"LEGEND NEVER DIES"™ Blog

In the early 1930’s Muroc Dry Lake was little more than a remote desert expanse with a water tower, railroad tracks, an Army Air Corps base and a nearby working ranch. In February 1935 Pancho Barnes bought that ranch. Pancho Barnes, a fearless pilot, single mother and fierce competitor had earlier broken Amelia Earhart’s speed record in 1930, becoming the… [Read More]

Born in Romania on April 23, 1904, Duncan Renaldo (birth name Vasile Dumitru Cughieaneas) was orphaned at an early age and never knew his birth parents. He was raised and educated in various European countries and arrived in the United States in 1917 as a stoker on a Brazilian coal ship. After his ship caught fire at the docks in… [Read More]

In early 1936 James ‘Jimmy’ Stewart was a young rising star of the silver screen and had landed his first starring role in the MGM film “Speed.”  In the movie, Stewart plays a gifted mechanic and race car driver who struggles to prove that his newly developed carburetor provides the best performance by entering cars in the Indy 500 and… [Read More]

The custom of commemorating a US Air Force pilot trainee’s inaugural solo flight with a water dunking traces its roots back to Pancho Barnes’ Happy Bottom Riding Club in the early 1940s. The story goes that one sunny afternoon, a group of experienced pilots was celebrating the successful completion of a young pilot’s first solo flight at the Happy Bottom… [Read More]

Pancho Barnes was inspired to pursue aviation at a very early age. Her grandfather, Professor Thaddeus Lowe, took her to the 1910 International  Air Meet in Los Angeles at Dominguez Field when she was 8 years old. This was America’s first Air Meet.  Her grandfather was an honored guest at this event because of his aeronautical accomplishments as a balloonist. Although sadly… [Read More]

Pancho Barnes was never one to live an ordinary life. In the late 1920s, she learned to fly almost on a dare to herself, and her natural skill and fearless personality quickly drew her into Hollywood’s stunt flying world. She had a natural talent for precision flying, which made her invaluable to filmmakers during aviation’s golden era on screen. She… [Read More]

Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe (August 20, 1832 – January 16, 1913), also known as Professor TSC Lowe, was a scientist, dreamer, visionary, brilliant inventor and consummate showman. He also was a balloonist, soaring above the clouds in his hydrogen-gas-filled silk balloon suspended in a wicker basket. In 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War he figured that aerial reconnaissance via… [Read More]

As we continue digitizing the contents of the Pancho Barnes Trust Estate Archive, we’re constantly uncovering new connections. A great example of this is a letter dated August 30, 1949, from Management, Inc. in Beverly Hills, California. The letter is written by Guy Gadbois, a talent business manager for the Joe De Bona Racing Company, and is addressed to Pancho’s… [Read More]

Howdy Friend, You’re officially invited to saddle up and become an online member of Pancho Barnes’™legendary Happy Bottom Riding Club ™, now revived and reimagined for the digital frontier. Inspired by the bold, brilliant spirit of Pancho Barnes and her desert hideaway of mischief and camaraderie, the online HBRC ™ Membership is your ticket to a community that values fun, friendship, and fearless… [Read More]

Waldo Waterman (1894 – 1976), was an aviation pioneer, inventor, and son of a California governor.  In 1929, at age 35, Waldo became general manager of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport (now known as Van Nuys Airport) where Pancho Barnes (aka: Florence Lowe Barnes) and her cousin, Dean Banks, kept their airplanes. Pancho Barnes and Waldo Watermen had been friends… [Read More]