Here are 10 bold daredevils who risked it all to satisfy their adrenaline-fueled craving for risk and adoration. David Blaine reached 24, feet 4. In , he climbed into a steam-powered rocket and tried to blast across Idaho's Snake River Canyon. What motivated him? I was a daredevil, a performer. Knievel retired in the s and died at age He still holds the Guinness World Record for most broken bones in a lifetime, fractures. Barnstorme rs , daredevil pilots who performed aerial stunt shows, flew into the scene after World War I.
At the time, these shows were the most sought-out form of entertainment. Mostly fighter pilots, these early risk takers took their biplanes on death-defying rolls and tumbles in the unregulated skies -- all in the name of showmanship. Aviation legend and national hero Charles Lindbergh learned his flying skills as a barnstormer and even performed parachute and wing walking stunts. Wing walkers climbed from the plane's cockpit to do handstands and hang from trapezes. Early wing walker and Army pilot Ormer Locklear first climbed from his cockpit to fix a broken radiator in mid-air.
His commanding officers found that Ormer's stunts boosted morale, and they surprisingly encouraged him to keep up his antics. After an honorable discharge, Locklear became a professional wing walker, to the delight of aerial show fans everywhere.
Unfortunately, like many wing walkers, Locklear was killed while performing a stunt. The U. Human cannonballs are certainly among the early daredevils. The first human to be used as a projectile was "Lulu" in This British man dressed in drag and was sent skyward by a catapult at the London Music Hall.
The first actual cannon was used by circus pioneer P. Barnum in Another Brit, a real woman named Zazel, stunned audiences when she climbed into the cannon and was shot into a safety net. Barnum used coiled springs to propel her along with a fake bang and puff of smoke thanks to well-timed firecrackers.
These days, the springs have been replaced by a compressed air cannon -- but they still use a fake bang to give the audience a thrill. Unfortunately, Zazel broke her back while performing and retired from the show. High-wire walkers came onto the daredevil scene as a circus act, but later left the tent in search of greater heights. In tightrope walking , a balance bar is typically used to slowly walk along a taut half-inch metal cable. He actually walked the wire eight times in succession, stopped to kneel and salute and even laid down on the thin cable at one point.
The walk was carefully planned and completely illegal. After a lot of coaxing, officers on the scene were finally able to get Petit off the wire and into custody. As a result of the notoriety he received, the charges were dropped if he agreed to a free performance for the children of New York, to which he obliged.
In the next section, we'll climb into a barrel and go over Niagara Falls. He was a speed junkie, at one time simultaneously holding both world records for land and water speed. In , on his final attempt to break his own water speed record, Campbell was killed when his jet-powered boat turned nose up and shot 50 feet into the air.
He was traveling at more than mph when he launched. When the boat landed, it disintegrated on impact, instantly killing Campbell. Campbell's remains went undiscovered until nearly 40 years later, when the shell of the boat and his body were recovered for burial. In , the man in charge of radio communications released a digital copy of Campbell's last words before the boat turned north and the stunt went south.
His last words -- "The bow is up. I'm going. I'm gone" [source: BBC ]. Gone indeed. Perhaps no other place on Earth has seen more daredevil acts than the falls at Niagara -- so much so that the falls' tourist center has an exhibit dedicated to the history of the daredevil stunts performed there. The Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side is the preferred location due to its lack of rocks below.
Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors. Mary McMahon. Please enter the following code:.
Login: Forgot password? She was honored with a U. Clem Sohn showing off the structure of his flying equipment. One of the most famous aerialists of the s, Sohn was known to leap from planes at 15, feet or more, wearing a homemade suit consisting of metal rods and canvas sails, which gave him wings as long as his arms. The end came over Paris, in April , when both of his parachutes failed to open at 1, feet. Jospeh Kittinger stepped from a balloon-supported gondola at the altitude of , feet.
In freefall for 4. Credit: U. He free-fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds out of a total descent time of plus minutes and reached a top speed surpassing m. One glove did malfunction.
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