Welcome to the official website of

American Barnstormer Walt Pierce and the

Double Trouble Wing Walking Team

Ol' Smokey

Although Ol' Smokey originally served as a Navy trainer at NAS Dallas in the early 1940s,

he would eventually become a barnstorming star.

450 hp Stearman Kaydet

Test run of the Wright J-6-9 engine installation during the winter of 1968.

About our Biplane...

While Walt was crop dusting during the spring of 1968, he came across the opportunity to purchase Ol' Smokey from a dusting outfit in Mississippi. After the purchase, Walt flew Smokey to a friend's duster strip in Monroeville Alabama, removed the 220 horsepower engine and replaced it with a 450 horsepower Wright "Whirlwind 9". Originally, the color was changed to red and blue on white and the tail got some big red and white checkers. The sides of the airplane got giant Barnum style letters that said "WALT PIERCE" upright on the left side and upside down on the other.

   The first operations base of Walt and Ol' Smokey was at Hawthorne Aviation in Charleston, South Carolina.  It was the home of the famous flyer, Bevo Howard, with whom Walt began flying air shows.  By 1971, operations had moved to the Midwestern U.S. and the first national publicity was a picture taken at Milwaukee that made the front page of 28 newspapers the same morning of a famous moon walk. Since that time, pictures of Ol' Smokey have appeared around the world in many publications. In more recent years, a segment on MTV, "Road Rules," was aired in some 42 countries. Turner South's program, "Liars and Legends," featured an episode on the roots of "Barnstorming and Wing Walking".

Between 1982 and 1989 a major transformation of Ol' Smokey took place. First the imitation plastic on the cockpit sides was ripped off and replaced with real leather. The acrylic paint was taken off the entire plane, mostly with a pocketknife and elbow grease, and re-sprayed with airplane colored "Dope" in colors common to the early years. Instruments of the 1930s were found and replaced the more modern style. The favorite upgrade on Ol' Smokey was done in honor of pioneering wing walker, Jessie Woods, and that was the registration number from her favorite workhorse. The number (N696H) came from "Whipper Snapper" a model 4D Travelair.

The famous Stearman bi-plane has flown in all the lower states (performed in 42 of them) and traveled and performed in Canada, the Bahamas, Jamaica and most recently Mexico.  In the 40 years of operation, Walt has flown every mile of cross-country himself in the Stearman.