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Blog: Mary White
Cyle Horchem, Garver Flying Circus
This black and white photograph shows Cyle Horchem, co-founder of the Garver Flying Circus. The Garver Flying Circus established around 1920 or 1921, Karl Garver from Attica, Kansas, and Cyle Horchem an ex-army flyer from Ransom, Kansas, performed spectacular aerial stunts across the Kansas sky. The group of daredevils successfully entertained the crowds of spectators with death defying acts until tragedy struck in 1924 when Ruth Garver "Champion Lady Parachute Jumper" fell to her death from one thousand feet with a tangled parachute. Later that year, Cyle Horchem slipped and fell to his death as he climbed on to a wing while in flight. Karl Garver continued to perform at air shows but eventually sold his airplanes and died of alcohol poisoning in 1926.
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