#pancho barnes

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Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes with Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship R613K, c. 1930s

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Famed aviator, Pancho Barnes, And Mexican film star Ramón Novarro, circa late 20s or early 30s

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Valerie Bertinelli + Sam Robards in Pancho Barnes (1988)

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Pancho

[celebratingamazingwomen]

Pancho Barnes (1901-1975) was a pioneer female aviator, who had a considerable influence in the field although she did not gain the same popularity as Amelia Earhart. She was the founder of the first union for movie stunt pilots, and flew planes herself in several major Hollywood productions.

Born Florence Lowe, she adopted the name ‘Pancho’ while disguised as a man in Mexico, being involved in the revolution there. She started her flying instruction in 1928, and two years later broke Earhart’s speed record with a flight of 315 km/h. During her later years she was known as the owner of the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a bar and restaurant catering to pilots in the Mojave Desert.

[thecalendarwomen]

The Calendar Woman for 6th November is Pancho Barnes (1901-1975)

Pancho Barnes was a pioneering aviator who founded the first movie stunt pilots’ union in Hollywood. Born as Florence to a wealthy family in California, she picked up the nickname Pancho while spending time with revolutionaries in Mexico disguised as a man. She used the money from her inheritance to learn how to fly, and received only six hours of formal instruction before she set out of her first solo flight. She began competing in air races, eventually breaking Amelia Earhart’s world women’s speed record before turning her attention to Hollywood and air stunts.

In 1931 Pancho established the Associated Motion Picture Pilots which was the first of its kind and set a virtual monopoly on motion picture flying. Through the union she promoted flying safety and standardised pay for aerial stunt work and she herself worked as a stunt pilot, working in films such as Howard Hughes’ Hell’s Angels (1930). During the Great Depression Pancho lost most of her money, selling her Hollywood apartment and starting the Happy Bottom Riding Club for test pilots and wealthy guests. She eventually died of breast cancer at the age of 74 and soon after became the subject of many documentaries and biographies.

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Ted Wass, Valerie Bertinelli + Sam Robards in Pancho Barnes (1988)

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Valerie Bertinelli in Pancho Barnes (1988)