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NOSTALGIA Glamour in the Skies: Vintage Air Travel Photos ... TPB remembers his own air travel going back about 60 years Original article: https://weather.com/travel/news/2023-04-19-vintage-air-travel-photos Peter Burgess COMMENTARY My first commercial flight was when I was at college, 19 years old, travelling with a rugby team from England to the Channel Islands to play rugby. This was 1959. We travelled in a BEA Douglas DC-3 that was probably built in the 1930s pre WWII. Later on that rugby tour we flew in a BE Vickers Viscount turboprop plane to another of the Channel Islands, and then back to London is a similar plane. In 1960 I was a member of the Cambridge Canada Club which arranged for Cambridge students to travel to Canada with permission to work for the summer. The Club chartered two Air France Boeing 707s to carry us from London to New York in June and return us from New York to London in September. The return fare we paid as members of the Cambridge Canada Club was £75. The low price was given to us because there was a huge imbalance between the West-East flights and the East-West flights. In the early summer there were more American vacationers going to Europe than Europeans going to America, and in the autumn / fall more Americans returning from their trips than Europeans. The planes we were using were going to fly anyway ... but empty. I made the same trip a year later ... for the same price! It was interesting to hear the flight crew talk about fuel and whether or not we would have to stop somewhere between London and New York to refuel ... perhaps in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada or perhaps in Boston on the Westward flight. On the return trip refueling would have prbably been done in Dublin, Ireland. I am reminded of this every time I hear of non-stop flights half way round the world ... like for example from New York to Singapore. Modern engines are so much more powerful and at the same time way more fuel-efficient. For me this is a reminder of the amazing progress of technology in so many areas. Enjoy this collection of images. Peter Burgess | ||
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Glamour in the Skies: Vintage Air Travel Photos
By Stephanie Valera 
1/46 Circa 1936: Air hostess Daphne Kearley of Golders Green tending to the crew of the new luxury air service from Croydon, England to Paris, operated by Air Dispatch. (Ward/Getty Images) d
2/46 Circa 1937: A family in the back of an aircraft looking out of the windows. (London Express/Getty Images)
3/46 Circa 1937: People disembarking from a Heracles airplane. (London Express/Getty Images)
4/46 31st March 1937: A sleeping berth on an Imperial Airways aircraft. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
5/46 Circa 1937: A young boy, with his arm in plaster, sits in a chair on an airplane looking out of the window. (London Express/Getty Images)
6/46 Circa 1946: Air hostess Patricia Palley attends to passengers in the decorated cabin of a Pan-American air liner over the Atlantic. (William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images)
7/46 Trainee air hostess, Claire Swan, during a training session in a BOAC mock aircraft, Jan. 19, 1950. (George W. Hales/Fox Photos/Getty Images)
8/46 Circa 1958: A stewardess serving drinks whilst passengers have lunch aboard a BEA Vickers Viking passenger plane. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
9/46 Circa 1952: Butcher Kurt Pratsch-Kaufmann and an air stewardess making catering preparations for a flight to Munich. (Keystone/Getty Images)
10/46 A member of The Comet's cabin crew serves lunch to a passenger on board the world's first jet airliner service on April 21, 1952. (PNA Rota/Getty Images)
11/46 Circa 1952: A stewardess prepares a meal in the galley of a BOAC Argonaut. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
12/46 Circa 1955: American model Carmen Dell'Orefice wears a hat and a mohair wrap and carries a purse while walking in the aisle of an airplane during a fashion show. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
13/46 Circa 1955: Members of an air crew on the runway before departure. (V. von Bonin/BIPs/Getty Images)
14/46 Circa 1955: Elizabeth Taylor prepares to board a plane. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
15/46 Circa 1956: American playwright Arthur Miller and his wife, actress Marilyn Monroe wave as they board a plane. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
16/46 Circa 1956: Air stewardess Joan Piggott serving lunch under the watchful eye of Instructor Matthews in a fuselage 'mock-up'. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
17/46 Circa 1956: American actress Marilyn Monroe arrives at London airport with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller. (Terry Fincher & Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)
18/46 Circa 1957: Film star Elizabeth Taylor and her husband, producer, Mike Todd leave Los Angeles for Nice. (Cox/Getty Images)
19/46 Circa 1957: Three air hostesses in the cockpit of an airliner. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
20/46 Interior of a giant Boeing 707 jet airliner which can take up to 165 economy class passengers, Sept. 8, 1958. (Keystone/Getty Images)
21/46 Circa 1960: Interior of a BEA Vickers showing the passenger section. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
22/46 Maria Atanossova, a pilot from Bulgaria, behind the controls of the Russian made aircraft at London Airport, Sept. 29, 1965. She was the first woman to pilot a commercial flight into the UK. (Keystone/Getty Images)
23/46 The Beatles step off the airplane, which brought them back from their tour of the United States on Feb. 22, 1964. (Central Press/Getty Images)
24/46 Circa 1964: Jamaican pop singer Millie Small, who soared into the top twenty with her record 'My Boy Lollipop' at the age of 16, walking down the steps of an Air France passenger airplane. (Evening Standard/Getty Images)
25/46 From left to right, Beatles singer and bass player Paul McCartney with his girlfriend actress Jane Asher, Maureen Starr and husband Ringo Starr, boarding an airplane bound for India at London Airport, Feb. 19, 1968: (Jim Gray/Keystone/Getty Images)
26/46 British Conservative party leader Edward Heath reading papers and eating on board a plane during the general election campaign, March 15, 1966. (Terry Fincher/Express/Getty Images)
27/46 A team of designers examining the interior of Concorde, April 1964. (Chris Ware/Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
28/46 The Kennedy family leaves an airplane Oct. 17, 1963. (National Archive/Newsmakers)
29/46 BOAC stewardesses peering through the port holes of the mock-up Jumbo Jet 747 at London's Heathrow Airport during training for the introduction of transatlantic Jumbo flights on March 30, 1971.(Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Getty Images)
30/46 Express reporter Colin McKenzie at the bar on board a private Boeing 720B airliner known as 'The Starship', which is being used by Led Zeppelin on their North American tour, July 30, 1973. (Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
31/46 American actor and singer Judy Garland smiles and boards a plane en route to London to attend the premiere of her film, 'I Could Go on Singing', 1963. (Paul Schumach/Getty Images)
32/46 Circa 1970: A steward and stewardess serving first-class passengers with drinks and refreshments on board a Boeing 747. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
33/46 Circa 1970: First class passengers in a BOAC Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet are served lunch. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
34/46 American singer Frank Sinatra and actress Ava Gardner arriving at London Airport on Nov. 5, 1952. (Reg Birkett/Keystone/Getty Images)
35/46 Conservative Party leader Edward Heath joins in the fun on board an aircraft during his 1966 electioneering campaign on March 23. 1966. (Terry Fincher/Express/Getty Images)
36/46 BOAC air hostesses in training are taught in a mock-up of an aircraft cabin at London Airport., Oct. 14, 1958. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
37/46 Circa 1970: A Pan American (Pan Am) air hostess serving champagne in the first class cabin of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. (Tim Graham/Getty Images)
38/46 Circa 1970: Family picture of the aircrew of the first commercial flight of the Boeing 747 from New York to London for Pan American. (-/AFP/Getty Images)
39/46 Passengers relaxing on the sleeper seats in the new Comet 4 during a demonstration flight at Hatfield, Aug. 28, 1958. (Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)
40/46 BOAC air stewards tend to rows of passengers seated in the new Boeing 747 wide-cabined jumbo jet, Jan. 2,1970. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
41/46 Passengers fill a full-scale model of the Concorde supersonic airliner at the British Aircraft Corporation factory at Filton, Bristol, Feb. 24, 1967. (George Freston/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
42/46 A BOAC air hostess greets a passenger in front of a spiral staircase which leads to the upper deck lounge in a Boeing 747 Monarch, wide-cabin jet aircraft, Jan. 15, 1970. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
43/46 Circa 1966: Two first class seats aboard a TWA jet from London to Washington. (Jackson/Getty Images)
44/46 Popular rock trio the Jimi Hendrix Experience at London Airport with their hand luggage, Aug. 21, 1967. (Express/Express/Getty Images) 45/46 Pop group the Beatles arrive at London Airport from Holland to immediately board another plane bound for Hong Kong and Australia on June 7, 1964. (Keystone/Getty Images)
46/46 British fashion model Twiggy and her partner and manager Justin de Villeneuve board a BEA aircraft at London Airport, for a holiday in Greece, Aug. 24, 1968. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) 44/46 Popular rock trio the Jimi Hendrix Experience at London Airport with their hand luggage, Aug. 21, 1967. (Express/Express/Getty Images)
45/46 Pop group the Beatles arrive at London Airport from Holland to immediately board another plane bound for Hong Kong and Australia on June 7, 1964. (Keystone/Getty Images)
46/46 British fashion model Twiggy and her partner and manager Justin de Villeneuve board a BEA aircraft at London Airport, for a holiday in Greece, Aug. 24, 1968. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) At a Glance
With the long lines, TSA pat-downs and luggage restrictions that come with air travel today, it may be hard to think of a time when flying was glamorous and thrilling. But it was. As air travel surpassed ocean liners as the predominant mode of crossing the globe, jet aircraft eliminated the need to spend weeks at sea, but also took on the prestige of ships that crossed the ocean from the 1890s to the 1950s. View the slideshow above to see scenes from the glamorous skies: spacious private suites, gourmet meals and smiling service, enjoyed by jet-setting celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles. But what was the golden age of travel really like? 'In the 1950s and 1960s, travel was a quieter, more personal experience,' says Linda Wischmeyer, a travel industry vet for 50 years and former president of Intrav, a private jet tour company that specialized in around-the-world journeys. “Someone would help you with your bags, greet you by name, and have your favorite drink waiting for you whether it was a martini or a glass of iced tea. You could get up and talk with other passengers; it was more like a club car than a cattle car.' Indeed, flying during the the 50s through the 60s was a more pampered, relaxed experience, enjoyed by a select, globetrotting few. But others also think flying then was never as exciting or glamorous as many people make it out to be. 'Things were comparatively more luxurious in the 1950s, but it's also true that fares in those days were extremely expensive by today's standards,' Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and author of Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel, told weather.com. 'I was sitting in economy class recently: I had roughly as much leg and elbow room as I would have had on a plane 30 years ago, except I also had inflight WiFi, seatback video with a hundred movies to choose from, and reasonably decent food. All for a surprisingly affordable fare.' Traveling with a family was also much tougher then, according to Kelly Merritt, author of The Everything Family Guide to Budget Travel, who has interviewed dozens of multigenerational families about air travel. 'They remember traveling for more than 24 hours having to hold older children on their lap,' says Merritt of a testimonial in the Smithsonian's 'America by Air' online exhibition, which details the history of passenger air travel, including propeller airlines and the onset of the jet age. 'There was no escaping the cigarette smoke and it was super noisy... but they had such gratitude for the ability to travel that way. They didn't take it for granted like we do so often today.' (MORE: These Airlines Have The Coolest Planes)
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