Today we will look at how Barnstorming and the advent of the flying circus became popular entertainment in the United States. Following World War One, when militaries began to see the importance of aircraft, many young pilots returned home from the War with nothing to do.

The idea of traveling around the country and showing off their skills to the masses greatly appealed. However, before we talk about Barnstorming, let's first look at how aviation developed to the point where it became entertainment.

In the late 1800s, German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin worked on what would later become the first commercial form of air transportation. Before the Wright Brothers made their historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, the New York Times published an article saying it would take a million years before a man could fly. How wrong they were; just a few years after the Kitty Hawk flight, a French aviation pioneer took flying to the next level on July 25, 1909, when Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly over the English Channel.

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WWI stopped air exhibitions

A year later, in 1910, Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG) began offering commercial passenger Zeppelin flights between Berlin and Munich. Before the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914, the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtiss were touring the country, giving aerial exhibitions to thousands of spectators.

The fighting stopped the displays as the focus turned toward the war effort. Almost every American airman learned to fly aboard a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane, and at the end of the war in 1918, the government had a surplus of aircraft that it sold off cheaply. Some of them sold for as little as $200, allowing former military pilots to buy their own planes.

For these pilots, there were three ways of using their aircraft to make money:

  • Delivering mail
  • Smuggling during prohibition
  • Flying exhibitions

Using their flying skills to make a living, many former airmen joined exhibitions and toured the country doing stunts in their planes to entertain the public. You must remember that many people had never even seen a plane back then, and a flying circus coming to town was a huge event.

Air shows took place at farms

Barnstorming got its name from the harvest and county fairs held in the autumn but took place at various times of the year. Most barnstorming shows would begin with a pilot or team of pilots flying low over a small rural town to attract the attention of locals. They would then land at a local farm and use one of the farmer's fields as a temporary runway. Once a base of operations was established, a plane would fly over the town and drop flyers advertising the air show.

During the air show, pilots performed a variety of aerial maneuvers that included dives, spins, loop-the-loops, and barrel rolls. Later to outdo other flying circuses, aerialists performed wing-walking stunts and parachuting. Some even tried flying their planes through open barn doors, a practice that led to many accidents.

A poster of the stunts which were seen at the Marie Meyer Flying Circus in 1924.
Photo: Unknown via Wikimedia Commons.

To help supplement their income, barnstormers would take people for short rides. During his time as a barnstormer, Charles Lindbergh charged people $5.00 for a 15-minute ride on his plane. Despite it seeming like a glamorous job, barnstormers did not make much money and had to make ends meet by working as flying instructors and mechanics.

The government began to regulate air shows

Nothing good lasts forever, and as the government became interested in using aircraft to transport mail, exhibition flying was less lucrative than government postal contracts.

However, barnstorming did not fade away, though, by 1927, pilots began performing dangerous tricks that led to several fatal accidents. These accidents were highly publicized and pressured the government to start regulating flying with laws geared toward safety.

These new laws prevented barnstormers from doing tricks at low altitudes, and with no way to wow the crowds, barnstorming lost all of its popularity. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the barnstorming era was over and replaced by aerobatic teams performing at summer events and air shows.