Airliner identification challenge!

[NutmegCT]

Back in the Ancient Days, when I was young (?), we flew in silver tubes powered by something called a radial engine with spinning propellers.

Who can identify the passenger planes in the attached Popular Science, June 1953, article?

Wow - remember when we used to get dressed up to fly in those?

 

[DrEntropy]

Wow - remember when we used to get dressed up to fly in those?

Now we see crowds at airports and boarding planes dressed like they were goin' on a trip to Walmart.

 

[Popeye]

1 - could be a DC3? (Taildragger)
4 - It's a Douglas (the DC sticker kinda gives it away), but I'm not sure which one.
5 - should know that one, with the "bulge" on the bottom. Boeing, methinks...

 

[sparkydave]

#3 looks like a Convair CV-240. #5 I'm thinking is a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, noted for its "double bubble" fuselage shape and used by Pan American World Airways. #2 could be a Lockheed Constellation. #4 I can make out a DC, perhaps a Douglas DC-6 or DC-7. I feel like I should know #7, not many had a rear airstair. Edit: Going with a Martin 4-0-4 for #7.

 

[NutmegCT]

Wow - you guys have a good memory! Here's the list:

1. Douglas DC-3
2. Lockheed Constellation - probably a 1049
3. Convair 240
4. Douglas DC-4 (note the round windows)
5. Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (based on the B-29 Superfortress)
6. Douglas DC-6
7. Martin 404

"Those were the days, my friend. We thought they'd never end."

Tom M.

 

[John Turney]

In those days, we took the train.

 

[anarchy99]

What's a train?

 

[Popeye]

Thanks for the quiz!

Curious for those who have done it: how loud were the radial airplanes on multi-hour flights? While I love the sound, I imagine flying across the "pond" to Europe, for something like 12 hours with four engines droning would get tiring? (Analogous to a a Monza exhaust - sounds great for short jaunts, but cruising down the highway it gets old.)

 

[NutmegCT]

Mike - I flew Icelandair from NYC to Reykjavik Iceland back in 1967. DC-6's all the way. Noise level was about the same as in a car at 60 mph. Just a strong "humming" sound, louder at takeoff, then moderated at cruise.

Also flew in DC-7s between Texas to NYC back in 1956. Again, not "loud" at all. And nothing like the deafening roar of the engines in a Stout/Ford 4-AT! ("Tin Goose"). In the Ford, passengers were given earplugs of cotton as they boarded.

 

[Popeye]

Neat - thanks!!

 

[John Turney]

What's a train?

Well, they didn't say AMTRAK on the side.

 

[anarchy99]

Well, they didn't say AMTRAK on the side.

Yeah, totally kidding. Although I did ride Amtrak several times going back and forth from boit camp and A school in Great Lakes, IL to Memphis, TN.

 

[equiprx]

What's a train?

When I was a little snip we visited relatives in Bethpage LI.
My favorite activities were visiting Grumann and putting pennies on the LIRR tracks which were smashed by actual steam Locomotives.

 

[Basil]

First commercial airliner I ever flew on was a DC-3. Bridgepot WVa to Baltimore, MD. Allegheny Airlines it was.

 

[mikephillips]

What's a train?

That mysterious long, long, short, long whistle you hear but never see over the hills late at night...

 

[Basil]

What's a train?

 

[Popeye]

That is a GREAT movie!!

 

[pdplot]

I flew in the first three. DC-3 - Charlottesville to Dulles. Key West to Havana. Aspen to Denver.
Connie - LaGuardia to Miami & back.
Convair - can't remember route or year. It might have been a 440?

 

[Gliderman8]

The first commercial flight I can remember taking was to Lake Placid, NY on Mohawk Airlines... Anyone remember them?

 

[NutmegCT]

Mohawk was a major regional carrier until Allegheny bought it. Here's one of their Convair 240s back in 1959: