Some Fun Facts
Back in 1922, airplanes used regular gas. The thought was that if you put mothballs in the gas, it would improve the performance.
Pilots would run all their gas through a chamois to filter the water. The reason was that the carburetor jets were so small that a little drop of water wouldn’t pass through.
During Prohibition, the planes were constantly being shot at; Maybe they thought the government was scouting by air.
Putting gas in a plane was a trick, and you had to haul a ten-gallon milk can full of gas, then heft it up through the wires.
Barnstormers stayed clear of the mountains. The early planes were very unreliable at high altitudes.
Lincoln Beachey was considered the greatest daredevil of all. He flew the first loop ever flown in America and flew his rickety, primitive bi-plane into the jaws of Niagara Falls, sitting on the front wing!
One of Beachey’s feats was touching down and taking off inside a building. Can you guess? Beachey died during a performance before fifty thousand people doing a death dive in 1915.
During the Barnstorming days, the pilots would hire young lads to sleep with the planes and guard them. You wonder why? Usually, the landing strips were cow pastures, So…the planes would collect lots of manure on the bottom, which was thrown up by the prop. The young lad would clean this off. Also, the cows loved the dope (a type of glue) that held the planes together. If the aircraft weren’t watched, much licking damage could occur!
Also, small animals were known to enter the tail.
That's all for now, I'll get busy and write some more
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