Ormer Locklear was barnstorming's greatest showman - a Fort Worth carpenter who turned wing walking into art before dying on camera in 1920.
TaildraggerHow the U.S. government's 1919 surplus sale of 6,400 Curtiss JN-4 Jennies created the barnstorming era and introduced a million Americans to flight.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear invented wing walking in 1917, became America's most famous aviator, and died on film in 1920 when a director's promised light cue never came.
TaildraggerIvan Gates never learned to fly, yet his Gates Flying Circus introduced an estimated one million Americans to flight and helped forge U.S. aviation culture in the 1920s.
TaildraggerBessie Coleman became the world's first licensed Black pilot in 1921 - but only after every American flight school turned her away.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear invented wing walking in 1919 out of necessity - not showmanship - and became barnstorming's defining figure before dying at 29 on a Hollywood film set.
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.
TaildraggerHow a 1919 government surplus sale of WWI training aircraft for as little as $200 each launched barnstorming and gave rural America its first taste of flight.
TaildraggerBessie Coleman became the world's first Black female licensed pilot in 1921 after sailing to France when every American flight school refused her application.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear invented wing-walking in 1919, became America's most famous aviator, and died on a Hollywood film set blinded by klieg lights during a night stunt.
TaildraggerHow one man's obsession with flying WWI-era aircraft kept the first generation of flight alive at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear invented wing-walking in 1917 as a mechanical fix, not a stunt, and died on camera at 28 performing a night dive for a Hollywood film in 1920.
TaildraggerAfter WWI, the U.S. Army auctioned thousands of surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jennies for as little as $200, launching the barnstorming era that brought flight to rural America.
TaildraggerBessie Coleman became the world's first Black woman to earn an internationally recognized pilot's license in 1921 after every American flight school refused to train her.
TaildraggerHow Texas daredevil Ormer Locklear invented wing walking on a Curtiss Jenny - and how his death shaped modern airshow safety.
TaildraggerHow Clyde Pangborn walked the wing of Miss Veedol over the Pacific in 1931 to complete the first nonstop transpacific flight.
TaildraggerHow Noel Wien became the first pilot to cross the Arctic Circle in Alaska - and why his caution made him a legend.
TaildraggerOrmer Locklear invented professional wing-walking and the deadly plane-to-plane 'Dance of Death' - until a 1920 film stunt killed him at 28.
TaildraggerHow Bessie Coleman, a Texas sharecropper's daughter, sailed to France in 1920 to earn the pilot's license America denied her.
TaildraggerHow the Thirteen Black Cats organized at Burdett Field in 1925 and used a fixed price list to turn barnstorming into a real profession.
Taildragger