Editing Barnstorming

{{redirect-several|Barnstormer|Flying circus}}
{{Short description|Aircraft pilots performing stunts to entertain}} 
[[Image:Curtiss_JN-4_in_flight_over_Central_Ontario.jpg|thumb|260px|A [[Curtiss JN-4]] "Jenny" over central [[Ontario]], Canada, c.&nbsp;1918]]
'''Barnstorming''' was a form of entertainment in which [[stunt pilot]]s performed tricks individually or in groups that were called '''flying circuses'''. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes,"<ref name="pbs" /> it became popular in the [[United States]] during the [[Roaring Twenties]].<ref name="onkst">{{cite web|author1=David H. Onkst |title =Clyde 'Upside-Down' Pangborn |url = http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/pangborn/EX14.htm|website=U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission |access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> 

'''Barnstormers''' were pilots who flew throughout the country to sell airplane rides and perform stunts. [[Charles Lindbergh]] first began flying as a barnstormer.<ref name="minnesota" /> Barnstorming was the first major form of [[civil aviation]] in the [[history of aviation|history of manned flight]].

==History==
===Background===
[[Image:Moisant-John 03.jpg|thumb|An advertising [[poster]] for the early flying exhibition team, the Moisant International Aviators]]

The [[Wright brothers]] and [[Glenn Curtiss]] had early flying exhibition teams, with solo flyers like [[Lincoln Beachey]] and [[Didier Masson]] also popular before [[World War&nbsp;I]], but barnstorming did not become a formal phenomenon until the 1920s. The first barnstormer, taught to fly by Curtiss in 1909, was one [[Charles F. Willard|Charles Foster Willard]], who is also credited as the first to be shot down in an airplane when an annoyed farmer fired a [[varmint rifle|squirrel gun]] and broke his propeller.<ref>{{cite news|title=Charles F. Willard, Who is Trying to Perfect Monoplane; Bullet Hit Airship of Boston Aviator; Charles F. Willard of Hull Has Become Prominent in Aeronautics|page=3|date=June 2, 1910|location=Boston, Mass.|work=Boston Journal|quote=It was a Boston man who figured in the first case recorded of an aeroplane brought to earth by a bullet...Charles F. Willard, whose machine was wrecked in Joplin, Mo., during a cross-country flight}}
* {{cite news|title=Charles F. Willard Is Dead|date=February 2, 1977|work=The New York Times|location=New York|author=AP News|page=17}}
* {{cite book|title=Frail were my Wings|last1=Willard|first1=Charles F.|editor=Frank H. Ellis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ny49YQ7XlAC&pg=PA31|pages=31, 70|magazine=Flying Magazine|date=February 1956}}</ref>

During World War I, the [[United States]] manufactured a significant number of [[Curtiss JN-4]] "Jenny" [[biplanes]] to train its [[Military aviation|military aviators]], and almost every American airman learned to fly using the plane. After the war the U.S. federal government sold off the surplus material, including the Jennys, for a fraction of their initial value (they had cost the government $5,000 each, but were being sold for as low as $200).<ref name=southern/> This allowed many servicemen who already knew how to fly the JN-4s to purchase their own planes. The similar-looking [[Standard J]]-1 biplane was also available.

At the same time, numerous aircraft manufacturing companies sprang up, most failing 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]] at the time, these factors allowed barnstorming to flourish.

===Growth and heyday===
====Flying circuses====
Although barnstormers often worked alone or in very small teams, some also organized large "flying circuses" with multiple planes and stunt people. These acts employed [[promoter (entertainment)|promoters]] to book shows in towns ahead of time. They were the largest and most organized of all of the barnstorming acts. Well-known circuses included the Five Blackbirds (an [[African American]] flying group), the Flying Aces Air Circus, the [[13 Black Cats]], Mabel Cody’s Flying Circus, the Inman Brothers Flying Circus, and the [[Marie Meyer Flying Circus]].<ref name="Corbett">{{cite book |editor-last1=Corbett |editor-first1=Katharine T. |author-first1=Joan |author-last1=Cooper |chapter= Marie Meyer's Flying Circus |title=In her place : a guide to St. Louis women's history |date=1999 |publisher=Missouri Historical Society Press |location=St. Louis |isbn=978-1883982300 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWLbbcCQ0T8C&pg=PA241 |pages=241–242}}</ref> Perhaps the largest and most successful of these was the [[Ivan R. Gates#Barnstormer and entrepreneur|Gates Flying Circus]], which attracted in its heyday tens of thousands to a single show.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sandiegoairandspace.org/exhibits/online-exhibit-page/can-you-outdo-this |title=Can You Outdo This?? |publisher=[[San Diego Air & Space Museum]]}}</ref> A ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine article estimated it staged 2000 air meets in 44 states.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,882465,00.html |title=Aeronautics: Ringling of the Air |date=December 5, 1932 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref><ref name=allthings/>

====Women and minorities====
Barnstorming was performed not only by former military men, but also by women, minorities, and minority women.<ref name=bessie>{{cite web|author1=David H. Onkst|title=Women in History: Bessie Coleman|url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/nv/about/?cid=nrcs144p2_037528|website=USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service|publisher=[[U.S. Department of Agriculture]]|access-date=26 March 2015|archive-date=16 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216203428/http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/nv/about/?cid=nrcs144p2_037528|url-status=dead}}</ref> For example, on July 18, 1915, [[Katherine Stinson]] became the first woman in the world to perform a loop.<ref name=southern/> [[Bessie Coleman]], an [[African-American]] woman, "not only thrilled audiences with her skills as a barnstormer, but she also became a [[role model]] for women and African Americans. Her very presence in the air threatened prevailing contemporary stereotypes. She also fought [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] when she could by using her influence as a celebrity."<ref name=bessie/>

===Charles Lindbergh, before his fame===
[[Charles Lindbergh]] engaged in barnstorming in his early years, with the [[Marie Meyer Flying Circus]] and others, making a marginal living; Errold Bahl hired him as an assistant, and as a promotional stunt, Lindbergh "volunteered to climb out onto the wing and wave to the crowds below," a performance known as "[[wing walking]]."<ref name=pbs>{{cite web|title=Daredevil Lindbergh and His Barnstorming Days|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lindbergh/sfeature/daredevil.html|website=PBS|access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> During a barnstorming tour in [[Minnesota]] and [[Wisconsin]] in 1923, he made the "decision to pursue further formal instruction with the [[U.S. Army Air Service]]."<ref name=minnesota/>

===Regulation and decline===
The sensational journalism and economic prosperity that marked the [[Jazz Age]] in the United States allowed barnstormers to publicize aviation and eventually contributed to bringing about regulation and control.<ref name=minnesota/> In 1925, the U.S. government [[United States government role in civil aviation|began regulating aviation]], when it passed the Contract Air Mail Act, which allowed the [[U.S. Post Office]] to hire private airlines to deliver mail with payments made based on the weight of the mail. The following year, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] signed the Air Commerce Act, which shifted the management of air routes to a new branch in the [[U.S. Commerce Department|Department of Commerce]], which was also responsible for "licensing of planes and pilots, establishing safety regulations, and general promotion."<ref name=politico>{{cite news | author1 = Andrew Glass |title= Congress passed Air Commerce Act, May 20, 1926| url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/this-day-in-politics-91600.html| work =[[Politico]]| date=May 20, 2013}}</ref><ref name=AvStop>{{cite web|title=The Air Commerce Act of 1926|url=http://avstop.com/history/needregulations/act1926.htm|publisher=AvStop Online Magazine|access-date=26 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314214338/http://avstop.com/history/needregulations/act1926.htm|archive-date=14 March 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Barnstorming "seemed to be founded on bravado, with 'one-upmanship' a major incentive."<ref name=nps>{{cite web|title=Aviation Pioneers| url= http://www.nps.gov/articles/aviation-pioneers.htm |website =[[National Park Service]]|access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> By 1927, competition among barnstormers resulted in their performing increasingly dangerous tricks, and a rash of highly publicized accidents led to new safety regulations, which led to 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 laws to regulate a fledgling civil aviation sector.

[[File:Defense.gov photo essay 120715-F-RP755-375.jpg|280px|thumbnail| [[AeroSuperBatics Ltd|Breitling Wingwalkers]] ]]
The laws included safety standards and specifications that were virtually impossible for barnstormers to meet,{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}, such as the minimum altitude at which 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. This made it too difficult for barnstormers to make a living. [[Clyde Pangborn]], who was the pilot of the two-man aviation team who were the first to cross the [[Pacific Ocean]] nonstop in 1931, ended his barnstorming career in 1931.<ref name=priscilla>{{cite web|author1=Priscilla Long |title=Pangborn, Clyde Edward (1894-1958)|url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7495| website=HistoryLink |  date = October 12, 2005}}</ref> Some pilots, however, continued to wander the country giving rides as late as fall 1941.{{fact|date=March 2015}}

== Performances==
===Planning===
"Barnstorming season" ran from early spring until after the harvest and county fairs in the fall. Most barnstorming shows started with a pilot, or team of pilots flying over a small rural town to attract local attention. They would then land at a local farm (hence the term "barnstorming") and negotiate for the use of a field as a temporary runway from which to stage an air show and offer airplane rides. After obtaining a base of operation, the pilot or group of aviators would "buzz" the village and drop [[Flyer (pamphlet)|flyers]].<ref name=pbs/> In some towns the arrival of a barnstormer or an aerial troupe would lead to a town-wide shutdown as people attended the show.

===Stunts===
[[File:The Intelligencer Fri Aug 1 1924 cartoon.jpg | thumb | right |250px | Stunts which were seen at the [[Marie Meyer Flying Circus]], 1924 ]]
Barnstormers performed a variety of stunts, with some specializing as stunt pilots or aerialists. Stunt pilots performed a variety of [[aerobatic maneuver]]s, including spins, dives, loop-the-loops and [[barrel roll]]s. Meanwhile, aerialists performed feats of [[wing walking]], stunt [[parachuting]], midair plane transfers, or even playing [[tennis]], target shooting, and dancing on the plane's wings. Other stunts included nose dives and flying through barns, which sometimes led to pilots crashing their planes.<ref name=southern>{{cite web|title=Barnstorming History |url=http://www.southernbiplanes.com.au/barnstorming/barnstorming-history |website=Southern Biplane Adventures |access-date=26 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324051634/http://www.southernbiplanes.com.au/barnstorming/barnstorming-history/ |archive-date=24 March 2015 }}</ref>

===Business===
Barnstormers offered plane rides for a small fee. Lindbergh, for example, charged five dollars for a 15-minute ride in his plane.<ref name=minnesota>{{cite news| author1 =Bruce L. Larson| title =Barnstorming with Lindbergh| url =http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/52/v52i06p230-238.pdf| work =Minnesota History| publisher =Minnesota Historical Society| date =Summer 1991| pages =231–238| access-date =2015-03-26| archive-date =2014-07-01| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140701053607/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/52/v52i06p230-238.pdf| url-status =dead}}</ref> However exciting and glamorous, it was not an easy way to make a steady living. To make ends meet, the barnstormers—including Charles Lindbergh—often had to moonlight as flying instructors, handymen, gas station attendants, etc.<ref name=pbs/> Barnstormers often traded plane rides for room and board, both for commercial lodging and in private homes.<ref name=minnesota/>

==Notable barnstormers==
* [[Jimmie Angel]]
* [[Pancho Barnes]]
* [[Lincoln Beachey]]
* [[Lillian Boyer]]
* [[Jerrie Cobb]]
* [[Alan Cobham]]
* [[Bessie Coleman]]
* [[Doug Davis (aviator)|Doug Davis]]
* [[Meg Fisher]]
* [[Roland Garros (aviator)|Roland Garros]]
* [[Tex Johnston]]
* [[Hubert Julian]]
* [[William Carpenter Lambert]]
* [[Charles Lindbergh]]
* [[Didier Masson]]
* [[Marie Meyer (aviator)|Marie Meyer]]
* [[John Moisant]]
* [[Clyde Pangborn]]
* [[Louis Paulhan]]
* [[Adolphe Pégoud]]
* [[Wiley Post]]
* [[Harriet Quimby]]
* [[Tex Rankin]]
* [[Abraham Whalomie Raygorodsky]]
* [[René Simon (aviator)|René Simon]]
* [[Slonnie Sloniger]]
* [[Dean Smith (American pioneer pilot)|Dean Smith]]
* [[Roscoe Turner]]
* [[Ernst Udet]]
* [[Odo Valentine]]
* [[EE Armstrong]]
* [[Richard Bach]]

==In popular culture==
===Literature===
* [[William Faulkner]]'s 1935 novel ''[[Pylon (novel)|Pylon]]'' tells the story of a group of barnstormers
* [[Nevil Shute]]'s 1951 novel ''[[Round the Bend (1951 novel)|Round the Bend]]'' gives a detailed account of the activities of [[Alan Cobham]]'s [[National Aviation Day]].  Archive sources show that Shute, in research for writing the book, wrote to Cobham to check details.
* Many of [[Richard Bach]]'s novels feature modern barnstormers as protagonists, or otherwise incorporate barnstorming<ref name=allthings>{{cite web|title=The History of Barnstorming|url=https://all-things-aviation.com/flying/history-of-barnstorming|date=May 31, 2011|access-date=March 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812054517/https://all-things-aviation.com/flying/history-of-barnstorming/|archive-date=August 12, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Philip José Farmer|Philip Jose Farmer's]] 1982 book ''[[A Barnstormer in Oz]]'' featured a barnstorming pilot named Hank Stover
* In the ''[[Peanuts]]'' [[comic strip]], [[Snoopy]]'s alter ego, the [[World War&nbsp;I]] Flying Ace, states that he may do a little barnstorming after the war
* The novel ''The Flying Circus'' by Susan Crandall follows the exploits of a trio of individuals who come together to create their own barnstorming troupe.

===Film and television===
*''[[The Tarnished Angels]]'' (1957) – melodrama by [[Douglas Sirk]] based on the Faulkner novel about barnstorming
*''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]]'' (1965) – comedy about the "pioneer era" (1903-1914) of air racing and barnstorming in Europe
*''[[Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies]]'' (1973) – based on a story by [[Steven Spielberg]] starring [[Cliff Robertson]] as a [[Curtiss JN-4|Jenny]] pilot who barnstorms with his young son
*''[[The Great Waldo Pepper]]'' (1975)
*''[[Nothing by Chance]]'' (1975) – documentary by [[Hugh Downs]] about the biplanes that barnstormed across America in the 1920s
*''[[Days of Heaven]]'' (1978) – movie by Terrence Mallick in which a barnstorming troupe visits a farm and performs
*''[[The Gypsy Moths]]'' (1969) – American drama film directed by [[John Frankenheimer]] starring [[Burt Lancaster]] and [[Deborah Kerr]], based on the novel of the same name by [[James William Drought]]
* The MTV show ''Nitro Circus'' features [[Travis Pastrana]], [[Jolene Van Vugt]], and [[Erik Roner]] wing-walking on a biplane without chutes or harnesses
*'' [[The Fall Guy]]'' (1981-1986)- An action/adventure television series originally airing on ABC. The show was about a stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter using his skills as a stuntman to catch the bad guys. A scene from the intro shows of a biplane running through a farm yard before crashing into the side of a barn. This causes the stuntman ‘Colt’ to be thrown out from the crashed biplane. The following scene continues with Colt being thrown into the hay in effect 'hitting the hay'.  To conclude stunt the stuntman covers his head with his hands burying his face into the hay while exploiting his uncompromising yet embarrassing situation he "Hey Hey"s himself to attention in song. Actually this scene in The Fall Guy intro was borrowed from a scene from a movie Singin’ in the Rain. In season 2, episode 18 of The Fall Guy, titled ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Town’, the episode starts out with Colt performing a stunt from a Robert Redford movie The Great Waldo Pepper. As the biplane gains altitude to avoid crashing into the barn, it wasn’t high enough to avoid Colt from doing the same. Colt crashes through the barn roof and winds up falling into the hay (in effect hitting the hay).

===Video games===
* In 1982, [[Activision]] produced a ''[[Barnstorming (video game)|Barnstorming]]'' game cartridge for the [[Atari 2600]]
* In ''[[RollerCoaster Tycoon&nbsp;2]]'', the "Barnstorming Roller Coaster" has coaster cars that are replica biplanes
* In ''[[RollerCoaster Tycoon 3]]'s'' Wild! Expansion Pack, a "Barn Stormer" ride can be built
* In ''[[Kentucky Route Zero]]'', the small town surrounding 5 dogwood drive was established and lived in by a troupe of barnstormers.
* In ''Indigo Park'', the character Mollie Macaw refers to her habit of crashing into barns as barnstorming. A later song associated with the character is titled ''BARNSTORMING''.

===Music===
*"The Immelmann Turn," by [[Al Stewart]], a song set in the 1920s barnstorming era which refers to an [[Immelmann turn|aerobatic maneuver of the same name]]
*"Barn Storming," by [[State Radio]]

==See also==
* [[Air show]]
* [[Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum]]
* [[United States government role in civil aviation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Air shows]]
[[Category:History of aviation]]
[[Category:Stunts]]