Devalued stocks, raging unemployment and weakened national pride plagued the 1930s, but PopSci escaped the Great Depression with a focus on fun inventions. A ride that “gives thrill seekers topsy-turvy sensations, comparable to those of looping the loop in a plane” graced our May 1934 cover, half a century after the roller coaster first appeared in American amusement parks. A giant steel arm swung this four-passenger car like a pendulum until momentum took over, hurling riders around a full loop.

We advised "thrill seekers looking for something new to
try" to check out Viennese daredevil Joseph Krupka's wing-enhanced skiing technique. Krupka skied partway down a glacier, then tilted his aluminum wings and "for hundreds of feet soared over the snowy tracks, landing near the foot
of the slope." The practice of enhancing a traditional sport
by adding wings has endured; witness how intrepid modern-
day "skyfliers" have expanded skydiving.
These swooping, be-winged adventurers eventually hope