Flappers 'n' Flyers

The Roaring Twenties - an exciting era in aviation. This course covers developing air-routes; air-races embodying national pride; airmen and women striving for records of endurance, altitiude, speed - seeking to be “first”. The Imperial politics of aerial domination and aerial policing – influences extending well beyond the decade. In a lighter mood, it looks at flying fashions; barnstormers and stunt pilots, male and female. Flappers n’ Flyers frolics through this aerial golden age looking at the antics and escapades of airmen and airwomen. The young woman sunbathing naked on the wing of her machine - fine until the engine quit! More seriously, the courageous achievements of the first black woman to emerge from poverty, challenging race and gender prejudices to become a pilot. The course explores developments in air travel and the courage of those trail-blazing pioneers who began shrinking the world for countless folks to follow in unheard of comfort – well, sort of.