There’s a black-and-white memory, maybe one you’ve only seen in old films, of what it meant to take a plane. It had nothing to do with today’s cattle-call at the gate. Instead, picture clinking glasses in a sky lounge, the murmur of conversation over a steak dinner, and the feeling of having all the space in the world. Flying was once the height of modern style, a civilized affair from takeoff to landing. These photographs are time capsules that capture the lost elegance of the skies.
#1 Dornier Do X Aircraft, Dining Room, 1930
Image source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-10252 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
#2 Lady Having Breakfast In Flight Aboard A Deutsche Lufthansa Plane, 1928
Image source: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo
#3 Breakfast Being Served On SAS Douglas DC-6, 1950s
Image source: SAS Scandinavian Airlines
#4 Air Travelers Leaving Washington Airport During National Air Travel Week Are Being Given Cakes, Washington, D.C., 1938
Image source: Harris & Ewing
#5 The Eastern Air Transport Company Hostess Serves Tea, 1931
Image source: Harris & Ewing
#6 Interior View Of Sikorsky S-42 Plane, Circa 1934
Image source: State Library and Archives of Florida
#7 Passenger Lounge Onboard Pan American Airways Martin M-130 China Clipper, 1936
Image source: SFO Museum
#8 Martin 130 Clipper, Circa 1935
Image source: San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives
#9 Sas Dc-8-33 Interior, Service On Board, Cabin And Seats, Passengers, Circa 1960s
Image source: SAS Scandinavian Airlines
#10 Interior Of Junkers ‘Plane, Between 1915 And 1920
Image source: The Library of Congress
#11 Interior Of New Handley Page W.8 Plane Cabin, Early 1920s
Image source: SDASM Archives
#12 Commercial Aviation, Between 1905 And 1945
Image source: Harris & Ewing
#13 Interior View Of The Cabin Of A Junkers G 38 Aircraft, 1929
Image source: Digital museum
#14 Interior View Of Sikorsky S-40 Plane Miami, Florida, 1931
Image source: State Library and Archives of Florida
#15 How Babies Used To Travel On Airplanes, 1950s
Image source: Seahawks1991
#16 Cabin Of An L1649 Superstar, Which Was In Service With Lufthansa, From 1957 To 1966
Image source: Lufthansa
#17 Imperial Airways Ltd., On The Sea Of Galilee And At Semakh. Flying Boats’s Passenger Cabin, 1931
Image source: Library of Congress Matson Collection
#18 Interior Of Junkers ‘Plane, 1927
Image source: Library of Congress
#19 Actress Phyllis Brooks At An Airfield, Los Angeles, 1937
Image source: Los Angeles Daily News
#20 Interior View Of A Pan Am Sikorsky S-43A, 1936
Image source: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
#21 Deutsche Lufthansa Puts Large Aircraft Into Operation In Which Passengers Can Eat Their Meals, Just Like In The Railway Dining Cars, 1928
Image source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-05460 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
#22 Klm Douglas DC-2 “Uiver” At Darwin During Macrobertson Air Race, 1934
Image source: Mayse Young Collection
#23 Passengers In Front Of The Douglas Dc-2 115-B, HB-ITE In Dübendorf-Domestic Flight, 1935
Image source: Walter Mittelholzer
#24 Lady In Front Of Douglas DC-2 Of Swissair, 1935
Image source: Walter Mittelholzer
#25 Lauri Lehtinen And Eino Purje, 1931
Image source: Agence de presse Meurisse
#26 Passengers On Aero Oy’s Junkers Ju 52-3m, 1940s
Image source: Niels Kjeldsen Collection / Finnish Aviation Museum
#27 Group At Airplane, 1928
Image source: Harris & Ewing
#28 Commercial Flight, Between 1905 And 1945
Image source: Harris & Ewing
#29 Heathrow Airport Terminal, 1950s
Image source: Heathrow Airport
#30 Douglas DC-3 SE-BAA Ornen At Bromma Airport Sweden, Around 1937
Image source: wikimedia
#31 Commercial Aviation Airport Are, Between 1905 And 1945
Image source: Harris & Ewing
#32 Women At The Airplane, 1932
Image source: Harris & Ewing
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