Barnstorming
Encyclopedia
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation
Civil aviation
Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work together to establish common standards and recommended practices...
in the history of flight.
The term barnstormer was also applied to pilots who flew throughout the country selling airplane rides, usually operating from a farmer's field for a day or two before moving on. "Barnstorming season" ran from early spring until after the harvest and county fairs in the fall.
The term barnstorming comes from an earlier American tradition of rural political campaigns.
Initial growth
The Wright brothersWright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
and Glenn Curtiss
Glenn Curtiss
Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906...
had early flying exhibition teams, with solo flyers like Lincoln Beachey
Lincoln Beachey
Lincoln J. Beachey was a pioneer American aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records....
and Didier Masson
Didier Masson
Didier Masson was a pioneering French aviator. He was born in Asnières, France. He died and was buried in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. Among his adventures was his life as a pioneering barnstormer, being the second flier in history to bomb a surface warship, as well as combat service in the Lafayette...
also being popular before World War I in the USA, but barnstorming did not become a formal phenomenon until the 1920s.
During the first World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
had manufactured a significant number of Curtiss JN-4
Curtiss JN-4
The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" was one of a series of "JN" biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the U.S...
s (called Jennys) to train its military aviators
Military aviation
Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...
and almost every U.S. airman had learned to fly using the plane. After the war the U.S. federal government sold off the surplus materiel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
, including the Jennys, for a fraction of its initial value (the $5,000 purchase price of a Jenny could be reduced to as low as $200). This permitted many of the servicemen, who were already familiar with the JN-4's, to purchase their own planes.
At the same time, numerous aircraft manufacturing companies sprang up, most going broke 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 of Federal Aviation Regulations
Federal Aviation Regulations
The Federal Aviation Regulations, or FARs, are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs are part of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations...
at the time, these factors allowed barnstorming to flourish during the post war era.
Regulation and decline
Initially thriving in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
during the first half of the 1920s, by 1927 competition between acts demanded more and more dangerous tricks and a rash of highly publicized accidents forced the implementation of new safety regulations that resulted in 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 stealing their customers, the federal government enacted several laws to begin regulating fledgling civil aviation.
The laws included safety standards and specifications that were nearly impossible for barnstormers to meet, and restrictions on how low 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, which, combined with the regulations, made it too difficult for barnstormers to continue making a living.
Some pilots continued to wander the country giving rides as late as the fall of 1941.
Contemporary barnstorming
Some modern pilots flying restored vintageVintage
Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
aircraft, or accurate reproduction aircraft of vintage design, continue the barnstorming tradition and offer open cockpit biplane rides to the public from a handful of airports around the country.
Typical performances
Most barnstorming shows started with a pilot, or team of pilots flying over a small rural town to attract the attention of the local inhabitants. They would then land at a local farm (hence the name "barnstorming") and negotiate with the farmer for the use of one of his fields as a temporary runway from which to stage an air show and offer airplane rides to customers. After obtaining a base of operation, the pilot or group of aviators would "buzz" the village dropping handbillsFlyer (pamphlet)
__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....
offering airplane rides for a small fee and advertise the daring feats that would be performed. Crowds would follow the planes to the field, purchase rides and watch the show. In some towns the appearance of a barnstormer or an aerial troop would lead to almost everything in the town shutting down as people attended the show.
Barnstormers would perform a variety of stunts, with some specializing as stunt pilots or aerialists. Stunt pilots performed a variety of aerobatic maneuver
Aerobatic maneuver
Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dog fights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in formation with several others...
s, including spins, dives, loop-the-loops and barrel roll
Barrel roll
A barrel roll is an aerial maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation on its longitudinal axis while following a helical path, approximately maintaining its original direction. It is sometimes described as "a combination of a loop and a roll"...
s while aerialists would perform feats of wing walking
Wing walking
Seen in airshows and barnstorming during the 1920s, wing walking is the act of moving on the wings of an airplane during flight.-The beginning of air walkers:...
, stunt parachuting
Parachuting
Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal...
, midair plane transfers or even playing tennis, target shooting or dancing while on the plane's wings.
Flying circuses
Although barnstormers often worked in solitude or in very small teams, some also put together large "flying circuses" with several planes and stunt people. These acts employed promotersPromoter (entertainment)
An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...
to book shows in towns ahead of time. They were the largest and most organized of all of the barnstorming acts.
Notable barnstormers
- EE Armstrong
- Didier MassonDidier MassonDidier Masson was a pioneering French aviator. He was born in Asnières, France. He died and was buried in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. Among his adventures was his life as a pioneering barnstormer, being the second flier in history to bomb a surface warship, as well as combat service in the Lafayette...
- Louis PaulhanLouis PaulhanIsidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan, known as Louis Paulhan, was a pioneering French aviator who in 1910 flew "Le Canard", the world's first seaplane, designed by Henri Fabre....
- Jimmy Angel
- Pancho BarnesPancho BarnesFlorence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes was a pioneer aviator, the founder of the first test pilots union and the owner of the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a bar and restaurant. She broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record in 1930...
- Lincoln BeacheyLincoln BeacheyLincoln J. Beachey was a pioneer American aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records....
- Alan CobhamAlan CobhamSir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC was an English aviation pioneer.A member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Alan Cobham became famous as a pioneer of long distance aviation. After the war he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company, and was the first pilot for the newly...
- Bessie ColemanBessie ColemanElizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.-Early life:...
- Hubert JulianHubert JulianHubert Fauntleroy Julian was a Trinidad-born African American aviation pioneer. He was nicknamed "The Black Eagle".-Biography:...
- Charles LindberghCharles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
- Clyde Pangborn
- Wiley PostWiley PostWiley Hardeman Post was a famed American aviator, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. His Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's...
- Roscoe TurnerRoscoe TurnerRoscoe Turner was an aviator who was a three time winner of the Thompson Trophy.-Background:Turner was born in Corinth, Mississippi, the eldest son of a poor but respectable farmer. He came to realize that he did not want to be a farmer and found that he was attracted to mechanical devices instead...
- Hermann GöringHermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
- Michael Bourton
- Lillian BoyerLillian BoyerLillian Boyer, an American wing walker, performed numerous aerial stunts that included wing walking, automobile-to-airplane transfers, and parachute jumps between 1921 and 1929.-Wing walking career:...
In popular culture
- Round the Bend (1951 novel)Round the Bend (1951 novel)Round the Bend was a 1951 novel by Nevil Shute. It tells the story of Constantine "Connie" Shaklin, an aircraft engineer who founds a new religion transcending existing religions based on the merit of good work....
by Nevil ShuteNevil ShuteNevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...
gives a detailed account of the activities of Alan CobhamAlan CobhamSir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC was an English aviation pioneer.A member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Alan Cobham became famous as a pioneer of long distance aviation. After the war he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company, and was the first pilot for the newly...
's National Aviation Day. Archive sources show that Shute, in research for writing the book, wrote to Cobham to check details. - Many of Richard BachRichard BachRichard David Bach is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely...
's novels feature a modern barnstormer as a protagonist or other elements of barnstorming - In 1982 ActivisionActivisionActivision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
produced a BarnstormingBarnstorming (video game)Barnstorming is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. Barnstorming was the first game designed by Cartwright...
game cartridge for the Atari 2600Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in... - In 1982, Philip Jose Farmer's book A Barnstormer in OzA Barnstormer in OzA Barnstormer in Oz: A Rationalization and Extrapolation of the Split-Level Continuum is a 1982 novel by Philip José Farmer and is based on the setting and characters of L...
featured Hank Stover, a barnstorming pilot. - In RollerCoaster Tycoon 2RollerCoaster Tycoon 2RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 is a construction and management simulation computer game that simulates theme park management. Developed by Chris Sawyer and published by Infogrames, the game was released on October 15, 2002. It is the sequel to RollerCoaster Tycoon and is the second game in the...
, a roller coaster type titled "Barnstorming Roller Coaster" is available when the Time Twister expansion pack is installed. The coaster cars of this coaster type are replica biplanes. - The name of the independent league baseball team of Lancaster, PA is the "Barnstormers."
- The name of an Arena Football team in Des Moines, Iowa is the "Iowa Barnstomers".
- In RollerCoaster Tycoon 3RollerCoaster Tycoon 3RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is a construction and management simulation computer game. It is the third installment in the RollerCoaster Tycoon series, first released on October 26, 2004 in North America...
's Wild! Expansion Pack, a "Barn Stormer" ride can be built.
Filmography
- Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying MachinesThose Magnificent Men in Their Flying MachinesThose Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman and directed and co-written by Ken Annakin...
(1965) – comedy - The Great Waldo PepperThe Great Waldo PepperThe Great Waldo Pepper is a 1975 drama film directed, produced, and co-written by George Roy Hill. It stars Robert Redford as a discontented airplane pilot in the years 1926-1931....
(1975) - Nothing by Chance (1975) – a documentary produced and narrated by Hugh DownsHugh DownsHugh Malcolm Downs is a long time American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer; and is perhaps best known for his role as co-host the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and...
about the biplanes that barnstormed across America during the 1920s - "Days Of Heaven" (1978) Terrence Mallick- includes scenes with a barnstorm troop who visit a farm, and perform.