Flying effects have been a feature of stage performance in Great Britain since the first playhouses were built in the late 16th century. These were created by each theatre's backstage staff. In the late 19th century, however, the West End master stage carpenter George Kirby began a business which specialised in flying effects on stage, organising the routines and supplying the equipment. This is one of the body harnesses that he developed for performers to wear. It was shaped like a corset, with leather straps attached and could be unobtrusively attached and detached from the flying wires during performances.

Kirby had worked with the German troupe, the Grigolatis, whose flying effects needed four stage hands to raise and traverse one performer. Kirby was convinced that his system could be less cumbersome and in 1889 developed the first pendulum flying system with quick-release mechanism. One of the earliest productions for which Kirby supplied equipment was J.M. Barrie's play Peter Pan at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1904. Audiences were delighted when Wendy and her brothers were able to fly with Peter from their London home to Never Never Land. The Kirby family business passed on through successive generations and continues to operate as Kirby's AFX.