1. Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes was a pioneer aviator and a founder of the first movie stunt pilots' union.
23 Facts About Pancho Barnes
1. 2.
Pancho Barnes was born as Florence Leontine Lowe on July 22,1901, to Thaddeus Lowe II and his first wife, Florence May Dobbins, in Pasadena, California.
3.
Pancho Barnes was born to a wealthy family, growing up in a large mansion in San Marino, California.
4.
Pancho Barnes's grandfather was Thaddeus S C Lowe, who had pioneered American aviation with the establishment of the nation's first military air unit, the Army of the Potomac's balloon corps during the American Civil War.
5.
Pancho Barnes took his granddaughter to an air show when she was 10 years old.
6.
Pancho Barnes returned to San Marino, California, with an inheritance bequeathed to her on her parents' death.
7.
Pancho Barnes ran an ad-hoc barnstorming show and competed in air races.
8.
Pancho Barnes broke this record in a Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship.
9.
Pancho Barnes flew in several air-adventure movies of the 1930s, including Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels.
10.
Pancho Barnes is credited with helping Hurrell start his career in Hollywood after he took the photo she was to use on her pilot's license, introducing him to her Hollywood friends.
11.
Pancho Barnes lost most of her money in the Great Depression.
12.
Pancho Barnes sold it, and in March 1935 bought 180 acres of land in the Mojave Desert, near the Rogers dry lake bed and the nascent Muroc Field, then called March Field because it was an adjunct property of March Army Air Base at that time.
13.
On her land, Pancho Barnes built the Happy Bottom Riding Club, known as the Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch, a dude ranch and restaurant which catered to airmen at the nearby airfield and her friends from Hollywood.
14.
Pancho Barnes became very close friends with many of the early test pilots, including Chuck Yeager, Robert Anderson "Bob" Hoover, Walt Williams, Jack Ridley, General Jimmy Doolittle, Buzz Aldrin, North American Aviation flight test mechanic Bob Cadick, and flight test supervisor Roy Ferren.
15.
Pancho Barnes' ranch became famous for the parties and high-flying lifestyle of all the guests.
16.
Pancho Barnes requested a fair appraisal to better reflect the actual cost of replacement of her land and business, but in the midst of getting a re-appraisal, the base leadership accused her of running a house of ill-repute on her ranch.
17.
Pancho Barnes was determined to receive fair value for her land and business, and to clear her name.
18.
Pancho Barnes suffered from breast cancer, likely the ultimate cause of her death.
19.
Pancho Barnes was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Antelope Valley Aero Museum's annual "Barnstormers Reunion" on April 5,1975.
20.
Pancho Barnes then flew an aircraft over the site, but a crosswind came up, sweeping the ashes back into the small Cessna aircraft, to be carried aloft again.
21.
Son Bill Pancho Barnes died piloting a North American P-51 Mustang flying near Fox Field in Lancaster on October 4th, 1980 along with aviation mechanic Clifton Hellwig.
22.
Pancho Barnes was the subject of a heavily fictionalized 1988 TV film, Pancho Barnes, written by John Michael Hayes, directed by Richard Heffron, and starring Valerie Bertinelli.
23.
The first biography about Barnes was published in 1986, The Lady Who Tamed Pegasus: The Story of Pancho Barnes, written by Grover Ted Tate, who relied heavily upon the copyrighted autobiographical materials of Pancho Barnes.