The impressive development of airlines and scheduled air travel rested heavily on the evolution of an aeronautical infrastructure. With roots in the late 19th century, European laboratories set the pace in theoretical aeronautical research, but the NACA, established in 1915, soon evolved as one of the world’s leading aeronautical centres. The creation of specialized organizations to investigate accidents, determine the probable cause, and make recommendations to avoid repetition played a key role in the improvement of safe air travel.

In the United States, the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, a private organization, spearheaded a milestone experiment in 1928 in which the pilot’s responses to a combination of electronic signals and airplane instruments permitted the first successful “blind flight.” This technique represented a huge step forward for aviation. It meant that airlines could sustain schedules that required flying at night. It also meant that planes could fly in many weather conditions that had previously forced pilots to stay grounded or make unscheduled landings. Moreover, the Guggenheim Fund accelerated the science of meteorology for weather forecasting, codification of aeronautical law, and the establishment of college-level aeronautical engineering departments (as well as university research laboratories) that educated essential cadres of aeronautical engineers and scientists.

By the end of the 1920s, most major cities in the United States had established municipal airports. During the depression decade that followed, various New Deal government construction programs improved and built additional airfields with paved all-weather runways. Under federal guidance, major airfields also acquired control towers and radio equipment as part of an air traffic control system meant to ensure safe aircraft movements within an increasingly busy air space. With a bureaucratic framework and essential flight technologies, a basic aeronautical infrastructure had emerged. The stage was set for the introduction of truly modern airliners and their indelible impact on passenger travel.

Wartime legacies

In 1937 Japan began full-scale offensives against China; European hostilities commenced in 1939; the United States became involved in World War II in 1941. In Europe, neutral countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, and Spain hosted international routes on a limited basis, but the vagaries of war virtually ended regularly scheduled flights until the end of the conflict in 1945. The United States supplied the majority of air transports for Allied forces. The reasons for this were quite straightforward: the DC-3 had already demonstrated its virtuosity; the superior DC-4 was entering service; and the country’s prodigious production capability could satisfy most requirements. Drafted into military service, the C-47 (DC-3) and the four-engine C-54 (DC-4) became the workhorses for the U.S., Britain and its Commonwealth, and air-transport units of European governments-in-exile.

As a harbinger of things to come, the wartime achievements of the U.S. Army Air Force Air Transport Command (ATC) constituted a major step forward. The ATC became legendary during its transport services across the towering Himalayan mountain ranges (pilots called these challenging missions “flying the hump”), carrying crucial supplies to Chinese and Allied forces in the China-Burma-India theatre. More important, the ATC operated a global network, establishing airfields, communication centres, and weather-forecasting facilities that pioneered a sustained system of air transportation on an intercontinental basis. The time required to reach destinations around the world contracted dramatically, from a journey of weeks to only a few days, or, within most combat theatres, to a few hours. Transoceanic travel became a matter of routine; at its peak of operations, ATC planes crossed the Atlantic at an average rate of one every 13 minutes.

Anticipating the impact of postwar airlines, many knowledgeable authorities advocated worldwide protocols to normalize flying procedures and legal issues so as to promote an orderly implementation of foreign and intercontinental air routes. In 1944, during a historic meeting convened in Chicago, international representatives eventually agreed on a provisional administrative entity. By 1947, the full-fledged International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had settled in Montreal as an adjunct of the new United Nations organization. The ICAO specified English as the universal language for pilots and air traffic controllers engaged in international operations. Additional protocols specified standardized formats for terminology, radio frequencies, navigational equipment, emergency procedures, runway markings, and airport lighting. Without these protocols, global air travel would have experienced a chaotic—and unacceptably dangerous—evolution.

Postwar airlines

After the war, many airlines looked for an updated DC-3 replacement to use on short-to-intermediate flights. The British built 163 copies of the portly twin-engine Vickers Viking, an unpressurized transport with 24 to 27 seats (later modified to carry 34 to 38 passengers) that cruised amiably at 200 miles (320 km) per hour over European routes and those of many Commonwealth countries. However, neither British, French, Italian, nor other European manufacturers enjoyed much success against American designs. For example, Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, more commonly known as Convair, built the speedy twin-engine 240/340/440 series, with trendy tricycle landing gear, which sold more than 1,000 models between 1947 and 1956, plus several hundred military versions that often trickled back into civil service. Convairs had a maximum cruising speed of 280 miles (450 km) per hour, and their pressurized cabins provided unaccustomed comfort for 40 to 50 passengers (depending on the model) in smaller airline markets around the world. Subsequent turboprop conversions kept the type in service for several decades.

During this period, the Soviet Union considered both practicality and politics for its extensive Aeroflot internal network. In the late 1930s, the country had acquired a state-of-the-art transport by signing a license agreement to build the Douglas DC-3, equipped with Soviet engines. Although numerous examples continued to serve in the postwar years, they were eventually succeeded by the Ilyushin Il-12, a trim unpressurized twin-engine transport that also featured retractable tricycle landing gear. A larger model, the Il-14, went into operation during the 1950s. Considered slow and technologically unsophisticated by modern standards, these planes played an ideological role in the Cold War by parrying Western imports. Production took place in communist-bloc countries; the Il-12 and Il-14 series numbered into the thousands, serving as military transports as well as the backbone for Aeroflot operations and civil duties in eastern Europe. They operated in China and were supplied to governments in Africa and Asia, where the Soviets wished to expand their influence.

The Il-12 and Il-14 transports had cruising speeds of about 200 miles (320 km) per hour and could carry 27 to 32 passengers over routes of up to 300 miles (480 km). Across the length and breadth of the Soviet Union, this seemingly modest performance served quite well. Every region of the country included cities and towns that often lacked both rail services and the benefits of all-weather roads. Rivers often offered a good alternative transport route, but long Russian winters and generally challenging conditions usually meant that they were frozen solid or characterized by seasonal floods and shifting navigational channels. Consequently, the schedules of Aeroflot—with its subsidized bargain-basement fares—constituted the only reasonably reliable transport and communication links throughout the year. Large long-range transports fulfilled the immediate—and crucial—need for timely, practical travel arrangements that bound thousands of large and small population centres to each other and to national passenger networks. The sturdy Il-12 and Il-14 transports could still be seen at airports through the 1980s.

After 1945, Douglas introduced its pressurized DC-6 to match the Lockheed Constellation on domestic and international routes. As they energetically courted sales to rival foreign airlines, American manufacturers constantly engaged in back-and-forth contests to improve their products. Since the North American market for airliners generated high-volume production, unit costs remained low, and they became highly competitive when priced against European transports. Eventually, the performance, quality, and value of postwar American designs led to their dominating presence in the airline fleets of major carriers overseas. Hoping to capture market share, Boeing utilized major components from the B-29 bomber and the C-97 cargo/tanker aircraft in building the Stratocruiser, a plane that offered unmatched luxury for air travelers in the late 1940s and early ’50s. Its famously spacious cabin seated 55 passengers, and its bar/lounge, entered through a spiral staircase to the lower deck, created a sensation. Pan Am and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) quickly introduced Stratocruisers on premier routes across the North Atlantic. However, even the Stratocruiser faded against better, faster piston-engine airliners from Douglas and Lockheed.

But transcontinental schedules in the United States invariably included a stop for fuel en route; transatlantic flights between New York and Europe usually required refueling in Newfoundland, Iceland, or Ireland. These constraints began to evaporate in the 1950s with the Lockheed Super Constellation and the Douglas DC-7. The ultimate versions appeared in 1956–57 as the DC-7C, known as the “Seven Seas,” which was capable of nonstop transatlantic flights in either direction, and the Lockheed 1649A Starliner, which could fly nonstop on polar routes from Los Angeles to Europe. The Starliner carried 75 passengers at speeds of 350 to 400 miles (560 to 640 km) per hour. Each of its Wright turbocompound radial engines developed 3,400 horsepower. Prior to the introduction of jet transports, these stalwart aircraft transformed the dynamics of air travel and continued in service with major airlines into the late 1960s.

Travel remained a stylish experience. Men donned coats and ties; ladies appeared in hats and dresses. Airports featured first-class restaurants; airline cabin service featured crystal stemware and quality china. Until the 1950s, airline patrons characteristically traveled on a first-class basis, and fares remained relatively high until increased patronage paved the way for decreased prices. As early as 1953, domestic airlines in the United States reported more passenger miles than railroad Pullman travel. Before the end of the year, statistics revealed that airlines had also taken the lead as the prime mover for American travelers making trips of more that 200 miles (320 km). By 1958 the majority of U.S. passengers headed for Europe chose to go by plane rather than by ocean liner. Cabin-class seats proliferated on airliners, and fares dropped accordingly. Even before the advent of jet airliners, piston-engine transports had usurped traditional railway and steamship technology as the principal mode of transport for long-distance trips. Domestically, convenient airline timetables enabled professional and collegiate sports teams to play tightly scheduled games on a nationwide basis. Airline business travel in the United States and overseas exploded. Piston-engine airliners made weekend ski trips and foreign excursions possible for thousands of middle-income individuals who could finally fit a 10-day European holiday into the time frame and budget of their annual vacation. As sociologist Max Lerner observed, postwar airways led to the democratization of American—and global—travel.