Mystery Career #3: Who Am I? Can You Guess My Job?

My job was officially invented in America in 1918 by Ormer Locklear, a 26 year old carpenter and mechanic by trade. The 1920's were the golden days of my job. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 all but ended it as a career. Then, the almost absolute kiss of death came in 1933 when my job in the purist sense, was banned in the United States. This was because many of my early colleagues died trying to outdo each other in my job, including Ormer Locklear. From then on, my job was not as exciting and heart-stopping as before, as required tether lines hindered everything.

It wasn't until the 1970's that an enterprising and adventurous soul, Ron David, convinced the Feds to allow my job to be done again without the encumbrance of tether lines but with the addition of modern safety precautions. In Britain, Vic Norman brought my job back into being taking similar measures in the late 1980's.

Still can't guess? It takes about one year to train for my job. Good cardio-vascular health and upper body strength is mandatory. To do my job you can't be too heavy or too tall. I only weigh 120 pounds but it feels like I weigh three times as much while performing my job. I work with others, but never talk to them while doing my job. I use hand signals instead.

The main piece of equipment I use each day is typically over 60 years old but I have a team that makes it purr like a kitten. I spend a lot of time on top of it. I perform my job at speeds of 80 to 135 miles per hour. The environment is very loud and breezy. The most exciting task I do in my job is called "the transfer".

Still can't guess what I do for a living? Charles Lindbergh and Buffalo Bill Cody's niece, Mabel, did my job for awhile. Some of my early colleagues were called Batmen and some were called barnstormers, although not all barnstormers did my job!

If you guessed that I am an aerial wing walker, you are absolutely right! I climb out of the cockpit and up on to the wing of a 60 year old Stearman biplane everyday! It is similar to what the Red Baron use to fly!

I love the rush of air over my body as my pilot whizzes through the air at speeds up to 135 miles per hour while I perform my heart-stopping stunts, like transfers which are when I climb from one airplane to another! In the 1920's, transfers were often done between autos, trains, boats and planes. My early colleagues would try to outdo each other as they performed these death-defying feats with no tethers!

Although invented in the United States, many of us are trained and work in the United Kingdom today. You can even go wing walking for a day, or say your wedding vows on the wing of a plane in the United Kingdom (tethered, of course)! More information can be found at Aerosuperbatics.com. If you are interested in learning more about wing walking, check out this site: Wingwalkinguk.co.uk.

To read the previous Mystery Career Installment, click here

Sources:

1. "Jana Leigh McWhorter, Walking on Airplane Wings," mcsweeneys.net/links/unusualjobs.

2. "Wing Walkers," centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/wingwalkers.

3. "Wingwalking History," silverwingswingwalking.com.