Monday, February 25, 2013

Moonliner!

The fantastic TWA Moonliner is still one of the coolest things ever! It is a cousin to many 1940's/1950's sci-fi rockets, but with a style all its own. And in a Tomorrowland that had been built with dwindling funds and time, it managed to single-handedly create a sense of excitement and optimism for the future.


And, to go with the first photo, here are some rare moon swans.


10 comments:

Chiana_Chat said...

Moonswans from both the light and the dark side of the moon! Maj, you spoil us. :)

An excellent Moonliner shot - the forced perspective works very well here, the thing looks huge. *gets crink in neck gaping up at it on way over to Space Bar*

K. Martinez said...

Fly Me to the Moon and Swan Lake. When I was a small child, the Moonliner seemed to tower forever into the sky. Ground control to Major Tom.

Anonymous said...

The Moonliner is what every spaceship should look like - Buck Rogers is even jealous!

Bill in Denver

stu29573 said...

If you love the Moonliner, might I suggest the book "The Spaceship Handbook" by Jack Hagerty and Jon C. Rogers. It contains information about all of Disney's spacecraft (from the Moonliner to the ships seen on the Disneyland TV show), plus all of the ships from popular culture movies, TV, comic books, etc in the 20th century. It's huge and very well illustrated.

By the way, my scratch built flying model rocket moonliner is still doing quite well!

Nanook said...

I had no idea the very rare and illusive Moonswans® were ever captured on film. And in their natural habitat, no less-! Nice.

Major Pepperidge said...

Chiana, it is nice to see Moon Swans of all nationalities living together in peace and harmony.

K. Martinez, it's amazing to think that the Moonliner was only a half-scale version of what have been the REAL rocket.

Bill, I totally agree, although maybe it should be silver and have sparklers shooting out of the back.

stu29573, thank you for the info about the book, I've not heard of that one. How many flights has your Moonliner survived?

Nanook, the Moon Swans could only be captured on infrared film.

stu29573 said...

Three flights! She's now in semi-retirement due to me feeling like I'm pushing my luck!

Melissa said...

It's a world of ducks and a world of drakes;
It's a world of ganders and geese on lakes.
When a strange one I spied,
I consulted my guide:
It's a Moonswan® after all!

Nanook said...

Please - someone step-up and become Melissa's manager. There's real talent a-foot, here.

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