Barnstorming appealed to many pilots as a way to make a living.

Several famous aviators worked as stunt pilots or aerialists at one time or another.
Charles Lindbergh, for example, got his start barnstorming. Besides learning to fly on the barnstorming circuit, Lindbergh also started to wing walk, parachute, and work on engines. Some other well-known daredevils included Roscoe Turner (a famous speed racer), Bessie Coleman (the first licensed African American female pilot), Pancho Barnes, (a well-known speed queen of the "Golden Era of Airplane Racing"), Wiley Post, (the holder of two trans-global speed records), and several Hollywood stuntmen and stunt pilots, among many others.