Let's go to random airports! George Bailey ("It's a Wonderful Life") thought that the three most exciting sounds were "...anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles". You wouldn't argue with George Bailey, would you? Of course, nowadays airports are just oases of fun, where everyone goes to buy a tasty Cinnabon and read a quality novel (such as "The DaVinci Code"), while enjoying some good-natured ribbing with the TSA employees.
I love this first photo (undated) at the gate onto a nearby runway. The wooden cart stacked high with luggage (including one tartan bag) is novel, but the people are what make this the most fun. A nice gentleman wipes the tears from the face of a woman (hopefully a woman he knows) - is she happy to have just arrived, or sad at the thought of leaving? It will remain a mystery, though I suspect the woman was about to fly to either Flint, Michigan or New York. I'll be curious to see if any clever GDB reader will be able to name this airport. There aren't many clues except for the sign for "Capital Airlines" - which at one time was the fifth largest airline in the country.
Here's another undated, unlabeled image at some unknown airport; I suddenly feel the need to drive a bright orange vehicle. This airport appears to be a bit more modern than the one in the previous photo, with fancy mobile stairs! No leaping 10 feet to the ground here. In spite of the dearth of information about this photo, I love it anyway.
Major-
ReplyDeleteI think in the first photo the 'gentleman' as actually the woman's personal makeup artist, and he is merely touching-up her lipstick prior to her harrowing flight to Flint. And that wooden luggage cart with wheels that would appear more at-home on the streets of Frontierland than at some airport, is quite the beauty. "That's right, folks - just amble-on-down to the tarmac and climb aboard your plane".
Thanks, Major.
Nanook you forgot to add, "...and make sure to hang on to yer hats & glasses. 'Cause this here's the WILDEST ride in the wilderness!"
ReplyDeleteBased on the 26 Jul 1955 Capital Airlines timetable, the first photo was taken at Capital City Airport in Lansing, Michigan. Flight 434 ("The Michigan Special") originated in Chicago, stopping at Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Flint, Michigan, before continuing on to New York's La Guardia Field. That tall baggage cart is most definitely a railroad hand-me-down.
ReplyDeleteThe guy in the trenchcoat is actually wiping crumbs off the woman's face from the braunschweiger, limburger and vegemite sandwich she's holding in her hands.
In the second photo, the airplane on the left facing away from us with its passenger door open is an American Airlines Convair CV-240. The airplane behind it, with its engines running, is a United Airlines Convair CV-340. The '340s were a lengthened, longer-winged development of the '240 initiated by a request from United Airlines. No idea where the airport is, unfortunately, although if forced to hazard a guess I'd say Earth (and that guess is just tentative speculation).
Well, of course she had that braunschweiger, limburger and vegemite sandwich while waiting at the (literal) gate. The in-flight meal back then was a cup of black coffee and a Lucky Strike.
ReplyDeleteHey, look; there's a hidden Mickey at the far right of the first picture!
ReplyDeleteYou know, despite the security hassles; the shrinking seats and growing ticket prices; and the awful people sitting directly around you; I can't help it. I still love flying, and I still get excited just being in an airport - tiny, huge, or anything in between.
When my sister and I went to London years ago, I had a big green plaid suitcase like the one in the middle of the pile in the first picture. I told my sister the “helpful hint” I had read about clipping a brightly-colored plush toy on a keychain to the handle of your suitcase, so you can identify it quickly on the carousel. I was all excited about the orange and purple bean bag turtle keychain I had found. She gave me that big sister look and said, “Do you really think two people in the *world* have a plaid suitcase that color, let alone two people on our plane?” (I used the turtle anyway. Waste not, want not.)
In 2011 I was flying home from Florida and my plane was diverted to another airport because of weather. They bussed us back to our podunk little airport, but our luggage didn't arrive 'til a few days later. When I went to claim it, I was expecting to have to show two forms of ID, have my claim ticket scrutinized, and fill out all kinds of paperwork. Instead, they just waved me toward a back room and said, “Help yourself.”
That's Danny the airline pilot before getting into uniform and Edith the stewardess talking at the gate in the first pic.
ReplyDeleteDanny: Hey Edie, how about you and me balling it up in Albuquerque?
Edith: Albuquerque? Have you read that flight schedule, boy?
Danny: What about it?
Edith: We land in Albuquerque at 4 am. That's strictly a nine o'clock town.
"although if forced to hazard a guess I'd say Earth"
Chuck, ha, ha! You don't know how many times I've wanted to say that about one of Major's "mystery" photos.
Nanook, now that you mention it, that guy DOES look like one of the Westmore clan! Any reader of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” knows about that family.
ReplyDeleteScott Lane, Nanook didn’t forget it! He omitted it on purpose. Now I have to pay Disney $10,000 for use of their intellectual property.
Chuck, I suspected that you might be the “clever reader” who would figure out where that first photo was taken. It’s right in your area! Thanks for that. I was raised with braunschweiger, but have yet to enjoy the wonders of limburger cheese (I’ve never even smelled the stuff). Vegemite, however… not my thing. As for photo #2 being on Earth, how can you tell that it isn’t Earth II?
Dean Finder, man, am I ever glad that smoking on airplanes is a thing of the past. Yuck.
Melissa, now I have to pay Disney another $10,000 for that hidden Mickey. Lucky for me I am a multi-billionaire! I can’t say I get quite as excited about flying as I used to, but even now I love looking out the window, especially at takeoff and when it’s time to land. So many “cool kids” are so uninterested that they don’t look up from their tiny seat-back TVs. All of my luggage still has yellow and red pompoms on the handles, placed there by my dad, a USC grad. He’s gone, but the pompoms remain.
K. Martinez, er, “balling it up”?? Come on Ken, this is a family blog! Comments like that one belong on my pornography blogs!
We put black and gold ribbon our luggage zipper pulls.....Here we go, Steelers!! :) I remember going to the airport as a kid just to see the planes, including when the first 747 landed in Pittsburgh. I wish my parents had a photo of that!
ReplyDeleteCool views today, Major. Thanks for sharing! :D
These people are about to leave else they wouldn't be standing at the gate. That's probably their luggage about to be loaded.
ReplyDeleteIs that a Polaroid camera the woman is carrying?
@ Major-
ReplyDeleteYeah - I couldn't determine if he was Perc or Bud.
@ Sunday Night-
That case is embossed 'Bell & Howell", so it's most-likely some kind of camera; just not a Polaroid.