the.com/barnstormer
the daredevil who turned empty barns and open skies into America's first flying circus.
means A barnstormer is a traveling performer who puts on a rousing, crowd-pleasing show — originally a stunt pilot flying daring aerial tricks at rural fairs, and by extension any entertainer or speaker who whips up an audience.
from A 19th-century American word from the world of touring theater troupes, who played one-night stands in country towns and literally performed in barns — the largest gathering spaces around — and so 'stormed' from barn to barn. When daredevil aviators began touring the rural countryside after WWI, putting on flying shows in farmers' fields, the old theatrical word leapt naturally to them. The political sense — a speaker who 'barnstorms' a region with fiery stump speeches — grew from the same restless, town-to-town image.
- origin
- Term borrowed from touring actors performing in literal barns
- surplus planes
- Cheap WWI Jenny biplanes fueled the 1920s craze
- wing walking
- Performers strolled atop wings mid-flight for cash
- regulation killer
- 1926 air commerce laws grounded most reckless stunts
- feeder pilots
- Many became airline and military aviators afterward
evel knievel — daredevil who traveled across north america 1966-1980 performing motorcycle jump stunts in small towns
flying jenny tours — early aviation barnstormers who traveled rural america 1910s-1920s in jennys giving flights for $10