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    The Golden Age of Air Travel
    The Golden Age of Air Travel
    The Golden Age of Air Travel
    Ebook90 pages44 minutes

    The Golden Age of Air Travel

    By Nina Hadaway

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    About this ebook

    For much of the twentieth century travel by air was a luxury available only to the wealthy, and accordingly the airlines – Pan Am, BOAC, TWA, BEA and many others – offered premium services that connected far-flung parts of the world with con trails of glamour. This book looks back at the golden age, from the 1920s to the 1970s, when well-appointed airliners whisked the rich and famous around the world on holiday and on business. It evokes the chink of champagne glasses, the aroma of expensive cigars and the roar of early jet engines: the experience of air travel before package holidays and budget airlines changed flying forever. The various types of aircraft, the routes and the airports, as well as the changes undergone by the industry, are all explored here and illustrated by fascinating historical material.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateApr 10, 2013
    ISBN9780747813477
    The Golden Age of Air Travel

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      Book preview

      The Golden Age of Air Travel - Nina Hadaway

      INTRODUCTION

      When once you have tasted flight you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward… (Leonardo da Vinci)

      SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME , man has turned his eyes to the sky – and wondered. Flying has featured in fables, legends and myths. It has become a reality through trial and error, perseverance and scientific investigation, with the invention of both lighter-than-air vehicles such as balloons and heavier-than-air craft. Over the years the form of these creations has changed, with different disciplines and new technologies coming together to determine the latest designs. The role of the aircraft has also developed. This book looks at how commercial air travel has evolved from short joy-rides to round-the-world flights. It highlights the passenger experience from the 1910s to the 1970s; a golden age of air travel because of the way in which flying was undertaken, the attitude of the public towards flight during this period, and the many features that no longer form a part of today’s mass movement of people around the world. It was a time when flying was considered exciting and modern, both a novelty and a treat. It was a glamorous adventure to be savoured and enjoyed.

      An early woodcut depicting the story of Icarus flying too close to the sun.

      The monoplane Atalanta, built for the British Empire routes of Imperial Airways, flies over Croydon Airport in the 1930s. Contemporary artwork.

      EARLY DAYS OF AIR TRAVEL

      FLYINGWAS STILL IN ITS INFANCY when the first fare-paying passengers took to the air. As early as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, huge crowds gathered to witness the ascents made by pioneering balloonists. Soon it became possible for members of the public to be taken up, and at the cost of a few shillings several minutes could be spent aloft.

      With the development of the aeroplane, enthusiasts promoted this exciting new mode of transport. Air shows and aerial derbies were organised during the 1910s. These caught the imagination of the public, and thousands attended meetings and displays. Those held at Hendon were very popular, and the ‘Hendon Habit’ was formed. Attending this venue became part of the summer social calendar alongside Ascot or Henley. The pilots taking part at Hendon became celebrities and offered joy-rides that were enthusiastically taken up by those who could afford them. It became fashionable to wrap up against the elements and to go on a circuit of the showground with one of these airmen. The thrill of such an experience was often accompanied by a degree of trepidation. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Edward Stewart was a passenger at Hendon in 1912. He recalled some years later:

      There’s nothing like your first flight! … I climbed … into the thing and saw my seat … was a plank with … wickerwork sides and back. The pilot’s body would come between my legs and his shoulders would be level with my knees so that if the thing’s nose dipped suddenly I should probably fall on top of him… I told him I felt most insecure.

      The idea of taking several passengers up at once was explored, and companies such as the Grahame-White Aviation Company Ltd built aircraft for this purpose. Between 1910 and 1914 airships in Germany carried over thirty thousand passengers on sightseeing trips or on flights between the country’s cities. By 1914 seasonal flights in aircraft were being undertaken in the United States and Russia. With the

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