Eager to continue their thrill-seeking adventures, they found ways to acquire planes and finance their passion for flying.
Ivan Unger and Gladys Roy play tennis on top of a biplane in 1925.
The first wing walker to perform such stunts was 26 year old Ormer Locklear.
Pretty soon, Locklear had become an international star.
He was also the first to transfer from a speeding car onto an aircraft via a rope ladder.
Locklear perfected various wing walking stunts, including handstands and hanging poses.
Ormer Locklear in 1919.
He had a definite reason for what he was doing.
I do it to demonstrate what can be done.
Locklear wasnt the only wing walker who lost his life performing stunts.
Many pilots eventually lost their lives while stunting.
His favorite stunt was to jump from an airplane wearing two parachutes.
Aside from men, several women became well-known wing walkers.
Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female licensed pilot, performed figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips.
She was also a parachute jumper.
One of Ingle’s stunts involved changing a tire in mid-air.
In another stunt, she shot arrows at targets while wing walking.
In yet another daring stunt, she stood on the wings as the pilot made loops.
Roy also played tennis while on air, walked blindfolded across the wings, and danced the Charleston.
This was followed by increased insurance premiums that made wing walking and stunting simply unaffordable.
The uncertainty of whether a wing walker was going to live or die was no longer there.
Richard Schindler practices a stunt.
Richard Schindler practices a trick on a Klemp plane piloted by Richard Perlia.
Two wing walkers perform on a biplane in 1920.
Wing walker Lillian Boyer dangles from the wing of a biplane.
Lillian Boyer wing-walks in 1922.
Lillian Boyer hangs inverted from an airplane using her leg, circa 1920s.
Gladys Ingle walks on the wings of an airplane.
Gladys Ingle balances atop a biplane.
Gladys Roy walks the wings of a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny biplane over Los Angeles while blindfolded.
