Convair & the Jet Age

[write-light.livejournal.com]

Convair, 1950s/1960s (undated)

As a former Angeleno, L.A. Airport will always be a special place.  This poster captures some of what made it special in the 1960s, and the moonlight is an especially nice touch.  Sleek, radiant, fast.


FULL SIZE 1033x1397!

A large collection of vintage flying and vintage Convair ads is HERE.   Three of those are selected here:

Worth enlarging for the text and the image detail.


Full size: 1600x1062

Convair 880, and a Monroe-like woman boarding with her travel bag on that white carpet they used to roll out. ;)
 The Convair 880 over the old Idlewild airport near New York City.  Flames from the jets, even. :D

Comments

LAX

[teamrodent.livejournal.com]

First time I was ever on a moving walkway. :)

Edit: Wrong name. :P (The "people-mover" was in the Dallas - Fort Worth airport.)

[noluck-boston.livejournal.com]

The Convair 880 and 900 were incredible planes. However they were sales duds. Delta and TWA purchased the 880 and American purchased the 990.

They were going to give Boeing and Douglas a run or the money. To fly faster than the 707 or the dc-8. Sadly it never met its true goal of 660 MPH. It was still fast, faster then most commercial flights today. Sadly, with more speed, means more fuel burn. There are some preserved today, but none are flying. :(

[emmabovary.livejournal.com]

I love how the word "planes" was not yet part of the vocabulary. Jetliner, airliner; nobody says this anymore :(

[vespurrs.livejournal.com]

I'm really disappointed that the future didn't live up to its promise. :/

[khh1138.livejournal.com]

This morning I was watching the movie "Sunday in New York" on TV (1963 Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor, Cliff Robertson) and I got a nice laugh because they showed the inside of our lovely LAX at one point in the movie (the Cliff Robertson character is a pilot supposed to be flying from NY to Pittsburgh). Great time capsule for this era. They show people checking in and picking off their seat number from a little chart -- lots of nice details of things we don't do anymore!

[write-light.livejournal.com]

That's cool! :D I have (or had??) a seating chart that was all pull-off stickers- you just took one (or the agent did, I suppose) and stuck it on the ticket. They knew what was taken and what was left and it was all very tactile.

[hutchlover.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, what a pretty ad that first one is.

These remind me of 'Pan Am'. Great show that no one is watching.

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

Hey, I watch it occasionally! I rarely get to see it because I'm usually at work, which is a shame, because it's a good show.

[1geek-queen.livejournal.com]

It is a good show. Hopefully, it'll get a second season.

[bradygirl_12]

I love the space-age stuff, too! :)

I love the woman's carrying case in the third pic. I had one like that for my Barbie dolls. :)

[1geek-queen.livejournal.com]

I really like the futuristic look of the airport in the first ad.