r/interestingasfuck • u/Neolithique • Jun 05 '23
Interior of a plane belonging to Imperial airways, the British commercial long-range airline, in 1936.
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Jun 05 '23
Do not hold onto your chairs, gentlemen, they will follow you wherever you take them.
Instead, allow our stewardess to furnish you with an iron hat. This will keep your head from being dashed against the ceiling if we run into some pesky air chop. Here, have a shot of whiskey and another Lucky Strike, that will calm your nerves.
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u/jeremycb29 Jun 06 '23
If I am on that plane when it is airborne I can promise you I will start smoking immediately
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u/ctesibius Jun 06 '23
Well, this is the advantage of a heavier-than-air conveyance. In an airship, one’s smoking is confined to a sealed and ventilated smoking room. Technology advances, gentlemen!
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u/Tullyally Jun 05 '23
I’m ok with the chairs, but the Ripping Panel scares me a little.
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u/Neolithique Jun 05 '23
"The ripping panel tore away from around the window, allowing the window to be removed or folded down, allowing the passengers to exit in an emergency. If you zoom in on the windows, you'll notice a loop of material above each window.”
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u/SubstantialEase567 Jun 05 '23
None of this nonsense of surviving a crash. That rattan was lightweight!
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u/Neolithique Jun 05 '23
I used to own a rattan chair, I shudder just thinking of the noise it makes when you move ever so slightly.
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u/Carefree_Highway Jun 05 '23
Oooh. This is the model that makes the red lines and stop dots on the map a La Indiana Jones. Edit spelling
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Jun 05 '23
of course it's a fucking WICKER chair.
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u/Neolithique Jun 06 '23 edited Jun 06 '23
The best way to end a crash is to land impaled on a wicker chair leg.
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u/Neolithique Jun 05 '23
“The aircraft is an Imperial Airlines biplane called a Handley Page W10. It had an enclosed cabin that fit 12 passengers and two crew members in an open cockpit. It was also the first airliner to have a bathroom on onboard.”
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u/1ksassa Jun 06 '23
first airliner to have a bathroom on onboard
Imagining a simple hole cut in the floor. Please prove me wrong.
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u/Lightweight_Hooligan Jun 05 '23
To put it in context, the "long range" probably meant 1000 miles in those days
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u/fixed_grin Jun 06 '23
Apparently these flew the first London-Paris service, so more like 250 miles.
And still like three hours. Train + ferry + train took eight, and I think I'd stick with that rather than trust a 1920s airliner.
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u/Lightweight_Hooligan Jun 06 '23
Mostly Croyden for the London airport as Heathrow hadn't been developed
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u/SpoonNZ Jun 06 '23
To put that in context, that was still a 12-hour flight. Cruise speed of 85mph.
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u/AZJenniferJames Jun 06 '23
“In the event of a water landing, you’re entire seat may be used as a floatation device.”
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u/Old_Administration51 Jun 05 '23
Air hostesses of the time would ask: 'Would Sir like a Spam and Egg sandwich?'
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u/OmegaCetacean Jun 06 '23
This looks so flammable. Did they give you a complementary rag doused in gasoline as well?
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u/GringerKringer Jun 06 '23
Check out that legroom
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u/IrocDewclaw Jun 06 '23
Says it carried 12 passengers.
If it was a Spirit Airline, it would hold 50.
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u/Space-Plate42 Jun 06 '23
They have a setup like this at The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn,MI. You can even sit in the chairs.
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u/Neolithique Jun 06 '23
I should visit someday
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u/Space-Plate42 Jun 06 '23
Definitely worth it if you’re ever in the Detroit area. One of the best museums I’ve ever been to. Also the Green Field Village complex that goes along with it is amazing.
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u/dannistdashaltso Jun 06 '23
I once had the pleasure to fly in a Junkers Ju 52/3m over Berlin and Brandenburg during a sightseeing flight. It didn't have wicker chairs but boy, was it shakey, rattling and loud compared to modern planes.
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u/MercatorLondon Jun 06 '23 edited Jun 06 '23
I much prefer seats and grand piano in Zeppelin that was flying long-range a bit earlier.
The grand piano was made of aluminum to save on weight. Because they were only taking necessary things with them :)
Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen is one of the top museums I visited.
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u/vincentcas Jun 06 '23
When a passenger complains about a modern airlines seat, the flight attendant should show them this picture.
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Jun 06 '23
I think that was my flight out of Charlotte last week. I heard they keep refurbishing planes.
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u/Debbie_Downer_777 Jun 08 '23
Long range flights on those rattan chairs ouch, my butt cheeks hurt just thinking about it.
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