ennis is and will always be a very popular sport that made people around the world jump with excitement for those who played. At one point in time, to be more specific, in 1925, tennis was considered the most famous sport in the world. This sport was made famous around the whole world thanks to two stuntwomen, Gladys Roy and Ivan Unger, who played a tennis match on the wing of a biplane above 1000 meters altitude.
Real legends
Gladys Roy is not as well known as she used to be about 100 years ago; her courage through not fearing to jump from incredible heights stunned the whole world and even helped the aircraft industry to grow by proving to the public that humans are meant to fly with the means of technological advancements.
Since a young age, she loved the adrenaline you get from extreme sports. The 13th time jumping from a parachute (what an unlucky turn of events based on the date) she struck an air pocket about 100 feet from the ground and crash-landed, ending up with severe injuries.
Roy was the first woman to break the world record for parachuting from the lowest altitude at the time. ” from just 100 feet. “Needless to say, I don’t care to make the jump again,” she told the Times in 1925.
Ivan Unger wasn’t as famous as Roy, but what made her famous was the stun the two performed in 1925. The stun was supposed to have the two stuntwomen pretend to play tennis on the wings of a biplane to represent a historical act as physics would not permit anyone to actually play tennis on a biplane going over 100mph.
This wasn’t the first time neither of the two women tried such a stun. This was called wing walking, which was permitted at the time due to the biplanes going slower than pre-modern planes seen just before WW2. However, what made this event very popular was the image taken, which reached every corner of the world overnight, making the two women extremely famous.
It is imperative to mention that both Roy and Ivan were actually pilots, so knowing how a biplane works did help them a lot in accomplishing such a difficult stun. What made the two women quite rich was having that image publicized around the world as posters or even used in calendars, but mostly used as postcards. Even to this day, you can find the original postcards with their image as a collectible items.
The faith of a daredevil
With the huge fame achieved by the stunt, Roy, as well as Ivan, was called around the world to perform exhibitions. In 1927, Roy was called to Rome to perform an exhibition, her flight was planned from New York to Rome with Lieutenant Delmar Snyder. Right before the flight, Roy was posing for a picture required by the Ohio beauty contestant; when the picture was taken, Roy started the engine of the biplane, stepped down from the plane, and unconsciously walked into the propeller.
These two women had a very big impact on pre-modern society by proving the courage of women as well as their dexterity, another huge step toward the equality between men and women in pre-modern society.
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