| Availability: | In stock |
A print of The Flying Ace, 1926, by an unknown designer.
The film The Flying Ace follows a World War I pilot who has returned to his job as a railroad detective. When $25,000 goes missing from the payroll of the local railroad company, he sets out to solve the case. Along the way, he falls in love with the railroad operator's daughter who is interested in aviation.
The female lead of The Flying Ace is loosely based on Bessie Coleman, who, in 1921, became a media sensation as the first Black and Native American woman to receive an aviation pilot's license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in France. At that time, Black people could not attend aviation school or be trained as pilots in the United States. Much of Coleman’s career revolved around stunt flying in air shows and other spectacles. On April 30, 1926, Coleman was in Jacksonville, Florida, preparing for an upcoming air show when she fell to her death from her newly purchased biplane.
All of the posters promoting the film use action-packed language that emphasizes the daring stunts of the performers. In reality, the flight scenes were simulated on land using a model plane. The plane in the poster is meant to be a Curtiss JN Jenny biplane—the aircraft Coleman was flying at the time of her tragic death.
Measures 17 x 11 inches. Ships rolled.
