{"id":29921793,"date":"2026-10-28T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/barnstormers-1920s-flying-circus-curtiss-jenny-wing-walkers-lindbergh\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T12:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T11:01:17","slug":"barnstormers-1920s-flying-circus-curtiss-jenny-wing-walkers-lindbergh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/barnstormers-1920s-flying-circus-curtiss-jenny-wing-walkers-lindbergh\/","title":{"rendered":"Barnstormers: How 1920s Flying Circuses Sold America on Aviation"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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A young man in a leather helmet climbed out of a battered biplane, offered rides for a few dollars, and if the crowd was big enough, someone walked out on the wing in flight. This was barnstorming, and for a few wild years it was how America learned to fly.<\/p>\n\n<p>It was cheap, dangerous, unregulated and enormously popular. It produced some of the most famous pilots of the century, including Charles Lindbergh, and it ended, as these things usually do, when the government started writing rules.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Era:<\/strong> About 1919 to 1927<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Signature aircraft:<\/strong> Curtiss JN-4 \"Jenny\", two-seat biplane trainer, 90 hp Curtiss OX-5 engine<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Surplus Jenny price:<\/strong> A few hundred dollars or less, against about $5,000 new<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Typical ride:<\/strong> $1 to $5; Lindbergh charged $5 for about 15 minutes<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Best-known troupe:<\/strong> Gates Flying Circus (Ivan Gates, Clyde Pangborn)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>First wing walker:<\/strong> Ormer Locklear (killed 2 August 1920)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Regulation:<\/strong> Air Commerce Act, signed 20 May 1926; rules from 1927<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The war surplus that built an industry<\/h2>\n\n<p>The First World War left the US Army with thousands of training aircraft and nothing to do with them. The Curtiss JN-4 \"Jenny\", a slow, forgiving two-seat biplane of wood and fabric, had been the Army's standard trainer. According to the National Air and Space Museum, Curtiss built 4,895 of the 6,070 JN-series aircraft delivered to the Air Service. After the armistice the government sold them off. A Jenny that had cost about $5,000 new could be had for a few hundred dollars, and sometimes far less.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/curtiss-jn-4d-jenny-smithsonian.jpg\" alt=\"Curtiss JN-4D Jenny at the Smithsonian\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Curtiss JN-4D Jenny, one of the first 25 built at Springfield in 1918. Thousands of surplus Jennys became the barnstormers' aircraft of choice. Smithsonian photo, CC0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Demobilised pilots and eager amateurs bought them, and took to the road. The season ran from spring until after the harvest and the county fairs. A pilot would buzz a small town to draw attention, land in the nearest flat field and sell rides, usually between $1 and $5. A good day, according to the Smithsonian, could bring in as much as $300.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Locklear and the wing walkers<\/h2>\n\n<p>Rides alone did not draw the biggest crowds. Stunts did. Ormer Locklear, a Texan training with the Army Air Service, began climbing out of his Jenny's cockpit onto the wing in flight, and is generally considered the first wing walker and the first person to transfer from one aircraft to another in mid-air. By 1919 he was doing it in public, with his own flying circus.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/ormer-locklear-1919.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/ormer-locklear-1919.jpg\" alt=\"Ormer Locklear\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;I don't do these things because I want to run the risk of being killed. I do it to demonstrate what can be done.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Ormer Locklear<\/strong> &mdash; wing walker and stunt pilot (US Centennial of Flight Commission)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/ormer-locklear-flying-circus-atlantic-city.jpg\" alt=\"Ormer Locklear waiting for a mid-air plane change over Atlantic City\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Ormer Locklear of Locklear's Flying Circus clings to one aircraft while a second trails a rope ladder towards him over Atlantic City, as published by the New-York Tribune on 1 June 1919. Public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Locklear went to Hollywood and was killed there on 2 August 1920, with pilot Milton \"Skeets\" Elliott, during a night stunt for the Fox film <em>The Skywayman<\/em>; searchlights meant to be switched off as his cue to pull out stayed on. Others carried on. Gladys Ingle, the only woman in Los Angeles's 13 Black Cats stunt team, made more than 300 plane-to-plane transfers and was filmed changing a wheel on another aircraft in flight. Lillian Boyer, a Nebraska waitress taken for her first flight in 1921, performed in 352 shows across the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cSUJPehvt6I\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">British Path\u00e9 footage of 1920s air thrills and stunt flying.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Gates Flying Circus and a young Lindbergh<\/h2>\n\n<p>The biggest troupe was the Gates Flying Circus, run by promoter Ivan Gates with Clyde \"Upside-Down\" Pangborn as chief pilot and part-owner. It drew crowds in the tens of thousands and introduced the $1 joyride. Aviation historian Don Dwiggins said it turned out more famous pilots than the Army and Navy combined.<\/p>\n\n<p>One of the barnstormers was a lanky young man from Minnesota. In 1922 Charles Lindbergh joined Erold Bahl's barnstorming tour as a wing walker and parachutist. In spring 1923 he bought a surplus Jenny for $500 at Souther Field in Americus, Georgia, soloed there after less than 20 hours of instruction and barnstormed his way north, charging $5 a ride and sometimes accepting a meal or a bed instead.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;In barnstorming, a pilot learns to judge a field so accurately that he can tell from the size of his passenger ...&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Charles A. Lindbergh<\/strong> &mdash; aviator, in The Spirit of St. Louis (1953), as quoted by National Geographic<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The rules arrive<\/h2>\n\n<p>As flying grew, so did the pressure to regulate it. On 20 May 1926 President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act, which created the Aeronautics Branch of the Commerce Department to license pilots, aircraft and mechanics and set safety rules. The first regulations were issued at the end of 1926.<\/p>\n\n<p>The Act did not ban barnstorming outright. But federal airworthiness standards finished off the worn-out Jennys, and rules such as minimum altitudes for stunts were almost impossible for the freelancers to meet. Later regulations required parachutes for stunt performers and, in 1936, banned wing walking below 1,500 feet. A few pilots sold rides into the 1940s, but the golden age of the flying circus was over.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Don't let them kid you--it wasn't romantic. I slept on the bottom wing of an airplane.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Jessie Woods<\/strong> &mdash; wing walker with the Flying Aces Air Circus (US Centennial of Flight Commission)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qcdf5QRk258\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation on the history of barnstorming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8sbmYqXWevw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Period newsreel footage of 1920s barnstormers and a young Charles Lindbergh.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, US Centennial of Flight Commission, FAA history, National Geographic, Minnesota Historical Society, Georgia Historical Society, Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Why did barnstormers fly the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny was the US Army's standard First World War trainer, and thousands became surplus after the 1918 armistice. Jennys that had cost about $5,000 new sold for a few hundred dollars or less, and the slow two-seat biplane with its 90 hp OX-5 engine was well suited to joyrides and wing walking.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How much did a barnstormer's airplane ride cost in the 1920s?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A barnstormer's airplane ride in 1920s America typically cost between $1 and $5. Charles Lindbergh charged $5 for a ride of about 15 minutes, sometimes accepting a meal or a bed instead, while the Gates Flying Circus popularised the $1 joyride and rivals in Wisconsin cut prices to $2.50.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was the Gates Flying Circus?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Gates Flying Circus was one of the best-known American barnstorming troupes of the 1920s, run by promoter Ivan Gates with Clyde Pangborn as chief pilot and part-owner. It drew crowds in the tens of thousands, and aviation historian Don Dwiggins said it produced more famous pilots than the Army and Navy combined.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who was Ormer Locklear?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Ormer Locklear was a Texan US Army Air Service flyer who began climbing out onto his Jenny's wing in flight and is generally considered the first wing walker and the first to transfer between aircraft in mid-air. He led his own flying circus and was killed with pilot Milton Elliott on 2 August 1920 while filming The Skywayman.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Charles Lindbergh start out as a barnstormer?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Charles Lindbergh joined Erold Bahl's barnstorming tour in 1922 as a wing walker and parachutist. In spring 1923 he bought a surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jenny for $500 at Souther Field in Americus, Georgia, soloed there after less than 20 hours of instruction and then barnstormed his way north selling rides.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did the Air Commerce Act of 1926 affect barnstorming?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Air Commerce Act, signed by President Calvin Coolidge on 20 May 1926, created the Commerce Department's Aeronautics Branch to license pilots, aircraft and mechanics. Its regulations, issued from late 1926 and enforced from 1927, set airworthiness and safety standards that worn-out Jennys and freelance stunt flyers could rarely meet, ending barnstorming's heyday.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did barnstormers fly the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny was the US Army's standard First World War trainer, and thousands became surplus after the 1918 armistice. 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Its regulations, issued from late 1926 and enforced from 1927, set airworthiness and safety standards that worn-out Jennys and freelance stunt flyers could rarely meet, ending barnstorming's heyday.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/elinor-smith-flying-flapper-east-river-bridges-1928-records\/\">Elinor Smith: The Flying Flapper Who Flew Under Four Bridges<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wiley-post-solo-round-the-world-winnie-mae-pressure-suit\/\">Wiley Post: The One-Eyed Pilot Who Flew Around the World Alone<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/charles-lindbergh-secret-war-pacific-1944-p-38-corsair\/\">Lindbergh\u2019s Secret War in the Pacific<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wiley-post-first-solo-around-the-world-pressure-suit\/\">The One-Eyed Pilot Who Circled the Globe Alone<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story In the early 1920s, the first aeroplane most Americans ever saw up close landed in a farmer&#8217;s pasture. A young man in a leather helmet climbed out of a battered biplane, offered rides for a few dollars, and if the crowd was big enough, someone walked out on the wing in flight. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":29921495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29921793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Barnstormers 1920s: Jennys, Wing Walkers and $5 Rides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How 1920s barnstormers turned surplus Curtiss Jennys into flying circuses, from Ormer Locklear and the Gates circus to Lindbergh, until the 1926 Act.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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