Gladys Roy was a 1920s wing walker, barnstormer and film actress, whose aerial stage was over Minnesota and California. She became famous by performing incredible feats that would terrify most people and quickly gained a reputation as a daredevil. Among the spectacular stunts she executed on the wing of a plane in flight was walking blindfold from wingtip to wingtip and dancing the Charleston. However, what really caught the attention of people worldwide was an airborne tennis match she played with another woman. She also made a parachute jump from 17,000 feet and one from just 100 feet, sustaining severe injuries in the process. The latter feat made her the unratified world record holder for the lowest parachute jump.

Gladys Roy was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to her tombstone she was born in 1896. Other sources put the date later – anything up to 1904. Quite likely she wished to appear younger than she was to impress the crowds and appeal to Hollywood. Three of her brothers were pilots with Northwest Airlines. In 1921 Gladys experienced her first joyride. A week later, on just her second flight, she co-piloted the plane, stepped out onto its wing and leapt off, floating safely to the ground with a parachute. Then and there she knew that her heart was in daredevil stunts and wing walking.

Wing walking actually began as a practical necessity as early as 1911. Pilots would sometimes need to get onto their plane’s wings to make minor in-flight repairs or other small adjustments. Pretty soon some intrepid pilots realised that they could draw the crowds and rake in big bucks by demonstrating death-defying aerial stunts on the wing. Most wing walking was undertaken on the ubiquitous biplanes that were built by the thousand during the First World War, and later found their way to the civilian market. There was no dearth of ex-military personnel qualified to fly them. The most popular machine for the sport was the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny”. Sometimes wing walkers were attached by safety wires, or wore parachutes, but quite often not. A slight misstep could send them plunging to their death. Many young women joined in enthusiastically. If they could not vote, they could at least walk, dance and do other crazy stuff on the wings of planes! Gladys Roy, with her film actress looks, was in great demand. She appeared in the 1925 film, “The Fighting Ranger”, but was seriously injured when her horse threw her off its back during production. Unfortunately, this was not the only serious accident she experienced.

Gladys performed at fairs, auctions, and real estate exhibitions, and the crowds just loved her antics. The event that made her famous worldwide occurred in 1925 over Los Angeles. Gladys and another woman wing walker, Ivan Unger, strapped themselves to the wings of a biplane. The plane took off and levelled out just 300 m above the busy streets of Los Angeles. The two women suddenly stood up holding tennis racquets, and facing each other, on opposite sides of a net that had been fixed to the centre of the plane’s wing. Another aircraft flying nearby took a picture of the two make-believe tennis players in mid-air, with Gladys facing the camera ready for an imaginary serve. The iconic photograph went viral practically overnight, long before the advent of social media.

Considering how Gladys risked death practically every time she got airborne, the end came in a strange way. She had been earning $200 to $500 per performance in 1924, and was in great demand, being perfectly brilliant at inventing new and more thrilling routines. However, inevitably, the law of diminishing returns set in, and by 1926 her earnings had fallen to just $100 a performance. In a May 1926 interview with the Los Angeles Times, she said ruefully, “Of late the crowds are beginning to tire of even my most difficult stunts and so I must necessarily invent new ones, that is, I want to hold my reputation as a daredevil. Eventually an accident will occur...” Her words turned out to be sadly prophetic.

In late 1927, Gladys Roy was scheduled to participate in a flight from New York to Rome as co-pilot. On August 15, 1927, in an effort to remain in the spotlight, she arranged to be photographed with “Miss Ohio,” Evelyn Wilgus, The photoshoot was almost over when Gladys started the engine of her plane and alighted from the wing. Then, according to an Associated Press report, she “unconsciously walked into the propeller.” She was immediately rushed to hospital, but the heavy blade had torn deep into her skull and she died hours later. Her tragic and untimely demise was a stark reminder of the grave risks the early aviators faced, even as they captivated the imagination of people everywhere.