What It Was Like During The Golden Age Of Flying
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Date: 2022-12-29
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Comments and reviews: 20
Christoffer
My Grandfather met my Grandmother when she sailed to meet relatives in Denmark year: 1921. The 2 fell in love & married & took a ship back to New York & a train to Tyler, Mn where they moved onto a farm & worked as farmers until retirement. Obviously their kids (my mom) grew up during the Great Depression and WW#2. Both Grandparents had relatives in Denmark & the family sent as many care packages as they could which were usually ransacked by Nazis, but some made it through.
After the war, air travel to Europe resumed & my Grandparents made a little fortune as farmers feeding Europe so they decided to fly from New York to Copenhagen. It only took 24 hours & my Grandfather couldn't believe it he says, it took us 5 days to cross the ocean and a week to drive to Minnesota in 1921. 28 years later it will only take us 24 hours. Imagine that flight from New York to Copenhagen round-trip? 2 tickets RT would cost over $8, 000 today, tourist class.
Another 19 years later: they took a jet from Minneapolis to Seattle to visit us for Christmas (my idea) & the next year Americans landed on the Moon. My Grandparents flew back to Europe & all over quite a bit after that. Air travel was still a dressed up occasion throughout the 1970s
My Grandfather saw a lot. He remembered the news of the Titanic not making it, The first car to drive into his Danish Village, world war #1, crossing the Atlantic to New York 1922, Ellis Island, the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, World War #2, propeller & jet -trans Atlantic flights, men fly to the moon & the Space Shuttle 1st Columbia liftoff & Challenger disaster.
Love you
BedstemorBedstefar
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My Grandfather met my Grandmother when she sailed to meet relatives in Denmark year: 1921. The 2 fell in love & married & took a ship back to New York & a train to Tyler, Mn where they moved onto a farm & worked as farmers until retirement. Obviously their kids (my mom) grew up during the Great Depression and WW#2. Both Grandparents had relatives in Denmark & the family sent as many care packages as they could which were usually ransacked by Nazis, but some made it through.
After the war, air travel to Europe resumed & my Grandparents made a little fortune as farmers feeding Europe so they decided to fly from New York to Copenhagen. It only took 24 hours & my Grandfather couldn't believe it he says, it took us 5 days to cross the ocean and a week to drive to Minnesota in 1921. 28 years later it will only take us 24 hours. Imagine that flight from New York to Copenhagen round-trip? 2 tickets RT would cost over $8, 000 today, tourist class.
Another 19 years later: they took a jet from Minneapolis to Seattle to visit us for Christmas (my idea) & the next year Americans landed on the Moon. My Grandparents flew back to Europe & all over quite a bit after that. Air travel was still a dressed up occasion throughout the 1970s
My Grandfather saw a lot. He remembered the news of the Titanic not making it, The first car to drive into his Danish Village, world war #1, crossing the Atlantic to New York 1922, Ellis Island, the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, World War #2, propeller & jet -trans Atlantic flights, men fly to the moon & the Space Shuttle 1st Columbia liftoff & Challenger disaster.
Love you
BedstemorBedstefar
reply
Rayburn58
My father climbed the ladder of commercial aviation history like none could today. He trained on an open cockpit biplane. He began his airline career in 1942 at age 21 as 2nd officer on a DC-3 with Pennsylvania Central Airlines. Within two years he was DC-3 captain. Pennsylvania Central eventually became Capital Airlines in 1948 where he captained the DC-4, DC-6, L-049 Constellation, and Vickers Viscount (the first turbo-prop airliner. In 1961 Capital Airlines merged with United Airlines where he went on to captain the Boeing 720, the DC-8, the Stretch DC-8, the DC-10, and finally the B-747 which he flew from 1972 until his mandatory retirement at age 60 1981. He experienced the full evolution of commercial flight, airline pilot for 39 years and Captain for 37 years. No airline pilot over the last 50 years could experience the revolution and massive change of commercial flight like my father did.
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My father climbed the ladder of commercial aviation history like none could today. He trained on an open cockpit biplane. He began his airline career in 1942 at age 21 as 2nd officer on a DC-3 with Pennsylvania Central Airlines. Within two years he was DC-3 captain. Pennsylvania Central eventually became Capital Airlines in 1948 where he captained the DC-4, DC-6, L-049 Constellation, and Vickers Viscount (the first turbo-prop airliner. In 1961 Capital Airlines merged with United Airlines where he went on to captain the Boeing 720, the DC-8, the Stretch DC-8, the DC-10, and finally the B-747 which he flew from 1972 until his mandatory retirement at age 60 1981. He experienced the full evolution of commercial flight, airline pilot for 39 years and Captain for 37 years. No airline pilot over the last 50 years could experience the revolution and massive change of commercial flight like my father did.
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Christopher
It would have been quite an experience flying during the Golden Age, when life itself wasn't regulated to the micro-second as in 2022!
Imagine, boarding WITHOUT disrobing, being felt up/violated, interrogated about who you are/where you're going/asked if you packed your suitcase, nickel and dimed for everything, given food rations like a prisoner, and then packed like sardines, preying your pilot isn't drunk or asleep at the wheel as AUTOPILOT takes over at 35, 000 feet!
I can only guess what the Mile High Club was like in the 50's and 60's?
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It would have been quite an experience flying during the Golden Age, when life itself wasn't regulated to the micro-second as in 2022!
Imagine, boarding WITHOUT disrobing, being felt up/violated, interrogated about who you are/where you're going/asked if you packed your suitcase, nickel and dimed for everything, given food rations like a prisoner, and then packed like sardines, preying your pilot isn't drunk or asleep at the wheel as AUTOPILOT takes over at 35, 000 feet!
I can only guess what the Mile High Club was like in the 50's and 60's?
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Randy
I love flying. I wanted so much to be a pilot as I don't care about hospitality only about how the plane was manufactured how it performs, about flying in general. Also yes accident investigations and safety interest me far more. What's going on in the Cockpit is far more interesting to me personally. I have flown a small plane only once. Flying lesson. Not sure I would want to fly back then though, they didn't even have black boxes, TCAST it was Visual confirmation only and everything however passengers were more respectful in those days though.
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I love flying. I wanted so much to be a pilot as I don't care about hospitality only about how the plane was manufactured how it performs, about flying in general. Also yes accident investigations and safety interest me far more. What's going on in the Cockpit is far more interesting to me personally. I have flown a small plane only once. Flying lesson. Not sure I would want to fly back then though, they didn't even have black boxes, TCAST it was Visual confirmation only and everything however passengers were more respectful in those days though.
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Lucy
Flying used to be expensive & a luxury. It was very rare for a family to fly. My family flew in 1975 to sed family in Europe. We wore our Sunday best. We had to behave. My parents paid $800 for each of us. It's still $800 decades later. Ever since Reagan deregulated the airlines any trash can now fly & they do. They pack flyers in like sardines & people are in their pajamas if they want to be. They are rude, unkempt & drunk. I have not flown in years. When I did, it was first class to avoid the rif raf. It was worth the expense.
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Flying used to be expensive & a luxury. It was very rare for a family to fly. My family flew in 1975 to sed family in Europe. We wore our Sunday best. We had to behave. My parents paid $800 for each of us. It's still $800 decades later. Ever since Reagan deregulated the airlines any trash can now fly & they do. They pack flyers in like sardines & people are in their pajamas if they want to be. They are rude, unkempt & drunk. I have not flown in years. When I did, it was first class to avoid the rif raf. It was worth the expense.
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Flygirl
Started flying in 1985. 1st class on 747-200/400 was stunning, Chateaubriand, caviar, hand crafted sushi (Tokyo flts. Private upstairs lounge. Full bar with exotic liquors. Smoking allowed in the last zone. And passengers behaved like ADULTS. Now, the 747's have been replaced with cram-them-in Airbuses, preservative filled 'meals', and barely dressed trailer-trash slobs. I'm 3 years away from full retirement, I'll miss the traveling lifestyle, but not the ugliness that has now become the norm.
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Started flying in 1985. 1st class on 747-200/400 was stunning, Chateaubriand, caviar, hand crafted sushi (Tokyo flts. Private upstairs lounge. Full bar with exotic liquors. Smoking allowed in the last zone. And passengers behaved like ADULTS. Now, the 747's have been replaced with cram-them-in Airbuses, preservative filled 'meals', and barely dressed trailer-trash slobs. I'm 3 years away from full retirement, I'll miss the traveling lifestyle, but not the ugliness that has now become the norm.
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Kellys
I remember flying out of Columbus, OH to Ft. Lauderdale in 2000. My husband and I were going to scuba dive and elected to take our dive computers/regulators in two carryon bags. When going thru security, the guy checked my husbands bag and then when he saw my bag looked identical, he just said, youve got the same thing inside? I affirmed that and he waved me thru. When 911 happened the following year, I remember thinking it was a miracle that it hadnt happened sooner.
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I remember flying out of Columbus, OH to Ft. Lauderdale in 2000. My husband and I were going to scuba dive and elected to take our dive computers/regulators in two carryon bags. When going thru security, the guy checked my husbands bag and then when he saw my bag looked identical, he just said, youve got the same thing inside? I affirmed that and he waved me thru. When 911 happened the following year, I remember thinking it was a miracle that it hadnt happened sooner.
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Colonial64
Golden Age? I flew from Richmond, VA to London in 1966 via an Eastern Airlines Electra, NY Airways helicopter from LGA to JFK and then an Air India 707 over the pond. Nothing golden there. My return was on Air France with braised guinea hen for lunch (fancier meal then) connecting with Eastern at JFK back to Richmond. I believe that the round trip flight with connections cost about $350. Adjusted for inflation, that came to over $3, 100 in 2022.
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Golden Age? I flew from Richmond, VA to London in 1966 via an Eastern Airlines Electra, NY Airways helicopter from LGA to JFK and then an Air India 707 over the pond. Nothing golden there. My return was on Air France with braised guinea hen for lunch (fancier meal then) connecting with Eastern at JFK back to Richmond. I believe that the round trip flight with connections cost about $350. Adjusted for inflation, that came to over $3, 100 in 2022.
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Ciera
No. I'm glad my parents were just babies then. I hate smoke and I am so glad that I didn't exist in the time when it was encouraged in planes. People didn't know about 2nd hand smoke then. No ventilation for it either. Ugh. How stinky it must have been. I've been flying since I was a baby. I have no memory of a first flight as it all feels natural to me and always has. I'm glad to be from the jet engine generation of flying.
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No. I'm glad my parents were just babies then. I hate smoke and I am so glad that I didn't exist in the time when it was encouraged in planes. People didn't know about 2nd hand smoke then. No ventilation for it either. Ugh. How stinky it must have been. I've been flying since I was a baby. I have no memory of a first flight as it all feels natural to me and always has. I'm glad to be from the jet engine generation of flying.
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Alexander
The 70s and 80s are way more fitting of the description of golden age of flying, as airliners like TWA, KLM and Pan American provided the highest of luxuries while still using cutting-edge technologies. The 747 Jumbo Jet, supersonic Concorde airliner and Douglas DC-10 three-engine plane made up the backbone of the jet age, combining the luxuries of days past with the advancements of the future.
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The 70s and 80s are way more fitting of the description of golden age of flying, as airliners like TWA, KLM and Pan American provided the highest of luxuries while still using cutting-edge technologies. The 747 Jumbo Jet, supersonic Concorde airliner and Douglas DC-10 three-engine plane made up the backbone of the jet age, combining the luxuries of days past with the advancements of the future.
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Spark
It was classier. As a child you were taken to meet the pilot and given a pin in the shape of a pair of wings. No security checks. The number of hijackings mentioned in this video sounds high. You probably could arrive at the airport just before your flight or a half hour before? Whoever wrote this narration missed the feeling of it.
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It was classier. As a child you were taken to meet the pilot and given a pin in the shape of a pair of wings. No security checks. The number of hijackings mentioned in this video sounds high. You probably could arrive at the airport just before your flight or a half hour before? Whoever wrote this narration missed the feeling of it.
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Debbie
I was born 1969 and i remember flying when i was in my 20s and the back part of the plane we could smoke. And i remember that air hostesses had to be a certain height (quite tall) and a certain weight (very thin) and wear tons of make-up, wear there hair up and wear a little hat. Things have def changed over the years
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I was born 1969 and i remember flying when i was in my 20s and the back part of the plane we could smoke. And i remember that air hostesses had to be a certain height (quite tall) and a certain weight (very thin) and wear tons of make-up, wear there hair up and wear a little hat. Things have def changed over the years
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Halloweenville.
These planes are from a long gone era, where people talked with their fellow passengers, looked at the clouds and used their imagination, and enjoyed the company of our fellow humans. Now we shut our brains off to everyone- and just stick our earphones in and avoid eye contact. sad days we live in.
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These planes are from a long gone era, where people talked with their fellow passengers, looked at the clouds and used their imagination, and enjoyed the company of our fellow humans. Now we shut our brains off to everyone- and just stick our earphones in and avoid eye contact. sad days we live in.
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Batz
awwww man! To light up a giant cigar and puff on that thing for an entire hour and a half as everyones eyes become blood red, all while throwing back free booze? Sign me up! Ill stumble out of the plane upon landing and greet the ground crew red eyed, hammered and smelling all sorts of awful. What a ride!
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awwww man! To light up a giant cigar and puff on that thing for an entire hour and a half as everyones eyes become blood red, all while throwing back free booze? Sign me up! Ill stumble out of the plane upon landing and greet the ground crew red eyed, hammered and smelling all sorts of awful. What a ride!
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Banter
My first flight I was a teenager. Before we took off we still had some time when I realized I was out of cigarettes and so asked a flight attendant if I could dart out of the plane and buy some. _What brand do you smoke? _
_Parliaments. _
She went and bought me a pack. This was in '72.
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My first flight I was a teenager. Before we took off we still had some time when I realized I was out of cigarettes and so asked a flight attendant if I could dart out of the plane and buy some. _What brand do you smoke? _
_Parliaments. _
She went and bought me a pack. This was in '72.
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Jamie
Smoking was still around when I started flying. Every seat had an ashtray in the arm. It was absolutely awful. The non-smoking section was literally the last two rows in the back of the plane. The only thing stopping the smoke was a 4 placard demarcating the boundary. It was ineffective.
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Smoking was still around when I started flying. Every seat had an ashtray in the arm. It was absolutely awful. The non-smoking section was literally the last two rows in the back of the plane. The only thing stopping the smoke was a 4 placard demarcating the boundary. It was ineffective.
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Bill
Not all the way to the gate, but all the way to the plane. I can remember when I was in the Army and when I came home on leave my parents actually walked on to the plane when I was going back to duty and put things in my carryon bags before they were chased away by the flight attendants.
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Not all the way to the gate, but all the way to the plane. I can remember when I was in the Army and when I came home on leave my parents actually walked on to the plane when I was going back to duty and put things in my carryon bags before they were chased away by the flight attendants.
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raa2005
Yep, no security in the early 70s. My dad use to walk my brothers and mom on to the airplane and leave when they were ready to shut the door; also, the airline they would pass out promo cigarettes boxes with each meal. This was at MIA airport Lacsa airlines around 1974
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Yep, no security in the early 70s. My dad use to walk my brothers and mom on to the airplane and leave when they were ready to shut the door; also, the airline they would pass out promo cigarettes boxes with each meal. This was at MIA airport Lacsa airlines around 1974
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Red
I worked airline catering at a major airport in the late 70s. Whatever booze the pilots and stewardesses didn't take went to the catering crews. I'd open a truck door and bunches of empty mini bottles would fall out. As long as no one hit an aircraft it was all good.
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I worked airline catering at a major airport in the late 70s. Whatever booze the pilots and stewardesses didn't take went to the catering crews. I'd open a truck door and bunches of empty mini bottles would fall out. As long as no one hit an aircraft it was all good.
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malthechal
The other things not mentioned, flight attendants could only work til they were 32 years old.
Also if they got pregnant they had to quit or if they wanted to continue working they would have to get an illegal abortion
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The other things not mentioned, flight attendants could only work til they were 32 years old.
Also if they got pregnant they had to quit or if they wanted to continue working they would have to get an illegal abortion
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