Dating to 1936, this silent film “Air Stunts” shows highlights from the National Air Races, which featured a number of barnstormer acts as well as racing competitions. One astonishing segment shows pilot Harold Johnson performing a loop and roll with a gigantic Ford Trimotor — a plane not exactly built for performance (1:44). At (3:19) he lands on one wheel. At (:44), Hollywood stunt pilot Frank Clark maneuvers a biplane above an attentive crowd. At (3:34) a parachutist jumps off the wing of a biplane as part of a “spot landing” competition. At (4:45), WWI Canadian ace Dick Granere performs tricks in a plane that he once described as a “flying bathtub”, a Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior, originally named the Curtiss-Robertson CR-1 Skeeter, tail NC10976. At (6:20), Captain Alexandru “Alex” Papană aka Alex Papana of the Romanian Air Forces performs in his Bücker Bü 133B Jungermeister. At 7:15, Italian ace Tenente Colonnello Tito Falconi flies inverted over the crowd in his Caproni 113 biplane. At (8:30), Milo Burcham performs. He worked as a stunt pilot, airshow pilot, and test pilot and was sadly killed flying America’s first jet fighter. At (9:23) German aviator Urnst Udet picks up a handkerchief from the ground with his biplane, the AL61A-398 Flamingo D-822. At (10:57) the late Major Al Wilson flies in a 1910 pusher aircraft. (Wilson died while doing flying stunts at the 1932 Cleveland Air Races show.) At 11:56, famed pilot Roscoe Turner is shown achieving a new speed record of 248 miles per hour. The aircraft shown is a Howard DGA-3 “Pete”. At 12:08, French pilot Michel Detroyat is shown flies at 300 mph in 1936 in his Falkerts SK-2 R283Y.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
