Amazing Old Aviation movie.
Without a Parachute Mid air repair…by a woman 1924.
Fabulous footage, although grainy due to time and bad equipment in those days compared to today.
Gladys Ingalls was a member of a barnstorming troupe called the 13 Black Cats in the 1920’s. Ingles was a wing walker; in this film, she shows her fearlessness in classic barnstorming fashion to save an airplane that has lost one of its main landing gear wheels. Ingalls is shown with a replacement wheel being strapped to her back and then off she goes as “Up She Goes,” a duet from the era, provides the soundtrack.
In the film, Ingalls transfers herself from the rescue plane to the one missing the main landing gear tire. She then works herself down to the undercarriage only a few feet from a spinning propeller. It’s certainly a feat many mechanics wouldn’t even try on the ground with the engine running.
She died at age 82.
