This is a well framed giclee print (print on canvas to look like a painting) of a painting of  daredevil Ormer Locklear (#103 of 2500). The Painting is of Locklear (wingwalker) transferring from one airplane to another.
 I bought this print new almost 20 years ago and it has been in storage ever since.

Ormer Locklear was one of the most amazing men you’ve never heard of.

If there was ever a single individual for whom the word “daredevil” was coined, it was Ormer Locklear. Forget Charles Lindbergh, forget Harry Houdini, forget Evel Knievel. Not to take anything away from these brave gentlemen, but Ormer Locklear had them all beat.

Ormer Locklear walked on the fragile canvas wings of biplanes, and died a spectacular death while performing a daring stunt in his second motion picture.

He was born on October 28, 1891, in Greenville, Texas, a small town just northeast of Dallas. There was nothing to suggest the exciting and adventurous path his life would take. His parents were solid citizens, his father a respected carpenter and building contractor.

For whatever reason, however, Ormer was born with a spirit that drove him to tempt fate. Early on that meant “jumping the gap” on his bicycle. Ormer would pedal furiously, hit a ramp, and attempt to leap over an ever-widening distance before coming back to earth. He steadily progressed from six-foot gaps to more than fifteen feet, but even this wasn’t enough to satisfy his daredevil nature.

In 1910, Locklear found his true calling when an air show came to Fort Worth. Six flyers, three American and three French, fresh from the first international aviation meeting in New York, put on an incredible demonstration of aeronautical skill that fascinated young Ormer. As much as we take airplanes for granted today, remember that this was less than seven years since the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, and it’s likely that many of the people attending this Fort Worth show had never seen an airplane before. Many old-timers still believed the axiom, “If man was meant to fly, he would have been born with wings.” Not Ormer.

Locklear’s first experiments with flight came in the form of a homemade glider, built by Ormer and his brothers. Constructed of bamboo fishing poles covered with linen, the glider was launched off nearby hills or embankments, typically resulting in a nice, unpowered flight. But this still wasn’t enough for the budding adventurer.