Pan American Boeing 377 Stratocruiser Promo Film - 1950
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- Опубликовано: 20 мар 2014
- Film from the archives of Gordon Dencerin. One of the neatest vintage airliner promos around. Fantastic footage of PAA Strats, plus some nice vintage scenes of SFO as well. Be sure to check my channel for the best in VINTAGE & RARE airliner videos! / classicairli. .
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I flew in this one in1952,California to Honolulu, I am 88 this year. The food was fantastic, but it took 8 hours to get there. We were not rich, we were two young working girls and we paid 387.00 RT and we also saw humphry Bogart and Lauren Bacall at LAF. That was a plus in those days. We paid 27.50 for a very nice 2 room with kitchenete one block from waikiki beach. In those days there was only about 5 hotels on Kalakaua.Those were the days.
Yes very interesting. I love Hawaii, and I have been there several times thru the years, The last time I stayed there 5 months, all winter. By the way those stratocruisers were not that loud,great insulation I guess. I love Honolulu & Waikiki..
Jean you should write a book about your adventures, sounds fantastic!!
+ Jean Barton That 1952 $387 round trip ticket from LA to Honolulu would be $3620 in 2018 adjusted for inflation. This was indeed a luxury item.
That's great memories Jean. I agree you should tell us more about your times. Those were the times ;)
Thank you for sharing your stories :) i paid LAX ~HNL on Delta $350 round trip on last September. Cannot imagine paying almost equal amount of money in 1952 lol but of course i was in basic economy with no meals
Those were the days when we had class. I began flying in the '60's. People were dressed up, food and beverage service on the planes was immaculate and the seats were roomy and comfortable. Flying on planes today is a miserable experience.
CrazyWedz ... I know they did but that's just how people dressed in those days. They didn't have the casual style clothing we have today. It isn't overkill to dress decent while in public especially on a plane. It's a matter of self respect to go out in public decently attired.
werksdesign then again in those days all men dressed in suits, no matter what they did for a living. He might have worn coveralls at work, but when he left for the day he had on a suit & tie.
I flew in the Boeing Stratocruiser as a little kid back in 1950 or 51 out of San Francisco with my mom and brother to live in Honolulu for a year with family. Even though I was around 4 years old, I can still remember a couple scenes from that flight, looking out over the ocean and for some reason the front end of the plane. For sure the Boeing 377 had a unique front end design. My dad flew often in the later 50s early 60s, he was the concert organist for the Hammond Organ Company, flying all over the place to play demos and concerts. I also recall how expensive it was to fly, but it also had much more amenities, flying was a special event, something to look forward to. I grew up to become a frequent flyer both coast to coast and north to south, eventually I grew to dislike flying and if I had the opportunity to drive, I took it. Actually, I hate to fly now, just the thought of parking the car, waiting in lines for both check in and security and then waiting around for departure, notwithstanding delays, I never thought I would say this, but I would rather have a root canal. Love these old videos, I recognized Authur Godfrey's voice, an accomplished flyer in his own right as the commentator in the video. He certainly had a calm presentation and words to match, you could tell he really had his heart and soul into flying.
The Boeing Stratocruiser was basically a double decked B-50. As a seven year old I flew with my mother and brother from Birmingham Ala to Anchorage Alaska, my father in the Air Force was stationed at Elmendorf AFB. We flew to Chicago and then boarded a Northwest Airlines Stratocruiser for a flight to Edmonton Alberta and then on to Anchorage. I still remember that flight as if it was yesterday. We left Edmonton in a snowstorm, and flew non-stop to Anchorage, and there was nothing below but ice-ice and snow. The flight was bumpy due to air-pockets and as a kid I thought that was cool. but, the adults not so much! What memories!
Same hull design, wings, and engines as the C-97. Not that it should change your memories or anything.
Notice the heavy emphasis on maintenance and safety in the film. This was common in 1950s and 1960s aviation promo films, as back then every major airline lost at least a plane a year, sometimes two. Flying then may seem glamorous to us, but there was a reason why flight life insurance was such a huge business back then.
When my brother and I first flew (on a series of international flights) as unaccompanied little kids, a flight attendant told us stories about the Stratocruisers that Pan Am was then flying. For ten years after that, I dreamed of flying in (or at least seeing in real life) one of those airplanes some day. Then, when I was preparing for a trip that included my next flights as an airline passenger, I was disappointed to learn that Stratocruisers were no longer used by U.S. airlines to transport passengers. Six years later, during Pan Am's first months of flying the 747, I began 8 wonderful years as a Pan Am flight attendant and purser, flying mostly 747s. Because of those experiences, I remain interested in the history of both Pan Am and the Stratocruiser. I found this film fascinating, particularly as it provided a look (albeit idealized) into what what it was like to be a passenger, and glimpses of working as cabin crew, on a Pan Am Stratocruiser. Female passengers and flight attendants wearing hats inflight! Sleeping berths as wide as those found on Canadian National trains crossing Canada two decades later! A navigator using celestial navigation via a sextant (positioned in a hole in the ceiling of the cockpit?) to navigate (which was still being done on the Pan Am 707s I flew on South Pacific trips in the 1970s)! Workers in swimsuits wading into waist-deep water to remove the tires from a departing Pan Am flying boat that was floating on the water after it had rolled into the water on those tires! And much more.... Thank you for posting this film.
I worked for Lockheed Aircraft Service in the late 1950's and they had a Stratocruiser stored on the field. They were out of service then. Maybe it was a trade-in, I don't know. But it was impressive and sad-looking, just standing there week after week silent and unused.
I notice in the engine start sequence at around the 4-minute mark that due to the almost total absence of smoke and exhaust flames from accumulated engine oil in the lower cylinders that radial engines are famous for, that immediately prior to this scene being shot, the engines must have been started, warmed up and then shut down
Good times back then. I'm 82 and remember flying with Pan AM as a kid on the clipper routes with my mom and dad. Always a thrill.
Back when I was a kid, at night we'd hear the big airliners fly overhead. Of course they flew in the daytime as well, but at night, it was kind of special. They made a deep droning sound and you could tell when they passed because of the Doppler Effect.The sound would drop. Higher pitched approaching and lower pitched going away. It might take five minutes from when you first heard them to when they faded away.
I can still remember thinking that up in that little point of sound, there were people. Actual people.
So nice to read comments, both pro and con, without having to put up with some internet troll's negativity. Just a nice group of people sharing, and commenting on their experiences of days long past. I'm glad to see civility actually lives on RUclips, especially among those with dissenting viewpoints. May good manners never go out of style.
Very well said and VERY true!!!
I too appreciate good manners and it is nice when people can share their experiences without resorting to negative speech and name calling. However I do admit that sometimes a troller can spice things up a bit if things get a tad too polite.
JACK ANTHONY too polite!? 🤣
TROLL REPORTING! ....."man will never fly".
The aircraft shown at the beginning of the video (_hull number 15923, Pan Am Clipper America, then Clipper Golden Gate, N1023V_) was written off after a crash landing in Manila, Philippines in 1 June 1958. The landing gear collapsed after a hard landing during a thunderstorm, the aircraft slid off the runway, and one of the propeller blades from the #3 engine entered the cabin, killing one passenger.
I crossed the Atlantic on one of these in 1957, when I was 8 years old, New York to London with a stop at Shannon airport, Ireland. Slept in one of those berths.
I always dreamed it would be a thrill to sleep in one of the berths. How would you describe it? Was the drone of the engines disturbing? Was the bed comfy? Could you look out the window? Or were you just too excited to sleep?
yankfroggy I was pretty excited but I do remember waking up in the berth so I guess I fell asleep. You couldn't look out the window from the bed and it was comfy, but anything is comfy to an 8 year old. It was a long flight -- 13 hours as I recall -- so it did get a bit boring after a while. We took off in daylight, flew through the night and landed at Shannon Airport in Ireland to refuel in the morning. Then off to London.
Thanks for sharing that. At that same age, we sailed to NY from France in the SS United States. That was quite a thrill too.
yankfroggy Great stories from both you guys, thanks for sharing.
Wow. I would have loved flying on one of these.
It's easy to be nostalgic about air travel in those days, but the cost to passengers was high compared to today - roughly $7,000 NYC to London in 1955. And the film fails to capture the roar of the four 3500 HP radial engines, along with the vibration. A cocktail got mixed just sitting on your table (but, hey, we actually had a table back then). But one kept their hand on the glass because they were NOT really above the turbulence. What I miss most is the people. Like the video, I wore a suit whenever flying and women wore conservative, smart clothing. And people behaved similarly - courteous and relaxed.
Ron D'Eau Claire This must be in top comments. Not to mention there are still 7k tickets for the top class with the same amount of personal space and services.
Civilized travel
@ InfiniteMushroom:
I totally agree. Air travel today is little more than sardines in a tin.
As a 7 year-old, I travelled trans-Tasman with TEAL, in one of their Solent flying-boats. Even tho' we departed Sydney harbour at midnight (arriving in Auckland the following morning) my mother wore her best frock and I was also in my "Sunday clothes".
It may have been expensive then, but that was in an era when the trip was part of the experience, not just a way of getting to a destination.
travel passengers with proper manners and dress then with flight service but aircraft where props . today no proper wear of dress or behavior with high flying jet liners in opinon
@@achris1212 Civilized travel for civilized people. But travel was incredibly expensive.
I love these old promo films. The glamour of flying back then, especially with Pan Am. Every passenger is dressed in their Sunday best, the food was real, the service spectacular, and it was a real event to travel. These days, I see punks wearing tank tops and flip flops...no I am not going there...to sound like one of those old cranky bastards "in my day..." You all know what I mean,
Flip flops and pajama pants
This was the first airplane I rode in - BIG really BIG as I remember. My Mom, Dad and I flew from Spokane Washington to Minneapolis St Paul Minnesota in April 1954. A memorable experience, so remember the double deck.
Wow, thanks for that Patricia...I'm guessing Northwest Orient Airlines, then?
+Dennis Wilson In those days, the Civil Aeronautics Board set all the prices. The only difference between carriers was each carrier's own personality with food/drink/service.
Northwest' was always great with passenger service. Northwest did not use the mini bottles of whiskey. Many times the stewardess would leave me the entire bottle, a FIFTH of my choice of whiskey would be left on my table for me to pour my own.
I flew from London to Bermuda, via Gander, in one in early 1953. For an air-minded 12-year-old it was the utmost experience. So pleased to find this footage, my grandchildren will be astonished!
Funny how planes these days are almost twice as fast, more than twice as large, but somehow their seats are half the size and food or even a drink is rare...
Quite right. It seems the design outside has advanced, while the design inside seems to be downgrading...(Besides the obvious entertainment editions and other modern 'luxuries' of course)
and economy prices are...10..15 times? cheaper. thats the reason why.
however going first class will give you much better service and space than you can see here in the video.
+Digi20 true. Nothing beats international first.
... and we now have so many more fat people than we used to.
I'm 5' 11' and I weigh 138 lb. so, ...
Liche Christ
Don't the airlines now charge two tickets for anyone over 300 pounds?
The past, sounds like the future should sound!
+DoctorDARKSIDE -- Check out 'Emirates A380 First Class: Showers and Suites' (7 mins video) it is a direct modern day parallel to this Stratocruiser Promo Film.
+John C It would be interesting to do a comparison of fares in inflation-adjusted dollars, between a modern A380 first class flight and an early 1950's Stratocruiser flight on the same or similar route. Does a passenger get more or less for their money today?
+Stacie45 In 1950 a first class berth flight from New York to London was $800. That's just under $8000 in today's dollars. Today a one way first ticket starts at around $5000 on United with a sleeper seat. So it's actually cheaper today, in addition to being way faster.
gotham61 That's progress, I suppose. And it is also safer.
That's because the Monetary System we live in, limits greatly advancements because it promotes greed, so we have the mediocre service of today
My God, does this bring back memories! My family spent the 50s in the Philippines, and when going to and from the States, usually flew Pan American --- which, at that time, usually meant the Stratocruiser.(and also, at that time, stops on Wake, Guam, and in Honolulu, before continuing on to California). Yes, they were ugly; but they were also among the most comfortable planes I've ever flown. In addition to berths (very comfortable), they also had sleeper seats; and as for the lower lounge, it was super! (There was an unspoken understanding that come cocktail time, children would return to the upper level.) Sad to say, they were not very economical to run, and with the introduction of the DC-7 (and later, the jets), Pan Am withdrew them from service.
I remember many Tokyo -Honolulu and Honolulu San Francisco trips as a kid with my parents. Guam and Wake were interesting stops. I have one of those Pan Am certificates on my wall... Domain of Phoebus Apollo... awarded when you cross the Int'l Date Line. And I do recall the lower lounge ... I still have the Pan Am coloring book.
1957, the air refueling model was my first assignment after USAF training.
I was so excited and still love that airplane.
You served on the KC-97 Curtis?
+Classic Airliners & Vintage Pop Culture yes
Curtis Gregory you guys flying as fast as you can, while the Jets you are refueling are just hanging on the edge of a stall.
wow a lucky guy right after training have seen KC-97 at USAF Museum sitting outside
Boeing KC-135 solve that difference in airspeed
Watching these training and promotional films from the 1940s and 1950s is so much fun. It still makes me chuckle to see how much people smoked. Lighting up a cigarette on an aircraft these days would get you in some hot water.
That is AMAZING. The 377 was so far ahead of its time.
My parents flew a Northwest Airline Stratocruiser from Detroit to Minneapolis on a Sunday. Because liquor wasn't sold on Sundays in Wisconsin, the stewardess collected all of the passengers' drinks before the plane entered airspace over Wisconsin. When they entered Minnesota airspace again, the drinks were returned (presumably to be quickly consumed before landing in Minneapolis!)
25 people believe that the A380 was the first double decker aircraft.
The Breguet BR763 2 ponts enter in service in same time as the Boeing Stratocruiser...so no the A380 is not the first full fuselage lenght double decker
17:21 "maintain a constant flow of fresh air" as they light a couple up...:-D
Since they have banned cigarettes on aircraft the air quality in the aircraft has decreased markedly. This has lead to an increase in passenger health issues, disease transfer and air rage incidents.
Yes indeed! I miss the sweet, healthy, clean air when smoking on planes was OK.
Not to mention, my clothes smelling like an ashtray. Those were the days!
I remember when the pilots could have a drink or two and everything was fine.. and yes the cig smoke did have positives to it.
What an amazing documentary - all those classic propliners! I love the old footage. Pity that no B-777s exist; however, I have been fortunate to have boarded two KC-97 museum pieces. They are impressive machines both inside and out. They have a personality all their own. Thanks for the great footage!
When I was young we lived about 2 miles away from
an Air Force base with KC 97 tankers, they had run
up stands for the R 4360 radial engines after overhaul
and heavy maintenance and I remember hearing that
sound many times during the summer nights.
A great documentary!! Such a shame Pan Am went out of business!! They knew how to treat passengers!! Today our American airlines are the worst!! No service and if one is flying First Class, terrible food!! The American airline companies should study the European, Asian, and Midde Eastern airlines for quality service. Emirates, Qatar, Singapore, and Lufthansa know how to treat passengers!!
+concorde197 I loved this documentary, too, having been privileged to fly on Pan Am (DC-6, DC_7, and yes, the Stratocruiser, There is also another documentary, currently available on RUclips called "Come fly with me: the story of Pan Am." (And as a special bonus, it's narrated by Honor Blackman,) I hope you'll enjoy it!
Best flight we ever had was on PAA. A stretched 707 with more crew than passengers departing from Tokyo Dec 25 @ 2030 and arrived in LA @ 1130 Dec 25, 1966. We slept in first class and half the crew slept in the tail. 7 passengers and 14 crew and a batch of mail. They did save on the fuel by catching a jet stream and shutting down 2 engines. PAA was THE airline of the US.
Derek The Arab world no doubt has some of the finest airline service in the industry especially in first and business class with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates leading the way. I cannot afford such services however, so all I have in this life to do is dream about flying on Qatar, Emirates and Etihad.
Derek A
The aircraft in this video N1023V had an incident in Manila on 2 June 1958. It had a hard landing which in turn collapsed the undercarriage. A passenger was killed when a blade from engine #3 broke off and penetrated the cabin.
Those days.. It was a great feeling...
The 'pilot' portrayed in this promo film is none other than, Robert Downey Sr., father of actor Robert Downey Jr.
Where is he ?????????????????????
He's the dude playing the dude playing the other dude.
Click on the number 5:00
Nope. Because Robert Downey Sr would have been 14 years old when this promo came out.
One last sad note: "Clipper Golden Gate," seen in the opening sequences of this promo. film, crashed on June 2, 1958, while attempting to land in Manila during poor weather (heavy winds, heavy rain). My family lived in Manila at that time; our house was not far from the airport. That morning, during breakfast, we heard the plane fly over. Loving commercial flying, as I did then, I knew something was not quite right: it was way too loud, which meant it was flying lower than usual. Returning home for lunch, I heard that the plane had crashed moments after flying over the house. During the hard landing, the undercarriage collapsed; mercifully, there was only one fatality (a propeller blade broke off, penetrating the cabin).
William Lindesmith wow I wish I could time travel
Thank-you for posting this video . It's a great history lesson .
Growing up in LaGrange Illinois I got to see a lot of these coming in to land at Midway; mostly Northwest Orient.
Magnificent airframe. One of my all time favorite airplanes ever made.
Grew up flying in the 60's : DC-4, DC-6, Vickers Viscount, B-707, B-720, B-727, DC-8, DC-9, Convair 990 all excellent planes. Starting with the ugly 747 airline travel changed from a wonderful experience to the nightmare it is today. Seats are tiny, everyone crammed together, rude, hostility, lousy service if any. Thankful to have known the good times. Wish I could have flown on this bird here.
I heard the first gen 747s were cool a lounge bar piano.
The glory days of commercial aviation...when flying was fun...an adventure....Thrilling,cool as can be and pilots were "Gods" and the stewardesses....The angels of the sky......I was a kid and I loved it
She cost 1.5 million dollars. Boy how the value of money has changed. People may say "yes but it's all relative" but is it? Back then, one income was enough to sustain a full family. Now, 2 incomes only just cuts it.
Ah back in the days before skyjackers and religious maniacs flying planes into buildings. When flying was an adventure and the ultimate experience. I envy this carefree period .
The 377 was indeed the 747 of its time, but with a bar and sleeping berths. These particular aircrafts were plagued with the same engine troubles that the B-29 went through, for obvious reasons.
I think they scrapped the Wright R 3350 and went with a Pratt & Whitney R 4360 "Corncob" which was more reliable despite being devilishly complex.
Dennis Wilson Thanks for your comment Dennis. I did not know what a PRT was. Instead of saying "What?" I Googled it. You learn something new every day : )
Great and beatiful of this documentary film of this important model of Boeing.thanks!
Waiting for the captain to turn off the no smoking sign?
Ha, they didn't even HAVE a no smoking sign.
fantastic documentary.
Awesom. As a teenager flew on them on PamAm flights from Fairbanks AK to Seattle WA. Then the jets came.... .
These flight crews of the time were war veterans and highly trained airmen. Service provided by sincerely desecrated staff. What a great time in American aviation.
great stuff, didn't know much about this one.
@Chuck Moore, the Stratocruiser was based on the C-97 Stratofreighter used by the Air Force for many years. Elements from the B-29 Superfortress were used in the design of both.
B-29, B-50, KC-97 all share a similar wing with strengthening for the B-50/KC-97/B-377 and span is the same for all.
Im no aviation expert, but I wasnt aware that a propeller type plane could function that well in that high of an altitude! great video
Ralph Sanchico they could with turbocharged engines. In reality all,a jet engine is is a big turbocharger with a combustion section and an exhaust.
@@kdrapertrucker But isn't their claim at ruclips.net/video/v92U2F9gbUo/видео.html "into the stratosphere" inaccurate?
I would have loved to have been a passenger on this aircraft.
excellent what a diffrent world
The wind tunnel shown at 10:55 is named after Eddie Allen, the legendary Boeing test pilot that was killed flight testing the XB-29.
"The pilot's parlor"
The best thing about flying back then? The person next to you wasn't 240 pounds with their flabby elbows hanging over the armrest invading your personal space.
Also, kids were seen and not heard back then, now a days the pre-flight announcement should be "Hello everyone and welcome aboard Screaming Baby Airlines"
Super Kyle right. Babies didn’t cry back then. Ok. 🤣
Why do you hate yourself?
Just 240 would be great. How about 340 or more? Fat people should pay more for tickets. Trucks pay higher road taxes than cars so why not?
2:59 There literally was a kid on the plane
Flew on a Pan Am Stratocruiser from San Francisco to Honolulu, at age 6, unaccompanied, in 1951. Can a 6 year old fly alone nowadays?
9 hours and 15 minutes per a diary I kept at the time. I think that's 2410 miles, so that's about 260 mph. Maybe into a headwind, I don't know.
Only about 60 made I think.
It wasn't my first airplane flight and I don't recall much about it. I doubt if I slept in the provided bunks and I have no memory of the noise level of those B-29 engines hammering a few feet away.
It couldn't have been any noisier than the twin engine United Air Lines Convair I used to ride all the time between Reno and San Francisco in the 1960s. I think they had pretty much the same engines as the Stratocruiser. Only 2 of them, but likely situated closer to the cabin. Deafening.
I'm wondering if there is any correlation between the demise of Pan Am and the direction of the country since then?
Yes Un-accompanied minors may still fly. SOMETIMES they even wind up flying into the right airport. (lol)
The US Air Force used these planes as tankers too. This plane has it's roots in the B-29 bomber of WW2
I flew 1st class on Flying Tigers to Vietnam. Quite a delightful flight if I must say.
Just simply the 50's and 70's rocks..!
The older I become (Wiser?) the more I miss the days gone by. I'm not old enough to have lived through the really great times from around the turn of the Twentieth century on, even some of the tough times like those around World War Two, but I really wish I could have experienced those incredible times, and as I am a lifelong Aviation enthusiast and pilot from an Aviation family at reaching back to the very tear the Wright Brothers first successfully flew a heavier than air craft, I would have most wanted to revel in the experience of The True Golden Age of Aviation before it became no different to most people than riding a bus. This video shows a glimpse of these times but better than this would have been the Pre War Amphibious Clippers that roamed the world, Amazing! Awesome!
I couldn't even imagine routine maintenance on a plane like that. Time to change out all 224 spark plugs!! Oh man!
RSMith816 How about the B-36 with 6 of those monsters ?
Rob Mackenzie or the hughes h1 with 8
+RSMith816 correct 224 spark plugs + 2 plugs on APU,,,, I have been there/done that many times.
If my memory is right, engine overhaul for the R-4360 piston engine was 600 hours in 1958.
today turbo jet engines are probably well over 10,000 hours for overhaul.
Some peoples comments here are kind of sad, "ugly/slow/noisy/small/unsafe, etc."
These were great airplanes, me over 10,000 hours and 100's of ocean crossings without a single major incident.
but i think the turbo ones get more flight hours per overhaul
Used see these come into Sydney (Kingsford Smith aerodrome)...PanAm....often !
When this was filmed the Comet had already flown and came into service 2 years later. Unfortunately metal fatigue wasn't well understood and two were lost with all passengers clearing the way for the 707.
As soon as the Comet flew the piston engine airliner was a dead end. Boeing were already working on Jet Transports by the time of this film.
Yeah, the 377 was a stop-gap aircraft, meant to bridge the gap to a jet transport.
them were the days I love the 50s
Fact is, most of the working class couldn't afford these far flung air vacations of yesteryear whereas today the opposite is true, albeit in cramp seating.
Those "sleeper berths" how cool is that!
A beautiful and amazing airliner but developed and built only with the help of massive U.S. government subsidies and a commercial failure mostly due to it's thirsty and hugely maintenance intensive Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major engines.
YES, The design of the Boeing STRATOCRUISER was based on the Boeing B-29 bomber which required millions in public $$$$. The USAF also bought them in numbers for various capabilities such as in-flight re-fueling tanker etc. US government has been heavily involved in the aircraft industry ever since WWII. One of the reasons why the post war airlines no longer needed seaplanes is that the airlines were able to use the many airfields built by the military during the war. This practice has gone on to the present day. Many non-US airlines are either government run or also heavily subsidized by their national governments.This is nothing new. Every nation wants airlines and glitzy new airports to demonstrate to the world that they are modern and up to date. Fly 'EMIRATES" lately?
First Officer Jeni Mellotrongirl here! I hope to see you all aboard a Clipper for an enjoyable flight soon!
Mellotron, huh? Well lets kick up a little "2,000 Light Years From Home"?!
2:27 On an airline these days the dog in that crate would be considered as flying in Premium Economy and the birds would have to pay for their water.
amazing.
Did I see flat beds? That's cool!
I flew in these airliners, I still remember.
I remember a trip to Hawaii when I was eight, and we were scheduled to take one of these wonderful airliners. Some complication intervened, and we were rescheduled to take what I think was a DC4. I'm not sure tho, cause this was back in '58, I think. Anyway, I hated the trip because of the unpressurised cabin, my ears hurt, and I didn't know why. The thing was noisy as hell too, and I remained scared the whole flight. Still regret not taking the Stratocruiser.
harvey wind If the aircraft you flew on was unpressurised and had four engines, then there's a good chance it was a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster. What airline flew you to Hawaii on a DC-4 in 1958?
wish I could remember that, I was around five or six years old.after being promised a new streamlined beauty, it was scary on that old rattletrap. Probably ex-military with many hours.
+Dan Uscian Hi, Dan: you (and Harvey) might be interested in the following, taken from the 1959-1960 edition of "Fielding's Travel guide to Europe." Icelandic Airlines' "aircraft now in service are single-class DC-4s - the faithful, dependable Skymasters which have crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific more than 40-thouosand times. Two complimentary full-course meals are served; so is free cognac and a free midnight snack. A maximum of 58 passengers is carried, which gives the priceless boon of extra legroom. ... All transatlantic flights touch down at Reykjavik, to give their passengers a dividend peek at Iceland." From New York, "low season, round trip rates are $392.20 to London, $409.40 to Copenhagen, $432.10 to Hamburg ... plus other similar reductions." (HEAVY SIGH.) Those were the days!
+William Lindesmith Hello Will, wish I could have flown on that DC-4 back in the day! However, I did fly Loftleidir Icelandic Airlines back in July, 1975 from Chicago to Keflavik on one of their stretch DC-8's. We didn't get two meals, only one, but I recall it being pretty tasty for airline food and it also included that glass of cognac. Legroom was just the opposite as Loftleidir really crammed the seats in that "8" to maintain their low airfares to Europe.
+Dan Uscian Hi, Dan: I don't suppose there's any longer a carrier that offers comfort paired with genuinely low fares. Keeping it mind, it's been close to ten years since I've flown trans-Atlantic, while the seats were small and the legroom almost non-existent (or so it seemed to a man who's 6'1"), at least meals (full meal plus a snack) were still served, and they weren't bad: Air France and Sabena (remember them?) were pretty good; Delta and United, marginal --- but in all cases, at least they were complimentary!
I read where the 377's propellers had a tendency to "run away."
Dennis Wilson thanks for your response. Flew on the KC-97 while stationed in Newfoundland, and it was always in the back of my mind that props would separate.
Dennis Wilson
wow. Thanks for the info.
Sam Nilloonww , the ANG C-97s , I have 2100+ as Pilot in one were converted to Ham Standard from Curtis Electric ones and the runaway props were history. Dennis, the Hams were the Heavy Ones as the CG was moved forward and SAC 97's had a tendency to touchdown nose wheel first. SAC had to have every thing standard, so the pilots were taught to land always with full flaps even though in the Dash One, was a chart with Gross Wt vs Flap Setting. At under 125,000 if you landed with 55% Flaps the plane landed like a normal airplane. I was in the "Hollywood Air Force" Van Nuys Air National Guard 61 -75.
Beautiful bird, but the 4360 was not a reliable engine. The plugs would foul out regularly, sometimes during taxi from the terminal to the runway. The engineer's panel was a nightmare of dials.
I haven't looked up the crash/fatality rate for the old piston commercial passenger planes.
@@wholeNwon Over 20% of the Stratocruisers were lost to accidents and they had a conspicuously high rate of in-flight emergencies, mostly due to engine and propeller problems. The Stratocruiser left the scene more quickly than did other aircraft of the same vintage because they were a costly maintenance nightmare.
It must have been noisy with those four engines.
Two businessmen smoking. I love it.
This is the plane I few on while in the USAF 1960-1964...converted to the KC-97 Air refueling tanker. Fond memories.
I was born a decade late the 1950s seem awesome!
The design of Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was based upon B-29 strategic bomber which was a nightmare for Japanese civilians during the Pacific War. Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a typical example of conversion of military technology to civilian applications. The same goes for Boeing 747 Jumbo jet too.
What did the 747 develop from? As far as I know the 747 was a completely new design.
+KKTrain Springer Boeing 747 Jumbo jet was originally designed as a military transport. But the U.S. military forces decided to adopt Galaxy instead. So Boeing redesigned 747 Jumbo jet as a civilian airplane, and it brought huge profits to Boeing.
KKTrain Springer 747 sprung from the C-5 program, Boeing lost that bid to Lockheed, but when Pan Am asked them for an interim airliner that could cruise at .75 mach and could be easily converted into a freighter when the super sonic transports were launched Boeing took what they'd learned from their C-5 experience. The wide body was designed to fit 2 standard freight cargo pallets side by side, the cockpit was set above to make it possible to add a oversized nose cargo door, the hump behind the cockpit was designed to give the cockpit the area rule streamlining it needed and Pan Am president Juan trip decided that that space should be used, and originally it was a piano lounge.
Thank you for this video...best regards from Germany...
Cool film
Yeah, it's very luxurious and everything, but where's the bathroom at?
Plant 2 is shown at 14:53. It was torn down a few years ago.
Those planes had a poor reliability reputation. In-flight engine failures and thrown prop blades were not at all uncommon.
BCS Technology Limited Yet they were made to be able to complete the journey with a single engine working.
BCS Technology Limited yeah, those engines had to work really hard to haul that airframe up to altitude, they had the same problems as the B-29/B-50 and engine fires were fairly common. I am surprised that they hadn't converted the aircraft to turboprops by the early 1950's. They'd have saved a fortune in maintenance costs.
@@kdrapertrucker less maintainance, but the turbo props eat twice the fuel from the piston engines...(but 115 octane gas cost twice the kerozene...)
strange to think this plane crashed in Manilla about 10 years after the film was made. 1 person killed when it skidded off runway and propelled penetrated the cabin.
Now that's quality service. Really flying when people dressed having the self-respect missing today. At LAX, a 30-ish woman wearing a micro skirt and a linen white top, no bra, several buttons undone very high heels, was refused passage on a Southwest flight and was she screaming. The airline didn't cave, the lady threatened to sue everybody. That is today miles from travel shown in this video
Just 2 years before I was born and how times have changed what will the next 60 years bring I guess we will have to wait and see.
Those old times when big airplanes were still treated as ocean liners.
Cool planes but not particularly good. Only 56 were built and of those there were 13 hull loss accidents.
Yes, there's a certain poignancy to watching this 1950 Pan Am promo while knowing the awful safety record these beasts would accrue, especially in the Pan Am fleet. Makes me feel fortunate nothing bad happened when I flew in one as a wee babe.
Yes, it's kind of poignant seeing this 1950 Pan Am promo while knowing of the awful safety record these beasts would accrue, especially with Pan Am.
IMAGINE... PLENTY OF LEG ROOM AND A 7 COURSE MEAL...!!!!!!! NOW YOU'RE LUCKY IF YOU GET A BAG OF PEANUTS!!!!!!
Air travel in those days was for the well-off. The average family couldn't afford it. I love those stylish people in the video. Today any slob can fly in those cramped seats in todays jets.
Nov 8,1949. Pan Am Clipper "Westward Ho". London to New York, via Gander. Six years and one day old, unaccompanied. First flight.
A very nice airplane for the time, with one big problem: It didn't sell.
+MrShobar Also, the jet age was coming in...
Nota nice haha it was ugly
LO CLASSIC DE ESOS TIEMPOS...
The "pilot's parlor"? I bet all the pilots called it that....
Un regalo para los viejos pilotos y para los viejos no pilotos.
Quien no recuerda a estos gigantes del aire.
This plane was not successful. Did not last long. Would have loved to fly on this. Made it on to the Dc-3, DC-4, DC-6 and Connie. Vickers Viscount.
It was more fun than today.
Nope, they only existed cuz not everybody trusted jets yet...jets way more fast and efficient, burn kerosene instead of 100+ octane gasoline..
+Semsem Eini I envy you the Connie: THE one from that era I missed. (I still carry a tiny residual grudge against TWA: my mother, sister, and I were to fly it from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, where we would join me father and make a connection to Pan Am. The flight was delayed in Chicago; TWA gave us the choice of waiting for the Connie or switching to a Western Airlines flight: because of the necessity of making that connection, we took a Western DC-6 instead of a TWA Connie.)
+William Lindesmith
I loved the Connie; TWA and KLM. From Cairo to Europe.
But I wish I had made the Stratocruiser and the Bristol Brittania. I missed it by one year ending up on a Boeing 720B in 1962.
I would have liked to fly the Atlantic on a prop. My father did in 1956 and I regretted after he passed away never talking about it.
+Semsem Eini I only saw a Brittania one time (Rome, taxiing out), but I had the pleasure many times of flying on Viscounts (to my mind, still one of the niftiest planes in the sky).As you know, I never made was able to fly on a Constellation myself, but growing up in Manila, I had the opportunity to see some prime examples: Air France, KLM, and Qantas.My father did a fair amount of flying for business, so it was pretty routine for him. But one thing really DID impress him: in the 1950s, Western Airlines served what they call a "hunt breakfast," prepared and served-to-order from an ingeniously designed "mobile kitchen" cart, there in the aisle. This left such an outsized memory with him that he would mention it from time to time, right up until his death.Oh, goodness: seeing what flying is like now, that all seems to have been centuries ago!
Most prop airliners had a short life in the air due to the Advent of the Comet, 707, DC9 and a few others. The turbo compound engines or expensive to maintain and so aircraft equipped with them were quickly scrapped. They were however the Pinnacle of piston engine evolution for aircraft.
How much time are they on the plane? I could barely get through 3 movies on my flight from DFW to LHR.
A great aircraft but man was it gangly!!
Based on the B-29/B-50 , the Stratoclipper/ Boeing 377 was a commercial failure because Douglas and Lockheed built better planes, DC-6/7 and Lockheed Constallation and the brits Comet made them all obsolete , but at least she was famous as C-97/ KC-97 and in our days even AIRBUS used the Guppy based on the stratoclipper , transporting AIRBUS parts between various factorys.
The massive engineers panel and engineer himself - now gone from aircraft. A good example of automation replacing a highly skilled job.