June 5, 2022
The history of human flight obviously began with the Wright Brothers. Then it followed a curious path of luxurious leaps in development alongside death-defying risks. After those famous siblings sent their Kitty Hawk Flyer 852 feet in less than a minute, humans continued to tinker with the tantalizing possibility of commercial flights with what seems like insane ideas today. Nevertheless, their ridiculous, dangerous, and hilarious innovations laid the groundwork for the borderline magical transportation we take for granted today. Here are some highlights of the early days of passenger travel.
Historic Passengers
Naturally, when life-changing inventions come about, many historic “firsts” occur with various qualifiers. Charles Furnas became a footnote in history even as he became the first passenger while working for the Wright Brothers. In Florida, Abram C. Pheil, former mayor of St. Petersburg, earned the distinction as the world’s first “commercial” passenger.
Never mind that the plane was literally described as a “flying boat” and Pheil constituted the journey’s sole passenger, the 20-minute flight across Tampa Bay went down in history. As it was declared on that monumental day, “What was impossible yesterday is an accomplishment today, while tomorrow heralds the unbelievable.”
A Rattling Death Trap
Some of that exciting “unbelievable” arrived in the form of a tin can with lawn chairs that clambered to roughly 3,000 feet on the power of a single propeller. Those early planes flew at a glacial 90 miles an hour and produced a racket akin to a lawnmower giving birth in a tunnel. Undoubtedly, the pictured “ripping panel” helped soothe the anxieties of the first intrepid travelers.
Look, A Movie!
In order to distract their passengers from the very real possibility of imminent death, they actually showed films on these early flights. Here’s a clipping of the advertisement for the first in-flight motion picture:
“Motion pictures on the screen while flying through the clouds at 90 miles an hour! History's first aerial movie show was on board the eleven-passenger hydroplane, Santa Maria, at the Chicago Pageant of Progress—and the first picture ever to be projected 2,000 feet above the earth's surface was 'Howdy Chicago!’
A screen was hung in the forecabin of the machine; a DeVry suit-case projection machine fastened firmly in position and connected with an electric light socket. The projectionist pressed the button and the audience beheld cinema views of Chicago while flying over Chicago!”
In reality, some vague shapes moved across what amounted to a sheet. They attempted to play audio via a radio which probably sounded a lot like the teacher in Peanuts,” Womp whomp whomp whop”.
Only For The Rich And Famous
Ironically, because of the exorbitant costs of air travel, only the richest people could fly. Therefore, despite the inherent stresses with the earliest forms of flight, only the people most unfamiliar with any form of unpleasantness traveled via plane. Smartly, the first airlines provided the most opulent window dressing possible in order to make up for the noise, turbulence, and litany of other discomforts.
A Pint Of Brandy With Your Boat Race?
The passengers pictured in this 1931 flight make the most of their cramped quarters by taking in a live radio broadcast of London’s annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities. They also likely imbibed to an early 19th-century degree which would make a modern frat house look like a religious retreat. Passengers dressed for a flight like an evening at the opera. Unfortunately, for some of those early passengers, the sexy stewardesses of the ‘60s lay many years away. They had to make do with male stewards in penguin suits, often referred to as “cabin boys.”