Editing Barnstorming (section)

===Regulation and decline===
The sensational journalism and economic prosperity that marked the [[Jazz Age]] in the United States allowed barnstormers to publicize aviation and eventually contributed to bringing about regulation and control.<ref name=minnesota/> In 1925, the U.S. government [[United States government role in civil aviation|began regulating aviation]], when it passed the Contract Air Mail Act, which allowed the [[U.S. Post Office]] to hire private airlines to deliver mail with payments made based on the weight of the mail. The following year, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] signed the Air Commerce Act, which shifted the management of air routes to a new branch in the [[U.S. Commerce Department|Department of Commerce]], which was also responsible for "licensing of planes and pilots, establishing safety regulations, and general promotion."<ref name=politico>{{cite news | author1 = Andrew Glass |title= Congress passed Air Commerce Act, May 20, 1926| url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/this-day-in-politics-91600.html| work =[[Politico]]| date=May 20, 2013}}</ref><ref name=AvStop>{{cite web|title=The Air Commerce Act of 1926|url=http://avstop.com/history/needregulations/act1926.htm|publisher=AvStop Online Magazine|access-date=26 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314214338/http://avstop.com/history/needregulations/act1926.htm|archive-date=14 March 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Barnstorming "seemed to be founded on bravado, with 'one-upmanship' a major incentive."<ref name=nps>{{cite web|title=Aviation Pioneers| url= http://www.nps.gov/articles/aviation-pioneers.htm |website =[[National Park Service]]|access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> By 1927, competition among barnstormers resulted in their performing increasingly dangerous tricks, and a rash of highly publicized accidents led to new safety regulations, which led to the demise of barnstorming. Spurred by a perceived need to protect the public and in response to political pressure by local pilots upset at barnstormers stealing their customers, the federal government enacted laws to regulate a fledgling civil aviation sector.

[[File:Defense.gov photo essay 120715-F-RP755-375.jpg|280px|thumbnail| [[AeroSuperBatics Ltd|Breitling Wingwalkers]] ]]
The laws included safety standards and specifications that were virtually impossible for barnstormers to meet,{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}, such as the minimum altitude at which certain tricks could be performed (making it harder for spectators to see what was happening). The military also stopped selling Jennys in the late 1920s. This made it too difficult for barnstormers to make a living. [[Clyde Pangborn]], who was the pilot of the two-man aviation team who were the first to cross the [[Pacific Ocean]] nonstop in 1931, ended his barnstorming career in 1931.<ref name=priscilla>{{cite web|author1=Priscilla Long |title=Pangborn, Clyde Edward (1894-1958)|url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7495| website=HistoryLink |  date = October 12, 2005}}</ref> Some pilots, however, continued to wander the country giving rides as late as fall 1941.{{fact|date=March 2015}}