Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of a group of actors, to tour the country specializing in plays that would appeal to their rustic audiences; thus n. barnstorming; also used by carnivals.

1881		Daily L.A. Herald 13 Aug. 2/3: To travel with a theatrical company though interior towns is called ‘barnstorming’.
1890		Sporting Times 18 Jan. 1: To this succeeded a trying time of provincial barn-storming with the company travelling ‘on the dresses’.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 31: One night when they were barnstorming in Kansas.
1960		J. Havoc Early Havoc 113: The barnstorming tour didn’t prove to be a gold mine.
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 142: Miss Caylor had barnstormed through the United States since her early teens, jumping into stage volcanoes, getting wrecked on desert islands.
1999		Observer Rev. 26 Sept. 9: He could barnstorm as Abraham, Rochester or Fagin, but he was also adept at comedy.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Barnstorming — Operating an attraction from spot to spot with little pre-planning or advance publicity [...] generally be done in the off-season.

2. (US) to make a living as an itinerant flyer who travels the country putting on flying and aerobatic displays; thus barnstorming n. and adj.

1928		L. Gravatt Pioneers of Air 210: He gave exhibitions at county fairs, or barnstormed as the pilots say [OED].
1936		Christian Science Monitor 20 Aug. 3/4: Barnstorm, to fly about from town to town taking passengers up for a small sum [OED].
1946		J.E. Dadswell Hey, Sucker 214: He had a dilapidated old tri-motored Ford airplane. It was a relic of the barnstorming dollar-a-ride days.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Outside the carnival, 'barnstorming' referred to an aviator with his own light, land-it-in-someone's-backyard airplane, going from town to town offering rides for money.

3. (US) of major league baseball players, former players, Negro League players, to travel the country playing games in the off-season.

1976

D. Hall Dock Ellis 79: Late in his baseball career, [pitcher Chet] Brewer used to patch together a team and play major leaguers, barnstorming on the West Coast at the end of the regular season.