Three Men On a Flying Trapeze - Montgomery, Alabama
Posted by: xptwo
N 32° 22.880 W 086° 21.246
16S E 560755 N 3582888
Marker telling the story of the aerial demonstration group known as "Three Men On a Flying Trapeze." The marker is located in front Base Operations and Passenger Terminal at Maxwell Air Force Base, which was in use at the time.
Waymark Code: WME0R7
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 03/18/2012
Views: 9
Located at what was then known as Maxwell Field, the Air Corps Tactical School was the place where theories of the use of fighter and bomber aircraft were being developed. Chennault was an advocate of fighters and used the organization of the aerial demonstration team to show how fighters could work together. The following is from an Air Force Association web page: (
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"Chennault got permission to form an ACTS aerobatic team, which he dubbed "Three Men on a Flying Trapeze." The trio was a laboratory for fighter tactics as well as a way to titillate the public. Spectators at air shows across the South saw three airplanes performing loops, spins, and chandelles in synchronization.
Tactically, some of the moves were startling and of little use for real combat. Such was the case with one that Chennault described as "a squirrel-cage effect in which each plane rolled around the other while doing an individual barrel roll."
However, Chennault's passion for stunt flying was all part of a deep belief that fighter tactics had to move toward greater concentration of force to keep control of the air in the next war. He later wrote that the Trapeze act proved Boelcke's theory that "fighters could battle together through the most violent maneuvers of combat.""