What did the glory days of air travel look like? These vintage photos below show just how glamorous flying was, with champagne, full-on sleeper beds, the works.
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Waiter service aboard Imperial Airways 'Scylla' during its flight from London to Paris, circa 1935. |
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Passengers enjoying a drink and a game of cards in the cabin of an Imperial Airways plane in 1936. |
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Preparing lunch on the Imperial Airways aeroplane 'Scylla', 19 November 1936. |
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Day cabin of an Imperial Airways flying boat, most likely of the Short Empire class, in August 1936. |
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A sleeping berth on an Imperial Airways aircraft in March 1937. |
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A male flight attendant walks with his arms linked with two female flight attendants in front of a small plane in the 1940's. |
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Stewardess in Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis), about 1945. |
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Baby travels by plane in New York In July 1945. |
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A Douglas DC-3 airliner of Eastern Airlines ('The Great Silver Fleet') seen through the window of a viewing gallery at an airport, circa 1945. |
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Air hostess Patricia Palley attends to passengers in the decorated cabin of a Pan-American air liner over the Atlantic on December 23, 1946. |
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19th January 1950: Trainee air hostess, Claire Swan, during a training session in a BOAC mock aircraft. |
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A female instructor stands at a chalkboard, pointing to a chalk diagram of an airplane while female students take notes at their desks during a stewardess training school, 1950. |
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Luggage being unloaded from airplane, circa 1950s. |
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Luggage being unloaded from airplane, circa 1950s. |
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Luggage being unloaded from airplane, circa 1950s. |
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A Pan American World Airways flight attendant preparing in-flight meals in the galley of an airliner, circa 1950. |
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A bus in the bus docks at New York's East Side Airlines Terminal. The docks are open on one side to permit exhaust fumes to escape, circa 1955. |
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Passengers checking in at New York's East Side Airlines Terminal, circa 1955. |
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Passengers checking in their baggage at New York's East Side Airlines Terminal, circa 1955. |
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Passengers checking in their baggage at New York's East Side Airlines Terminal, circa 1955. |
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New York's East Side Airlines Terminal which operates on a 24 hour basis to provide transportation to every flight leaving from the city's various airports, around 1955. |
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A TWA pilot and stewardess greets the passengers coming off the plane, ca.1950s, Cincinnati, Ohio. |