VIDEO REVIEWS
Review from Flying Magazine, April 2005 Issue
The Barnstormer's

General Aviation News staff

2/11/2005

"The Barnstormers, Pioneers of the Sky" is about as close as you can come to the real thing without leaving your house. The hour-long DVD begins with historic footage, as you might expect, but then takes you deeply into the world of modern barnstorming.

You've probably seen Jim Franklin's jet-powered (well, jet-enhanced) Stearman at air shows and wondered what it would be like to ride that thing straight up. This production will show you. Hang on to your lunch.

Well worth the $20 price – it's a lot cheaper than a thrill ride and you can do it as often as you like – "The Barnstormers" includes fascinating still photographs and early movies of the "pioneers of the sky," as producer Chuck Carson accurately calls them, but even better is the superb air-to-air photography of the modern era.

The historic footage shows us some airplanes that are legendary but gone. The modern footage shows us some that are legendary but rare, and still flying as their designers and builders intended. Among them: two of the last New Standard 53Cs in existence (see "Where's Waldo," P. 37), several Travel Airs, a Command Air, and a fine selection of Stearmans.

As impressive as the airplanes and flying is the highly professional quality of the production. It was filmed skillfully, its subjects were chosen carefully and interviewed intelligently – no stupid questions, no offhand answers – and the airplanes are stunning.

For more information: Up in the Air Pictures, 559-289-0887 or UpInTheAirPictures.com. The price is $20 plus $3.95 for shipping for both DVD and VHS.

General Aviation News - 800.426.8538

P.O. Box 39099

Lakewood, WA 98439

comments@GeneralAviationNews.com
Below is a review from Pacific Flyer Magazine, June 2004 Issue
In "The Barnstormers, Pioneers of the Skies," you'd expect to see some historical footage of those early pilots and aerial crazies who flew into houses, hung from wings, and leaped from plane to plane.

And you do. But after the history of the beginnings of barnstorming are explained to the uninitiated, the producers move quickly into the more modern iterations of those daring young men and women who build and fly antique aircraft at airshows or show up at fly-ins hawking rides.

We were quite pleased to see a couple of aircraft featured that had been on our cover along with interviews and aerial footage of PF friends such as Margi Stivers and Eddie Andreini. In fact, the air to air photography on the VHS we received from Up In The Air Productions was absolutely first rate, featuring a variety of aircraft ranging from two of the last remaining New Standard 53Cs, a Command Air, several Travel Airs, Jim Franklin's jet powered Stearman, Andreini's 450hp Stearman with a full canopy, and interviews with several original barnstormers (one aged 101 1/2).

The editing, narration and photography are all professional quality and the piece on the recreation of the National Air Tour and the planes used is worth the price of the tape itself. A lot of money was obviously spent on the production of this tape as the air-to-air photography is superb, the interviews intelligent and interesting, and the planes are outstanding.

Watching Jim Franklin light up his jet-powered Stearman and fly straight up from practically a dead stop — as seen from the sky overhead — is worth rewinding and watching several times.

Even better, this tape is only $20 (plus the usual $3.95 shipping and $1.57 tax to Californians) and is available from Up In The Air Pictures at 712 N. Piedra Rd., Sanger, CA 93657 or see their website at www.upintheairpictures.com.
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