Airplanes
Many of you know that I am fond of photos of vintage aircraft, particularly when they are on the tarmac at an airport. I can't explain it! But I always enjoy finding a good picture from somebody's trip, some 50 or 60 years ago. The first two scans (from the 1950s) show a BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) 377(?) Boeing Stratocruiser, I believe. Location unknown. Wikipedia says the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, itself a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. The Stratocruiser's first flight was on July 8, 1947. Its design was advanced for its day; its relatively innovative features (though neither completely new) included two passenger decks and a pressurized cabin. It could carry up to 100 passengers on the main deck plus 14 in the lower deck lounge; typical seating was for 63 or 84 passengers or 28 berthed and five seated passengers.
It looks like folks are preparing to board, but first, why not stop and wave at the camera? These were the days when people dressed up to fly, as evidenced by the elegant woman to the right.
Next is this 1950s photo of what I believe is a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, location unknown (as usual) - if this is indeed a DC-3, I am surprised, since those planes were already somewhat obsolete by the 1950s.
Capital Airlines! Capital Airlines was an airline serving the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. Capital's headquarters were located at Washington National Airport (now Reagan Washington National Airport) across the Potomac river from Washington, D.C.; In the 1950s Capital was the fifth largest United States domestic carrier by passenger count (and sometimes by passenger-miles) after the Big Four air carriers (American, United, TWA, and Eastern). Capital merged with United Airlines in 1961.
I hope you have enjoyed today's vintage aircraft!
16 comments:
Major-
I love seeing images of vintage aircraft when they are on an airport tarmac, too. But in the 1st image my eyes were immediately drawn to the curved, galvanized pipe 'railing' in the lower portion of the image. (Such elegance).
Thanks, Major.
1) It's pretty cool that the Stratocruiser had two decks, especially as far back as the fifties. I guess that's the Lounge deck below the cockpit? It makes the plane look like a pregnant guppy. I don't recognize those shrubs and plants, so this airport must be on the far side of the Moon. Maybe we can spot some Moonberries!
2) In addition to the "elegant woman", the lady on the extreme left is carrying her mink(?) coat aboard. The plane looks huge, this close up.
3) Seems strange to see a plane resting in an inclined position with the front higher than the rear. Makes it look like a model plane. I wonder if it was rubber band powered?
Nice Saturday post, Major.
Just hoping Mellisa is seeing and feeling well.
MS
James Bond flies to the the United States in a BOAC Stratocruiser in the second Bond outing, the 1954 novel Live and Let Die, taking a sleeping berth to ensure he arrives in New York well rested. Before reading this in the eighth grade in the early ‘80s, it had never occurred to me that you could have passenger sleeping accommodations on an airliner, my only experience having been riding jetliners in “Cattle Class.”
This particular airframe, G-ANUC, was originally built for United Airlines in 1949. Named Mainliner Kano and operating under US registry N31231, it primarily flew between San Francisco, Calif., and Honolulu, T.H., from 1950-54. Sold to BOAC and renamed Clio, it operated from December 1954 to 1958 in BOAC livery, after which it was leased to West African Airways Corporation of Nigeria and flew between Lagos and London until it was scrapped in 1960.
The second airplane is indeed a DC-3. While obsolete by the 1950s for long-distance and high-volume routes, DC-3s were still valuable in serving smaller airfields with shorter runways that couldn’t accommodate larger and heavier aircraft or that just didn’t have the passenger traffic to warrant the use of a more expensive, four-engine aircraft. Regular DC-3 passenger service didn’t really end in the US until soon after the introduction of the DC-9 in 1965.
This photo depicts a genuinely historic aircraft. Construction number 11 757 rolled out of the Santa Monica Douglas factory on July 6th, 1943 (coincidentally, 81 years ago today). She was delivered to the USAAF the following day as a C-53, a troop transport version of the DC-3 that lacked the cargo door, hoist, and reinforced floor of the C-47. As 42-68830, she towed a glider on D-Day, delivering reinforcements (and possibly my great uncle Milton) for the 101st Airborne Division behind Utah Beach. She also participated in Operation Market Garden (A Bridge Too Far), aerial resupply of the 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge, and aerial delivery of the 17th Airborne Division during Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine.
After the War, she was converted to a DC-3A, given civil registration number N45366, and transferred to Pennsylvania Central Airlines in late 1945. Pennsylvania Central Airlines became Capital Airlines in April of 1948, and N45366 served with them until 1959. Like many surplus warbird transports of the era, she passed through many hands over the years, but due to the durability of the DC-3 airframe and the availability of spare parts she managed to hang on much longer than most DC-3 variants as her nearly 11,000 sisters slowly succumbed to the scrapyard.
Happily, she is still flying today as D-Day Doll, part of the collection of the American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum at Dallas Executive Airport.
JB, I see what you did there. ;-)
Thanks again for a fun Saturday dive down the Research Rabbit Hole!
As soon as I saw the first pic, I was thinking “Can’t wait to read Chuck’s comment.” Did not disappoint.
I do love these old planes. Dad and his younger brother were fans and we went to air shows often. Porterville had a big one, walking around the taxiways in the 100+ degree valley summer was a big event.
For years, Visalia airport did passenger loading on the open tarmac with a stair truck like Arrested Development. I think now they finally have jetways.
Terrific post, Major! (And Chuck!)
JG
Nanook, obviously I also love seeing classic old aircraft on the tarmac, even better if there are people boarding or disembarking. I do appreciate the effort to make that curved pipe railing, instead of just making it out of straight pipe.
JB, I could do research, but… you know… do any commercial airlines still have planes with two levels? Like maybe the lower level is a giant jacuzzi? I should work for Boeing (ahem). I can’t remember the last time I saw a woman wearing a fur coat, mink or otherwise. But I don’t hobnob in fancy circles. I did once see a woman with a fox stole (she should have paid for it!), with the head still on, it had little shiny glass eyes. We used to see one of those “pregnant guppies” when I was a kid, I think it was at the El Toro base, but I can’t be certain. And you have rightly pointed out that DC-3s were powered by the largest rubber bands ever made! .
MS, I have tried to email Melissa several times, but she has not responded. No surprise if her vision is affected. I wish I could call her!
Chuck, I feel guilty, I honestly do not expect you (or anyone else) to do an hour (or more?) of research when I post these vintage airplane pictures. HOWEVER… it is always fun when you do it! It is amazing to see photos from the earliest days of air travel, with planes having sleeping berths very much like trains used to have. I’m happy to learn that neither of these planes was destroyed in a terrible crash, unlike some of the other planes I’ve shown. Honolulu “T.H.”, it took me a minute - “territory of Hawaii”? I love that the DC-3 actually left the Santa Monica factory 81 years ago TODAY! What are the odds?? I think I may have flown on a DC-3 or two when I was a child, the memory of the sound of the propellers and the vibration are still in my head somewhere. Incredible that this one was involved in D-Day. An Operation Market Garden? What about Operation Hot Soup? I just made that up, but they should have hired me to think of names of operations. “Get Major Pepperidge on the horn, we need a name, NOW!”. “But sir, it’s 2:30 in the morning!”. “He never sleeps. MAKE THE CALL!”. It’s kind of amazing how many “lives” some of these old aircraft had, and this baby certainly has had a colorful and varied history. I’m so glad that (incredibly) it is still airworthy to this day. THANK YOU, Chuck!
JG, yes, Chuck gets an A+ and three smiley faces. Much better than money, so I won’t insult Chuck by sending him cash. Air shows, funny, I was just talking with my girlfriend on the 4th, she’s never been to an air show, so we are thinking of looking for something in our area. My dad used to take us to see the Blue Angels, and when he worked at Port Hueneme, we’d go out there to see air shows regularly, so cool. I think it was not that long ago that I walked from the airplane to the terminal across the tarmac at Burbank.
I've never been in a plane with a second deck, famously the 747s' lounges and I think there's an Airbus wit 2 decks. The giant panorama window must have been amazing and kind of terrifying on the Stratoliner.
Imagine telling all of these finely-dressed people that in 50 years you'd rather wear pants with an elastic waistband and shoes with no laces to minimize your troubles with some security functionary who gropes you on the way to your flight.
Also that man would achieve supersonic transport, but then abandon it after a few decades.
Very interesting post today. I enjoy all the plane background info, too.
"Imagine telling all of these finely-dressed people that in 50 years you'd rather wear pants with an elastic waistband and shoes with no laces to minimize your troubles with some security functionary who gropes you on the way to your flight."
Dean, lol! I don't think that air travel can get any crazier or more annoying.
And Bu does it ALL THE TIME, but stays sane. Bu, how do you do it??
Thanks, Major.
I'll echo MS's (and Major's) sentiment and say, "Hurry back, Melissa!"
Chuck, Ha! I knew when I made my comment about the "pregnant guppy" that it sounded awfully familiar, but I couldn't place where I had heard it before. I thought maybe that I came up with an original phrase, but something kept rattling around in my mostly-empty head, like a ball on a roulette wheel. Unfortunately, the ball settled on 'double zero'.
Lots of fascinating facts about this particular plane. Amazing, actually! Thanks.
Major, those fox stoles (your joke about 'paying' for it made me smile) with the head attached are creepy, with their teeth and beady eyes. I think I've only seen them in movies/TV. They always strike me as very primitive; like something a caveman (cavewoman) would where. Like you, I pondered over Chuck's reference to "T.H.", and like you, it came to me after about 10 seconds.
Sue, you're assuming that Bu IS, sane!
^ "wear", not "where"!
San Diego Lindberg Field Airport still loaded some planes with the outdoor “stair-o-plane” ramps into the early 1980’s. I remember our United Airlines flights out of San Diego in 1979 and 1980 used the rolling stairs - or whatever the name is. It’s weird because the enclosed boarding gangways seem so much more futuristic ….. but the outdoor stairs on wheels feels more “elegant”?? “Sophisticated”??
I remember into the 80’s whenever we flew out of San Diego the stewardess ( yes STEWARDESSES NOT FLIGHT ATTENDANTS) would give us little menus to pre-select what we wanted for our meals .. there was usually three choices ….. one time I selected the southwestern beef stew and when it was served it was in a little ceramic Mexican like pot with a sombrero like ceramic lid to keep the stew warm!….. and the menu covers always had a reproduced piece of artwork of a San Diego landmark …. I remember the Cabrillo lighthouse …. The Coronado bay bridge and the mission were some. I wonder if United airlines had staff artists to paint these menu covers ? Or did they use local artists ?? We may never know … BTW : what I just described was all economy - tourist class !!
"BTW : what I just described was all economy - tourist class !!"
Even us kids, in the 60s and early 70s, were served meals on regular plates (china?) and 'silverware' - no plastic, and NO dried crap-snacks in a box. All in cheap/economy class. And we'd get wing pins. And even the bathrooms had individual bars of wrapped soap available for each person.
But what I miss most is just arriving at the airport and immediately hopping on the plane. No security checks. No need to arrive two hours in advance and stand in lines. *sigh*
I MISS Melissa, too. No word on my end, either.
@ Chuck-
Thanks for another 'in-depth' tour today's featured aircraft. Truly fascinating-!
I vaguely recall flying in a plane like these shown today…and my roll of Lifesavers Candy rolled down the isle under the pilot’s seat, as there was no door or partition.
A bit later I can remember being in some of those groovy 747 lounges (but not which specific ones) as a kid. I used to fly coast to coast alone a lot between parents (neither of which had any money!!). They would always assign me a particular “stewardess” to board and deplane with, who would also sit with me. Inevitably, being a cute kid, all the ladies would visit, give me extra desserts, let me play around the plane in the bar / lounges and we would get friendly. So much so that my father would routinely shake me down for their phone numbers as soon as I landed (I would have some!) as I’d collect my golden wings pin. Man, this was a Completely different time. 1970-75
One of the best memories of all this fun was when a pilot - I’d always get to know the pilots - one time woke me up to take me upstairs to the cockpit - I always visit the cockpits - but this time it was to see the curvature of the Earth as we flew towards to rising sun. Quite a sight, kid or not.
MS
Oops, I guess there was ‘an error’ alright.
How do I do it? The plane game. Is it a game Mary Poppins? Yes...it is.. and their are hacks, tips and tricks which make things easier/or (marginally) more comfortable. I avoid airports I dislike and will fly to a more inconvenient, yet more comfortable terminal...and drive further: like Orange County rather than LAX....or Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami. Some places: you just has to suffer through: Atlanta. Possibly the worst. Philly: not far behind. Charlotte: a big bag of "no". Sadly: Orlando hits the "top 3" in my book of horrible transport places....(and I think they know this)....and sadly: there isn't really any closer option: possibly Tampa...but still so far...My first trip to America was on BOAC, and my mom had saved menus and such...so it was rather nostalgic to see these planes...I don't remember that trip, but I remember others arriving by BOAC to Heathrow out on the tarmac, with people lining the tops of buildings waving...the last trip back to the US was by P and O steamer: they had british crew: and I remember it very vividly. My family (when it was intact) preferred travel by ship, which was pretty normal at the time with plenty of options. I do remember very specifically on a plane where the stewardess's were carving meat from a silver cart. The silver was so very shiny. In England we said "Flight Hostess or Air Hostess"...a term I still hear infrequently with my bionic hearing from other passengers...many Disneyland Tour Guides became flight attendants and some even stayed employed by both during their tenures. There were VERY strict weight guidelines: for boys and girls....one TG who was so very slim and trim would absolutely starve himself to stay in line with United's rules...in Disneyland there were our own unwritten rules where "if you exceed the range of costumes...." and even with that the poor guy was "too heavy" for United. PSA was the grooviest of airlines: with flight attendants in hot pants and mini skirts and go go boots. One tour guide interviewed for them, and told the stories about how the "interview" which to me sounded more like an audition: complete with headshots. She later went on to American Airlines. One TG did get hired by PSA and she LOVED that they embraced big earrings and glamourous make-up...where the American's and Uniteds were more conservative with a more serious approach to grooming...but still very autocratic like Disneyland circa 1980.
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