18.01.2013

Vintage Death Wish

Today’s Death Wish is an unusual one that involves working at height in 1924 and a female mechanic.

The example was sent in by a reader who says: “Does this film qualify as a ‘Death Wish’ from the last century? No fancy health and safety stuff in those days... If you want the job done right, give it to a woman.”

“This woman has more guts than a sausage factory. Fabulous footage, although grainy due to time and bad equipment in those days compared to today, but what nerve this gal had.”

“Gladys Ingles was a member of a barnstorming troupe called the 13 Black Cats in the 1920s. Ingles was a wing walker, in this film, she shows her fearlessness in classic barnstorming fashion to save an airplane that has lost one of its main wheels.”
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Gladys Ingles clibs aboard with the spare wheel

“Ingles is shown with a replacement wheel being strapped to her back and then off she goes as ‘Up She Goes,’ a duet from the era, provides the soundtrack. In the film, Ingles transfers herself from the rescue plane to the one missing the main landing gear tyre.”

“She then expertly works herself down to the undercarriage only a few feet from a spinning prop. It's certainly a feat many mechanics wouldn't even try on the ground with the engine running.”

Click here to see the short video clip

She died at the ripe old age of 82.

This looks like a well planned manouvre, risky yes but to avert a crash... great clip for a Friday afternoon. We will certainly put it into our Death Wish gallery.