At air shows today, you may see pilots perform all sorts of crazy maneuvers, from high-G stunts, to creating shapes and symbols with the help of other aircraft to drawing pictures in the sky with smoke from their engines. But none of this can rival the thrilling display of barnstormers.
Barnstormers were out-of-work military pilots who used the supposedly useless Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplanes of the First World War to perform dangerous air stunts to entertain the many Americans who had never seen an aircraft before.
Barnstorming made heroes of many of the former military men who embraced it. From doing remarkable acrobatic maneuvers while parachuting to doing unbelievable stunts on a plane, barnstormers did not just become heroes but inadvertently set the pace for civil aviation.
Yet one may wonder why there are no barnstormers today, especially considering the popularity of modern air shows and their amazing stunts!
What was Barnstorming?
The emergence of barnstorming in the Golden Age of Aviation as a phenomenon in the United States marks one of the most significant moments in aviation history. The astonishing, reckless performance of the barnstormers influenced the aviation industry forever.
Barnstorming was a type of entertainment where American former military pilots displayed death-defying stunts and seemingly unimaginable moves on a moving aircraft. The death-defying performances of the barnstormers captivated America so much that it made superheroes out of ordinary men.
Many barnstormers amazed their audience by playing tennis matches on the wings of a speeding plane, while others jumped from the wings of a plane in the air to another moving plane. The dangerous display of barnstorming skills made the public associate barnstorming with daredevil behavior.
Barnstormers would storm the barns of farm owners, turning them into their stages. And since people wanted to see the creative daredevils do the unthinkable, barnstorming became a source of livelihood for many former military men.
History of Barnstormers
Barnstorming as entertainment was in its heyday in the 1920s – the early years of the Golden Age of Aviation. But it did not start out to be the dangerously entertaining field people now remember it as.
After World War I, Americans saw the rise of barnstorming as many retired military men dazzled them with public displays of daredevil stunts in the air, the likes of which they had not seen before.
As the popularity of barnstorming grew, few citizens who had become interested in the art joined the movement. For instance, Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman to hold a pilot’s license, surprised her audience with her barnstorming skills.
Although barnstorming contributed to civil aviation and inspired the creation of many airplane companies, its reign was short-lived. By the end of the roaring twenties, barnstorming began to fade away.
The Rise of Barnstormers
Barnstorming began in the 1920s. Eager but jobless military personnel who wanted to make a living from their knowledge of aviation embraced the new field quickly after World War I ended.
Before the United States became entangled in the First World War, they hired Curtis Aeroplane and Motor Company to manufacture 6,000 Jenny biplanes – an aircraft renowned for its ease of handling that the military intended to use as trainers.
The Jennys cost the federal government $5,000 to produce, but they soon became useless to the government after the war had ended. To dispose of them, the government sold them at a surprisingly low price – $200 to airmen willing to buy them.
Still motivated to fly after the end of their short-lived aviation careers, the now jobless military men bought the Jennys and flew to places where people had never even seen an airplane, hoping to make a living showing off their skills.
This was the beginning of the barnstorming era.
Since airplanes were relatively new and only a few had seen them at the time, many people were not just eager to watch a plane fly, but also to experience an extraordinary display of flying skills by the “new men” in town.
Training a fox on the wings of a speeding airplane, inverted flights, jumping from one moving plane to another, acrobatic maneuvers, loop the loop, stunt parachuting or other daredevil stunts spurred the Americans to accept them with open arms.
When barnstormers figured out that people would go the extra mile to see them perform, they advertised their skills, hosted shows in people’s barns, and charged people for rides. And with many Americans accepting them right off the bat, the stuntmen were greeted with acclaim.
Barnstorming was widely accepted not only because of the stuntmen’s activities but also because of its novel and intriguing nature.
Though heavily male-dominated, a select few female aviators – namely Katherine Stinson and Bessie Coleman – made a name for themselves as barnstormers.
Barnstorming rose rapidly as soon as it became popular, mostly because the government was not regulating it. The reason is not far-fetched; at the time, barnstorming was still new, and it did not bother the government much.
Until 1925, barnstormers were at liberty to do whatever they wanted, regardless of how dangerous it appeared. At least legally, there were no consequences for their actions, except in the case of them crashing.
By the mid-1920s, barnstorming was a full-fledged business venture for public entertainment. The result of this was a competition to outperform one another, and this increased the risks associated with barnstorming.
The Fall of Barnstormers
As deaths mounted, however, local, state and federal governments began to take notice and regulate barnstormers more closely, marking the beginning of the end for barnstormers.
The government’s regulation of the sector in reaction to the growing dangers involved with barnstorming marked the beginning of the end for barnstormers. The industry came under examination with the Air Mail Act of 1925, the first piece of law to show barnstorming the way out.
The Air Mail Act of 1925 set the postal rates and permitted the United States Postal Service to pay private airlines for government mail contracts. This was because railroad owners complained that the barnstormers were encroaching on their business.
The following year, the government passed the Air Commerce Act of 1926. The Air Commerce Act mandated the creation of a new department to oversee the administration of air routes, the testing of aircraft and pilot knowledge, and the establishment of safety laws.
Shortly after the government enacted these two laws, it became hard for barnstormers to continue displaying their skills in public. This was because they could not meet the demands of the laws. The laws stated what stunt was acceptable or not. In no time, they faded out of sight.
Before 1930, the military no longer sold the famed Jenny biplanes, forcing many barnstormers out of business. The few people who owned these aircraft could no longer afford to maintain these aging aircraft, and even worse, the Jennys had long been out of production at this point.
Why was it Called “Barnstorming”?
Locals started referring to the stuntmen as “barnstormers” because they mostly held their shows on people’s farms, as in those days, as runways as we know them today simply didn’t exist.
Instead, barnstormers would approach local farmers to request permission to use their farm as a runway and venue to host their show, usually in return for some sort of fee.
If the farmer agrees to the proposition, the barnstormer will fly to other areas, dropping handbills from his plane or giving the locals a free ride to attract them to his upcoming show.
After the advertisement, a crowd of eager people would go to the venue – a farmer’s barn – to purchase tickets to watch the impossible become possible.
Where Did Barnstorming Originate?
Before the 20th century, there had been open stunt flying displays by people, even outside of America. Alberto Santos-Dumont, the Brazilian aviation pioneer, performed some death-defying stunts in the air in the 1890s.
Likewise in America, early aviation pioneers like the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtiss displayed their flying skills on farmland in front of paying audiences. Unfortunately, this type of flying was not called barnstorming until the postwar era.
Prior to this, barnstorming was simply known as stunt flying and drew only small crowds, usually a few uninterested journalists, relatives of the person who owned the land and a select few farmhands.
Barnstormers’ Performances
The barnstormers did not perform all year round, instead, they only performed between March and November. And when they did, they would impress their audience with a series of astounding performances.
In barnstormers’ shows, their performances included mid-air aircraft transfers, target shooting, or barrel rolling, and they left an indelible impression on their audience.
As soon as barnstorming became a phenomenon in the United States, many barnstormers quickly formed groups known as “flying circuses,” although some continued to perform as individuals. When publicizing upcoming shows, each band of barnstormers had their distinctive selling pitch, which often included death-defying antics.
At Jimmy Angel’s Flying Circus, the “Death Drop” was offered. Cliff Rose’s Death Angels used a spiral “batman” maneuver. Lincoln Beachey, perhaps the most excellent stunt pilot of his day, always sought new challenges, such as flying into the Niagara Gorge or being the first person to fly upside down.
Barnstormers marketed their upcoming performances by showcasing their flying abilities in areas where the likelihood of earning public attention was high. They may sometimes distribute fliers across the city to advertise their activities.
Barnstormers often held their concerts in barns, airfields, pastures, etc., and admission to the shows ranged from 25 to 50 cents. Because of their death-defying stunts, the barnstormers may draw a crowd of up to 50,000 people.
Men piloted the bulk of barnstorming programs, while women were mostly wing-walkers. This was because most of the first purchasers of the Jennys were men.
Barnstorming made many people appear as real life superheroes. For instance, it made Charles Lindbergh an overnight celebrity after he became the first human to fly around the clock from New York to Paris.
Similarly, Bessie Coleman became popular throughout her life as a barnstormer. She did not only do what women who identified themselves as barnstormers did. Instead, she did the real deal – the death defying stunts. Her acts of bravery communicated that black pilots could fly as well as their white counterparts.
Before his death, Ormer Locklear earned up to $3,000 for every performance, while other barnstormers struggled to make comparable amounts in a single performance.
In the heyday of barnstorming, Gates’ Flying Circus was the most popular barnstorming outfit. It was created by Major Ivan Gates in 1922 and featured daring pilots such as “Upside Down” Pangborn and “Supreme Daredevil of the Air” Diavalo.
Although other air display teams occasionally performed in the United States, there were only three black barnstorming teams: the Flying Aces, the “Lucky” 13 Black Cats, and the Five Blackbirds.
The Legacy of Barnstormers
People barely foresaw what would become of the airplane industry after World War I. But with barnstormers testing the waters, their reckless but pervasive influence on aviation has made a crucial difference in our world.
The Barnstormers’ legacy is obvious in today’s world when one considers how airplanes have made life easier. The comfort that airplanes bring may not mean much to people today, but their usage today shows the lasting legacy of barnstormers.
With barnstormers offering free rides to locals and performing dangerous tricks with Jennys, people began to see the enormous potential of aircraft. As of 2011, the FAA predicted that passengers would log 1.57 trillion miles in flight by 2032.
The barnstormers also contributed to the growth of the United States aviation industry. With the Air Mail Act of 1925 and the Air Commerce Act of 1926, barnstorming set a course in motion – the foundation of United States aviation.
Although barnstormers were limited by laws as they dictated what safety meant and what was right, the government also built new airports and required aircraft manufacturers to adhere to specified criteria.
To a large extent, barnstorming contributed to the United States Postal Service. Before the 1920s, rail mostly delivered mail, but with the availability of airplanes, some barnstormers used the Jennys to distribute mail. This was the idea behind the Air Mail Act of 1925.
Although barnstorming appears to have died down due to the government’s legislation, there are traces of the daredevil business today. In modern-day, air shows are the vestiges of barnstorming.
Regulated, safe, and entertaining, air shows are like barnstorming displays in many ways. From its impressive antics to including women in its stupendous world of display, barnstorming paved the way for air shows.
What do you think about the barnstorming era? Are air shows just modern day barnstorming displays? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Larry Lamb via Flickr.