1919-1982: the main thing is not to look down, or Walkers on the wings of airplanes
It wasn't long after the historic first flight of the Wright brothers that people began to try deadly stunts on airplanes. The first known instance of walking on the wings of an airplane during flight was a practical demonstration of the lateral stability of a particular model.
U.S. Army pilot Ormere Locklear enjoyed walking on the aircraft's wings during his service to tune and correct it. Determined to capitalize on his passion for risk, he soon embarked on a lucrative career as a stunt pilot with Locklear's Flying Circus. After that, Locklear moved to Hollywood, where he starred in the movie The Great Air Robbery. However, in 1920 he died in a plane crash while filming the second film.
The threat of death, which was a constant companion of "wingwalkers", or wing walkers, aroused the constant interest of the audience. Flying circuses, where men and women amazed the crowd with risky tricks, became especially popular in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century.
The golden age of wing walkers ended just before the outbreak of World War II, but pilots continue to perform these tricks today in restored vintage biplanes.
(Total 15 photos)
1. 1925 Ivan Anger and Gladys Roy play tennis on biplane wings.
2. 1919 Richard Schindler shows the trick.
3. 1920 A wingwalker stands on one leg on a Curtiss biplane while flying over New Jersey.
4. 1920 Two wingwalkers on a biplane.
5. 1922 Famous wingwalker Lillian Boyer under the wing of a biplane.
6. 1922
7. February 1, 1926. Gladys Angle is balancing on top of a biplane.
8. March 29, 1924. Gladys Roy walks the wings of a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane over Los Angeles while blindfolded.
9. 1927 Richard Schindler performs a stunt on a plane piloted by Richard Perlia.
10. May 13, 1930. Billy Bomar and Uva Kimmay of Howard's Flying Circus ride a biplane over New York State.
11. December 1962 Juanita Jover atop her boyfriend Lewis Benjamin's Tiger Moth biplane.
12. May 22, 1968 Jackie Cheeseman on the wings of a Tiger Moth biplane at Wycombe Flying Club, Buckinghamshire, England.
13. May 22, 1968 Moira Boyd on the wing of a Tiger Moth biplane at Wycombe Flying Club.
14. September 1, 1971. John Kazian climbs onto the wing of a Stearman Trainer flying over Niagara Falls.
15. August 31, 1982. Carol Lynn atop a biplane piloted by her husband over Toronto.