Biography
She was born as Florence Leontine Lowe on July 22, 1901 to Thaddeus Lowe II (1870–1955) and his first wife, Florence May Dobbins, in Pasadena, California. Her grandfather, was Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, who had pioneered American aviation with the establishment of the Union Army Balloon Corps during the American Civil War. In 1919 she married Reverend C. Rankin Barnes of South Pasadena, California, and they had a son, William E. Barnes. Her mother died in 1924.
Having spent four months abroad, Pancho returned to San Marino, California. In 1928, while driving her cousin Dean Banks to flying lessons, she decided to learn to fly. Convincing her cousin's flight instructor of her desire that same day, she soloed after six hours of formal instruction.
She ran an ad-hoc barnstorming show and competed in air races. Despite a crash in the 1929 Women's Air Derby, she returned in 1930 under the sponsorship of the Union Oil Company to win the race – and break Amelia Earhart's world women's speed record with a speed of 196.19 mph (315.7 km/h). Barnes broke this record in a Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship.
After her contract with Union Oil expired, Pancho moved to Hollywood to work as a stunt pilot for movies. In 1931, she started the Associated Motion Picture Pilots, a union of film industry stunt fliers who promoted flying safety and standardized pay for aerial stunt work. She flew in several air-adventure movies of the 1930s, including Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels.
Pancho had extensive connections in Hollywood. Her early close friend George Hurrell later would become the legendary head of the portrait department of MGM Studios. Pancho Barnes is credited with helping Hurrell start his career in Hollywood after he took the photo she was to use on her pilot's license.
She lost most of her money in the Great Depression. By 1935, Pancho had only her apartment in Hollywood left. She sold it, and in March 1935 bought 180 acres (73 ha) of land in the Mojave Desert, near the Rogers dry lake bed and the nascent Muroc Field, then called March Field because it was an adjunct property of March Army Air Base at that time.
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