Flying back in the 20's (1920's) was dangerous enough at the best of times, you got up there and hopped the grease money that put together the contraption did it right and a wing wasn't gonna go flying off. Knew plenty of pilots friends, anthro and human alike,  that took a header into the dirty from 5000 feet up, both in the Great War some not. You have a wing fold or fire start  doesn't matter if you got a tail between your legs or not, best to just lean over and kiss your ass goodbye.

So yeah I can fly, and in this day and age, if you are going to take to the sky you have to have at least a small death wish. One day while at this dirt strip set up for the new mail service,  I overheard a couple human pilots talking. They were a good distance off, still why they didn't think I could hear they as clear as day, I can only figure humans are deaf as all hell.

Either way I overheard these two tail-less chuckleheads saying that out west they are paying pilots to do stunts for moving picture shows and Good money too. They even supply the airplane, you fly past buzz the the people on the ground, preform dog fights like you were back in the Great War, I'm guessing without bullets and the whole dying part. Maybe take some shingles off some roofs or fly into a barn. Hell I've done all those things in just the past year. And not only did I not get paid, hell I even had to skip town real fast,  before they decided to lock me up, make me pay for the damages or string me up.
 
California... what a place and I think I might have been safer if we were still fighting the germans, are they happy to have me, yes, are they willfully trying to get a dog killed YES. Gleefully so even, the scene a mock up of a small stretch of no mans land, complete with trenches, craters, machining guns, barbed wire and thick posts holding up said barbed ware. I the star of the scene, I'm to pop my smoke and come out of the sky like a shooting star right in middle of all of this. Now I had my reservations about this, not the least of which would be the other extras getting turn into ground round by the prop. Not that I was too worried most of them are humans after all, my bigger concern being those wood posts sticking out of the ground.

Now now to their credit they had thought of that and they didn't want to have to replace another stunt pilot within a couple weeks. The ground crew had replaced a whole patch of the oak post with balsa wood ones, come in hard and fast right along the marked spot. The plane will plow into the balsa wood and with a big hole dug roll right over, flying on flumes from take-off I shouldn't even die in a massive fire ball... easy money.

I take off, pop my smoke, really hoping this movie picture people are getting this, line right up perfect as can be with the little flags. Once I feel the first jolt of impact I tuck up and wait for the ride to end and at first not so bad. The poor poor airplane hits the hole just as planned the wing folds and the whole world flips upside down than BAM! The plane stopped fast and hard, I shaked my head to clear it and not two inches from my nose is a oak post right through the cock-pit. Turns out they ran short on balsa and stupid me I came in just a bit too fast, the director assured me he got his shot and I would need to do it again or not today anyways... What a way to make living, should I have let those humans take this job.

(Based on a true story of Dick Grace)

https://www.historynet.com/motion-p.....-the-1920s.htm


Art by the very talented  HimeraGoldTail