The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

Chapter Chapter 3 3 - - The The Golden Golden Age: Age: 1919 1919 -1939
-1939
The barnstormers also put on flying exhibitions at county fairs, carnivals and anywhere else crowds
gathered. Sometimes several of the pilots worked together as a team, calling themselves a “flying
circus.”
Those who did not work as part of a large group learned that they could offer the crowds more
thrills if they teamed up with a stuntman. “Wing walking” was one of the tricks that always pleased the
crowds. While the pilot flew the biplane in a circle, the stunt person would leave the cockpit and walk
out on the edge of the lower wing. Then they would climb to the upper wing and walk back toward the
cockpit. Some of the wing walkers would give the viewers an extra thrill by standing on their heads.
Besides ex-military aviators, there were a number of women aviators who attracted the public’s
attention during this barnstorming period. Less famous than Lindbergh, but a pioneer in her own right,
was a female barnstormer named Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie. She not only ran her own “flying circus”
but went on to become the first female licensed transport pilot in the United States.
Another stunt pilot was the first licensed black female pilot, Bessie Coleman. Coleman, who had to
go to France to get her license, represented the first breakthrough for black women in aviation. She
served as a model for other
black women to enter aviation.
Unfortunately, Bessie
Coleman died doing what she
really loved. She died in a
crash in Florida at the early
age of 27.
When World War I ended,
most people in the United
States had never seen an
airplane. If they thought of
airplanes at all, it was
probably with fear. Then came
the barnstormers with air
shows that may not have done
away with the fears, but
certainly created interest in
fliers and flying.
Some say that if it were not
for the “barnstormers,” aviation
may have died all together
in the United States. These
colorful daredevils ushered in
two decades of people who
were to see improvement in
aircraft design and achieve-
Bessie Coleman, America’s first licensed African-American pilot , flew a
Jenny at air shows during the twenties.
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ment by the people who took
to the air.