Pancho Barnes

Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes (July 22, 1901 – March 30, 1975) was a pioneer aviator and a founder of the first movie stunt pilots' union. In 1930, she broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record.

Early years She was born as Florence Leontine Lowe on July 22, 1901, to Thaddeus Lowe II (1870–1955) and his first wife, Florence May Dobbins, in Pasadena, California. She was born to a wealthy family, growing up in a large mansion in San Marino, California. During her formative years, she attended the area's finest private schools, such as The Bishop's School. Her father, an avid sportsman, encouraged her to appreciate the great outdoors, and Florence became an accomplished equestrian.

In 1919, Florence married Reverend C. Rankin Barnes of South Pasadena, California, and they had a son, William E. Barnes. Her mother died in 1924.

Aviation career Having spent four months abroad in Mexico, getting caught up with revolutionaries and escaping the attention of authorities while disguised as a man, in 1928 she began to use the nickname "Pancho". Barnes returned to San Marino, California, with an inheritance bequeathed to her on her parents' death. In 1928, while driving her cousin Dean Banks to flying lessons, she decided to learn to fly, and convinced her cousin's flight instructor, Ben Catlin, a World War I veteran, of her desire that same day. Pancho Barnes with Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship R613K, c. 1930s After breaking the record, a reporter asked her how it felt. Her response was typical of her personality: "I feel like a sex addict in a whore house with a pocket full of $100 bills!"

After her contract with Union Oil expired, Barnes moved to Hollywood to work as a stunt pilot for movies. In 1931, she started the Associated Motion Picture Pilots, a union of film industry stunt fliers which promoted flying safety and standardized pay for aerial stunt work. She flew in several air-adventure movies of the 1930s, including Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930).

Barnes had extensive connections in Hollywood. Her early close friend George Hurrell (1904–1992), then eking out a living as a painter and photographer in Laguna Beach, California, would later become the head of the portrait department of MGM Studios. Barnes is credited with helping Hurrell start his career in Hollywood after he took the photo she was to use on her pilot's license, introducing him to her Hollywood friends.#tag:ref|Barnes encouraged Hurrell's photography and often posed for him. In the photo for her pilot's license, Hurrell had her strike "a masculine pose, complete with cigarette and grimy fingernails". In a short period of time, Hurrell became the most in-demand photographer in Hollywood.

Barnes lost most of her money in the Great Depression. By 1935, she had only her apartment in Hollywood left. She sold it, and in March 1935 bought of land in the Mojave Desert, near the Rogers dry lake bed and the nascent Muroc Field, then called March Field because it was an adjunct property of March Army Air Base at that time. Barnes' ranch became famous for the parties and high-flying lifestyle of all the guests.

After successful flight trials, the Muroc and Edwards test pilots often enjoyed some good times at the Happy Bottom Riding Club. As proprietor, Barnes would offer them a customary free steak dinner for breaking the sound barrier.

A change of command in 1952, however, contributed to Barnes getting into a conflict with the United States Air Force (USAF). The USAF was planning for the future of aviation, and decided it needed to build a new, super-long runway to accommodate new aircraft that were being planned to run on atomic power. That new runway would run directly across her ranch. The USAF originally offered her a price for her ranch, land, and facilities that was very close to the cost of undeveloped desert land. She requested a fair appraisal to better reflect the actual cost of replacement of her land and business, but in the midst of getting a re-appraisal, the base leadership accused her of running a house of ill-repute on her ranch. The effect of even the hint of impropriety resulted in her ranch and business being put off-limits to military personnel, and the value of her business plummeted.

Her life and personality were portrayed in the 1983 epic film The Right Stuff, adapted from Tom Wolfe's bestselling 1979 book of the same name. Kim Stanley played her. She was also the subject of a heavily fictionalized 1988 TV film, Pancho Barnes, written by John Michael Hayes, directed by Richard Heffron, and starring Valerie Bertinelli. The first biography about Barnes was published in 1986, The Lady Who Tamed Pegasus: The Story of Pancho Barnes, written by Grover Ted Tate, who relied heavily upon the copyrighted autobiographical materials of Pancho Barnes. In 1996, a second biography appeared, Pancho: The Biography of Florence Lowe Barnes, written by Barbara Schultz. A third biography appeared in 2000, written by Lauren Kessler, The Happy Bottom Riding Club: The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes.

PBS sponsored a documentary film, The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, completed in 2009. In it, Kathy Bates provides the voice of Barnes. The documentary was made independently of the estate of Barnes. However, the estate gave the film makers full access to her personal papers and photographs as well as her copyrighted autobiography that are owned by the estate. The film, which chronicles Barnes' life story, was produced and written by Nick T. Spark and directed by Amanda Pope in affiliation with KOCE-TV, a PBS station in Orange County, California. The documentary won an Emmy for best arts and history documentary.

Barnes' Mystery Ship #32 was for a long time located in a hangar at Mojave Airport. It was sold to a private collector a number of years ago, and is currently in the United Kingdom, where it has been restored. Members of the Ninety-Nines and their families talk to attendees at Pancho Barnes Day, November 7, 2009. The Happy Bottom Riding Club historical site is the location for the annual USAF Test Pilot School/Edwards Air Force Base Pancho Barnes Day celebration (established in 1980). A barbecue is held and drinks are served, along with dancing and live music in remembrance of this aviation pioneer and friend. Family hour extends until approximately 9 pm, after which it is an adults-only party, perhaps in remembrance of the raucous old days of Happy Bottom Riding Club.

Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Flying Club are visited by a young Hal Jordan in the comic series DC: The New Frontier.

In the 2019 film Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel's fighter pilot bar is called Pancho's Bar, which is a reference to Barnes's nickname "Pancho".