Midair repair...by a woman 1924

[planedriver]

Look Ma, no parachute or tether.....very impressive

 

Midair repair...by a woman 1924

 

Hard to believe that stunts such as these used to be accomplished frequently. Does anyone recall the air-to-air re-fueling of one biplane to another using a long hose? Those people had to be either fearless or just plain crazy!

 

This woman has more guts than a sausage factory.

 

Take a look at this film. Fabulous footage , although grainy due to time and bad equipment in those days compared to today, but what nerve this gal had.

 

Gladys Ingles was a member of a barnstorming troupe called the 13 Black Cats in the 1920's. Ingles was a wing walker; in this film, she shows her fearlessness in classic barnstorming fashion to save an airplane that has lost one of its main landing gear wheels.

 

Ingles is shown with a replacement wheel being strapped to her back and then off she goes as "Up She Goes," a duet from the era, provides the soundtrack. In the film, Ingles transfers herself

 

from the rescue plane to the one missing the main landing gear tire.

 

She then expertly works herself down to the undercarriage only a few feet from a spinning

 

propeller. It's certainly a feat many mechanics wouldn't even try on the ground with the engine

 

running. She died at age 82. Click on the link below.......http://www.flixxy.com/mid-air-airplane-repair.htm

 

 

[eightyknots]

I'm amazed that, in the days when movie cameras were expensive and scarce, there were all these cameras able to record this mid-air repair.

 

 

[rankamateur]

Spoked spare wheel to catch less wind. They really thought things through in the heat of the moment. It would have been a real bugger if she went to all that trouble only to find that the end had sheared off the axle and there was nowhere to screw the nut on!

 

 

[planedriver]

I'm amazed that, in the days when movie cameras were expensive and scarce, there were all these cameras able to record this mid-air repair.

C'mon now eightyknots, thats a bit rough, they were engine driven in those days, and later became more popularly known as cam-corders

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Spoked spare wheel to catch less wind. They really thought things through in the heat of the moment. It would have been a real bugger if she went to all that trouble only to find that the end had sheared off the axle and there was nowhere to screw the nut on!

I doubt very much that this was a spur of the moment thing. Minimum of 3 three aircraft, possibly 4, a ready to hand spare wheel, a girl daft enough to do it and 3 cameras standing by. Oh, and the aircraft in trouble must have had really full tanks.

 

 

[facthunter]

It's a planned stunt filming. Surely you people worked that out. I did, when I first saw it ( about 500 years ago) Nev

 

 

[rankamateur]

It's a planned stunt filming. Surely you people worked that out. I did, when I first saw it ( about 500 years ago) Nev

Yes Nev, must have been a real treat being at the premiere.

 

 

[planedriver]

I'm sure the past three posts are pretty much all on the money, but I wouldn't be trying it for sure, even though I enjoyed watching it.

 

Maybe I should forward it to WorkCover, just to stir the pot a little:stirrer:, then they can employ even more non-productive staff at our expense.

 

Perhaps not!

 

 

[facthunter]

Plenty of Curtis Jennys and such around after the war with plenty of pilots wanting exciting pastimes with stunt flying and mail runs. Its always a good watch. A plane landing at an aerodrome would always bring out a crowd for joy flights etc. Nev