This illustration for Chapter 2 of the Notable Missourian book on Marie Meyer Fower (written by Christine Montgomery and published by Truman State University Press) shows Marie being instructed on how to fly the famous and at the time ubiquitous Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. The Jenny was designed as a trainer aircraft during WWI. After the war thousands were sold as surplus for next-to-nothing prices. All these easy easy to fly aircraft were suddenly in the hands of civilians brave enough to fly them in an almost completely unregulated environment. Thus began the barnstorming era! That period really helped put the plane into the public consciousness....although not always for the good. In the daredevil world of Barnstorming, dramatic accidents were not uncommon.