The Legend of Pancho Barnes is now streaming on Netflix. If you don't know about Pancho Barnes you are missing out on one of the most colorful characters in early aviation. This lady raced against Earhart, she flew stunts for movies, she was pals with some of the greats such as Chuck Yeager, General Jimmy Doolittle, and Buzz Aldrin. She was just one of the guys and could tell a raw joke better than any of them.

She had a ranch with bar called The Happy Bottom Riding Club that hosted parties for all the early test pilots from the nearby base. You might remember her from the movie The Right Stuff. She was a hard drinking, tough talking gal that sometimes answered the door minus top much to the suprise of a new visitor.

The Legend of Pancho Barnes is a great little documentry that has some great pictures, videos and recollections from those early test pilots and other people that knew her.

Here is the Wikpeda link about her if you want to know more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Barnes

Added to my instant queue. Thanks!

Thanks for the headsup Warbirds!

What a fascinating woman. First read of her in Wolfe's classic All the Right Stuff, then again in Yeager's autobiography.
A lot going on at Muroc Field in those days.

You wouldn't want to mess with her by the looks of it

I caught part of a biography I think it was on her. Tough gale and the stories she must have had. She'll always be the real deal and I'll always be a pudknocker.

For some reason, it's always women who look like her who like to answer the door topless.

Colorful stories of her and her club/bar in Chuck Yeager's autobiography. Thanks for the link!

Funny, I just started watching, "The Right Stuff," again earlier today.

"What do you have to do to get your picture up there, anyway?" One of my ALLTIME FAVORITE movies EVER!!!