity in 1917, became America's first aviation celebrity, and died at 28 during a Hollywood night-dive stunt in 1920.
TaildraggerIvan Gates turned barnstorming into a scalable business empire that put over a quarter million Americans in airplanes - more than any government program of the era.
TaildraggerHow the Thirteen Black Cats organized at Burdett Field in 1925 and used a fixed price list to turn barnstorming into a real profession.
TaildraggerHow the Thirteen Black Cats turned 1920s Hollywood stunt flying into a business with a printed price list for every deadly aerial trick.
TaildraggerHow wing walker Ormer Locklear and the surplus Curtiss Jenny turned 1919 America into a nation that looked up at the sky.
TaildraggerHow barnstormer Ormer Locklear pioneered midair plane changes and died filming a stunt for The Skywayman in 1920.
TaildraggerBefore crossing the Atlantic in 1927, Charles Lindbergh spent four years barnstorming the Great Plains as a wing-walker and parachute jumper.
TaildraggerThe Gates Flying Circus gave over a million Americans their first airplane ride and helped turn a nation onto flight in the 1920s.
TaildraggerBefore crossing the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh spent years as a barnstormer, building the real-world skills that made his historic 1927 flight possible.
TaildraggerHow the Gates Flying Circus flew over a million Americans in the 1920s and built the cultural foundation for commercial aviation.
TaildraggerOn May 3, 1923, Lieutenants Oakley Kelly and John Macready completed the first nonstop transcontinental flight across the United States.
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