The landings looked spectacular, but to Pancho, who learned the graceful maneuver easily, it was just normal procedure. By summer she was also ready to own her own plane. Barnstormers were paying $600 for World War I surplus Jennies. Amateur pilots might spend $1000 for a decent little plane. But Pancho was accustomed to getting the best. In early July, she bought a used Travelair biplane for $5500, five times what an average family made in a year.

Now she was spending all her time out at the airfield with Ben, her cousin Dean and the pilots who flew in and out of Arcadia. Her mother’s money supported her. Servants kept the San Marino house running. A nanny took care of her son. Seven and a half years into her marriage to the Reverend Barnes, there was not only no marriage but now no pretense of a marriage. Rankin lived in the rectory; Pancho lived in the big house. There was no formal, legal separation but they never lived together again. There was also no animosity. Pancho liked Rankin, and he was fond of her. In small doses, they actually enjoyed each other’s company. But the non-marriage marriage suited them both. Rankin got a wife he did not have to support or service. He was free to pursue his ambitions in the church, wherever they took him. Even if he allowed himself to dream of a more suitable wife, a helpmate who would entertain church officials and hostess teas for the ladies, he knew that the risks of such a dream outweighed the benefits. He was moving up in the church hierarchy now, becoming noticed on the national level.

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