The Airshow

The golden age of aviation, according to many, was the era between World Wars I and II. This was the time of barnstormers, who flew across the country entertaining the locals with wingwalking, racing, and aerobatic stunts.

It was a romantic time, to be sure. Robert Redford did an acceptable job of capturing it in his 1975 movie The Great Waldo Pepper.

Today's FamilyFirst pick, The Airshow, goes several steps better.

It's loaded with photos, stories, and specs on the men (and women) and their airplanes. Particularly researched are Stearmans, preferred by many barnstormers for their ruggedness, durability, and power.

Download wav files of those great throaty roars produced by radial engines. The next time a radial-driven plane flies over, you'll instantly recognize it.

There are also movies of biplanes flying, landing, and taking off.

The poem on the front page is a bit risque, but all else is quite family-friendly ;-).

Read about the adventures of Moye W. Stephens, Richard Halliburton and the Flying Carpet. In 1930, they decided to tour the world. The Flying Carpet was an open cockpit Stearman C3B with a range of 800 miles. They flew all over Africa, Asia, and Micronesia. My favorite excerpt of their adventure:

“Then on to Sumatra and Dutch Borneo where they were welcomed by headhunters. They departed with a gift from the tribe chief of 150 lbs of human heads. (They dared not refuse them.) Besides the added weight, they stunk and Moye threw them overboard as they flew on to Manilla, arriving during the tailend of a typhoon.”

Man, they don't have adventures like that any more.

So enjoy today's FamilyFirst site about those daring adventurers who took to the skies so long ago. And maybe you'll want to go to BlockBuster and rent Waldo Pepper!

http://www.opencockpit.net/

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