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| American Airlines postcard from the 1950s |
The writing on the back says:
"We have made up 25 minutes and they assure me they'll get to Dallas in time to make the 901 flight that gets to L.A. at 9:10. If there's a seat in it for me, I'll be fine. It's nice flying weather. -Ira"
I think Ira wrote this one out on the plane and mailed it when he was in the Dallas airport waiting for the next flight.
The sky captain and pilots and stewardesses (yes, stewardess was the word back then) in the photo sure look happy. It's a staged photo, so they are all probably smiling models. But it might not be much different if it weren't. After all, it was the era before $50 luggage fees, removing your shoes, hours long security lines, and all those wonderful features of modern air travel.
And yes, men wore hats then, and probably all smoked like chimneys on the plane.
The photo itself was by Ivan Dmitri, an aviation artist and photographer whose career started with an etching commemorating the Lindbergh flight in 1927.
8 comments:
Something about walking to and from the plane through open air, under the sky, makes it really seem like TRAVEL to me, even as I remember getting on a plane in Traverse City (headed for Chicago) in cold rain and wind....
What was an occasion has become an ordeal.
Even though it's been cancelled, Pan Am did seem to renew some interest in the history of airlines.
Very cool. It gives the impression that everything back then was more fun and people were happier. It's a nice illusion.
Everyone is so smiley!
I used to fly often. But I have not had an occasion to be on a plane since 1976. Things were still fairly easy back then.
Those truly were the good ole days. Granted, I am glad that women have the choice to wear jeans nowadays, but other than that, it looks wonderful.
If you squint real hard you can almost see Wally, Beave, and Eddie (or is it Gilbert?) in the background.
Late 40s-early 50s, my folks took
my sister and I to the airport to
watch planes (there was a new place out that way that had the
newfangled 'frozen custard'..the
precurser to DairyQueen). Tiny airport served by North Central
Air (the blue goose lines) and
it was a genuine thrill to lick
a cone and watch the Lockheed Electra A-10, a smallish two engine thing with a sort of B-25 tail. As the C-47s of WWII became available, the BlueGoose, striped off the olive drab and put their
goose emblem on the tail (and called it a DC-3). A rare treat was stopping at the outdoor movies on the way home. Probably why I am such an old grouch now--reality
TV seems so bland.
PJ. You should go to the Augusta, GA airport. It's almost all outdoors!
Laura: I guess I blinked and missed Pan-Am. I want to see it.
Churl. Ah yes, the "Ozzy and Harriet" era. Of high taxation, and a high % of workers in unions. And no civil rights either.
Silly: Yeah that's a while ago!
Leticia: You should read Stephen King's new book about the era.
BB: I used to go to the airport to watch airplanes too from time to time. I remember my first flight, out of La Crosse.
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