BARNSTORMERS AND DAREDEVILS

Tales of World War I Army fliers battling enemy planes had captured people’s imaginations in the late 1910s. Those wartime pilots turned into glamorous heroes. Still, at the start of the 1920s, few Americans had ever seen an airplane in flight. But that all changed thanks to some daring aviators.

Air shows, or “flying circuses,” attracted excited audiences. Daredevil pilots thrilled audiences as they performed loops, dives,