Many important events took place in the early years of aviation. Some of these set the way for future developments; others were just crazy or experimental. One of these that stands out (and we have records of) is Gladys Roy and her amazing wing-walking endeavors.

Early life in aviation

Gladys Roy was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1896. These were, of course, early years in aviation. The Wright Brothers only made their first powered flight in December 1903, when she was a young girl.

Nevertheless, she soon had an aviation-involved family. Her three brothers all became pilots with Northwest Airlines (originally known as Northwest Airways) in the late 1920s. This started service with mail routes from Minneapolis in 1926, but started passenger service in 1927.

Gladys, however, did not become a pilot. Instead, she moved into aerial stunts and performance. So-called "barnstorming" was popular in the 1920s, with the surplus of aircraft after the first World War finding their way into use for demonstration flights. Pilots would entertain crowds with stunts and other displays. Gladys joined this craze, firstly as a parachute jumper and later as a stunt performer and wing-walker.

Creating new stunts

Aerial stunts were performed to entertain crowds, and as with any such performance, the audience wanted exciting - and new - displays. Gladys excelled at this, creating many new and exciting performances. These would take place on the high wings of biplanes - most commonly the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" aircraft (the "Jenny".nickname was derived from the JN designation). Several thousand of these were produced in the United States during the years of the First World War and afterward transferred to the new civilian aviation sector. The war, of course, had also produced many pilots trained to fly these aircraft.

Gladys carried out many different stunts to set her apart. These included walking blindfolded across the wing and dancing the Charleston on the wing. She also undertook the world's lowest parachute jump at the time - from just 100 feet.

The image below shows her walking blindfolded across the JN 4 upper wing.

And in one spectacular and well-recorded event, she played tennis on the wing with fellow stunt performer Ivan Unger (or at least looked like they were playing tennis!).

These performances were certainly not easy, and keeping them fresh was a constant challenge. Gladys expressed her feelings about this in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1926 (as reported by the Smithsonian Magazine), saying:

"Of late, the crowds are beginning to tire of even my most difficult stunts, and so I must necessarily invent new ones; that is, I want to hold my reputation as a dare-devil. Eventually, an accident will occur, and then..."

Work in the movies as well

As daredevil and stunt work declined (and started to pay much less), Gladys became more involved in other areas, too - managed by her agent, the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association.

In 1925, she took a role in the American Western movie, "The Fighting Ranger. " She was injured during this when she was thrown from a horse.

It was during one of these supplementary roles that she met an unfortunate early death. She was taking part in a photoshoot with beauty contestants when she was accidentally fatally hit by an aircraft propeller. This was in August 1927.

These early years of aviation, as people were getting more used to aircraft and their possibilities, are fascinating times. Feel free to discuss the story of Gladys Roy, or any other early pioneers of this time, in the comments.

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine