For more than a century, women and men have had fun walking on the wings of airplanes in mid-flight. If after a series of accidents, the “wing walkers” are now very supervised, the practice still has its few adepts in search of thrills.
Hundreds of meters above the ground, a biplane sails peacefully under a sea of clouds. The black and white images are familiar to everyone, having already been seen hundreds of times in historical documentaries. Suddenly, a hand comes out of the cockpit, then a second, and a whole body. A silhouette stands proudly out of its seat, before climbing onto the upper wing of the aircraft, and sitting down, legs hanging in the air.
In its infancy before 1914, aviation took off during the First World War, with increasingly sophisticated machines. After the conflict, the thousands of American military airplanes produced for the war effort were sold to individuals for a pittance. It will not take more to make their many owners, amateurs or not, want to create shows: the flying circuses are taking off.
legendary figures
At the start of the phenomenon, which was developing in the United States and England, the tricks performed by the pilots were not necessarily spectacular. It is mainly the planes that attract the crowd and a loop is enough to get an ovation. The ” barnstorming », the term which designates these aerial parades, will negotiate a new turn with Charles Lindbergh.
Born at the beginning of the 20th century and passionate about aviation, this American was the first to leave the cockpit in mid-flight to greet the crowd from a wing. The “wing walking”, “walking on wings” as a show, was born. The phenomenon is spreading, cautiously. It was Ormer Locklear, a former First World War pilot, who decided to go even further. During his military flights, he has many times had to repair his engine in much more dangerous positions than those carried out during parades…
He launched his own “wing walking” company. Without a harness, without a parachute, he goes from one airplane wing to another, climbs from a car to a low-lying plane. ” Inevitably, the speeds of the planes were lower compared to those of our days. But hey, you still had to have enough speed not to stall either! “, explains Stéphanie Pansier-Larrique, 33 years old and former “walker on wings”.
Spotted by Hollywood, Ormer Locklear will be the stunt actor of The Great Air Robbery in 1919. He died a year later in a plane crash while filming The Skywayman. The actor had to simulate the crash of a plane in the middle of the night, but, dazzled by poorly adjusted headlights, he will crash for real. The accident was kept in the edit.
Women, whose size favors walking on airplane wings, were very present from the beginning of the phenomenon. One of the most famous was Gladys Ingle, an American whose exploits remain unique today. His compatriot Lilian Boyer was not left out, with more than 352 shows to his credit in eight years, before the first federal restrictions of 1929, to try to limit a phenomenon which had already caused several deaths.
Much safer flights
” I would never have practiced it back then. I like the sensations, but I’m not a suicide bomber either! I remember seeing a picture of “wingwalkers“who played tennis on an airplane wing “, says Stéphanie Pansier-Larrique, who exercised, during the winter of 2016, the profession of “walker on wings” with the British company Breitling. Since the 1920s, the regulations have obviously evolved: harnesses are compulsory and there are multiple attachment points on the wings.
Stéphanie Pansier-Larique, former wingwalker », recounts the routine of a performance:
” We have carabiners which are screwed to the cabin, which the pilot checks after us to be sure that they are well attached. Then, in most cases, we take off inside the plane, seated, strapped in. As the plane stabilizes at altitude, the pilot warns us that we have about two to five minutes to detach and prepare. We squat on the front seat and at the right time, we go out on the pilot’s instructions to be synchronized with the other flyers. Once out, we really have a routine, we have to squat, then stand up holding the upper gallows which is on the upper wing of the plane. We hoist ourselves onto the upper wing, we strap ourselves in, and we begin the demonstration. »
A former air hostess, it was by undertaking an Anglo-Saxon “wing walking” baptism in the United Kingdom that she tried everything: ” Once the aerobatic flight is over, supervising it comes to untie us. Coming down, I had a smile from ear to ear. I told them “You will find me cheeky, but here is my CV”. And I was lucky: some time later, I was asked to do the season with them! »
Stéphanie leaves for the United Arab Emirates and performs performances with two planes: two “walkers on wings” face each other, repeat the same gestures, in choreography. ” There are almost only women who practice wing walking. The plane must also be modified to be able to accommodate a mass on a wing, this has been studied rather for small sizes “, she explains.
A feeling of flying for real
Find the sensation of sticking your hand out the window on the highway at 130 km/h, multiply this speed by two and apply what you feel to your whole body, and you touch with your finger what Stephanie was experiencing perched on the cabin of his plane. ” We fly around 150 miles per hour, roughly 250 km/hour, for high speeds, so inevitably, we take G, from – 2 G up to + 4.5 G. It could be painful “, remembers the walker on wings. + 4.5 G means feeling 4.5 times Earth’s gravity.
Indeed, in a purely Anglo-Saxon tradition, the planes are still Stierman models, but whose engine has been improved to go twice as fast. At this speed, the sensation of the slightest impact is multiplied. Even when wearing glasses, the face remains uncovered: “ When it rains, you have to imagine that it’s like needles that pierce your whole body and face, hence the interest of not doing it too much in rainy weather in England “, laughs Stephanie.
But these few flaws are largely compensated by the paradoxical sensation of flying without attachments. There, the voice of the former flyer is tinged with excitement: ” There’s a lot of adrenaline, […] the aerobatic sensations are incredible, and at some point, you forget you’re on a plane, you feel like you’re actually flying. We have the air on the face, the force of the wind against the body that is exerted… these are truly magical images. For personal reasons, Stephanie did not continue performing with Breitling. But she confesses: if someone offered her the opportunity to go “walking on wings” in France, she wouldn’t hesitate for a moment.
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