The Old Lady flies by Raoul Whitfield
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The Old Lady flies by Raoul Whitfield is a pulp aviation short story written in the early 20th century. It follows a loyal stunt pilot and his aging “Jenny” biplane as tensions in a flying circus lead to a risky movie-job gambit, testing pride, friendship, and the value of an old aircraft. When the Brooks’ Flying Circus downsizes, boss Bob Brooks tries to drop pilot Russ Healy’s battered Jenny. Russ quits on
the spot, vowing to prove the “Old Lady” still has life by doing hazardous film work for a war picture director named Conant. Brooks and the crew race to stop him, but Russ and Conant outmaneuver them: the circus ships are drawn into an impromptu aerial battle shoot, and Russ, with Brooks trapped in the rear cockpit, puts the Jenny through sharp stunts before executing a controlled crash into a sand-filled shell hole for the cameras. No one is badly hurt, Conant pays generously for the footage, and Brooks concedes the point. The Jenny will be repaired and kept in the act—the old lady flies. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Whitfield, Raoul, 1897-1945 |
|---|---|
| Title | The Old Lady flies |
| Original Publication | New York: Street & Smith Corporation, 1927. |
| Series Title | Produced from the August 1, 1927 issue of Top-Notch magazine. |
| Credits | Prepared by volunteers at BookCove (bookcove.net) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Motion picture industry -- Fiction |
| Subject | Air pilots -- Fiction |
| Subject | Stunt flying -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78035 |
| Release Date | Feb 25, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 6067 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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