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Airliner identification challenge!

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

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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?

Airliner ID small.jpg


Wow - remember when we used to get dressed up to fly in those?
 
NutmegCT said:
Wow - remember when we used to get dressed up to fly in those?
Click to expand...

Now we see crowds at airports and boarding planes dressed like they were goin' on a trip to Walmart. :eek:
 
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...
 
#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.
 
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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.
 
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.)
 
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.
 
anarchy99 said:
What's a train?😀
Click to expand...
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.
 
First commercial airliner I ever flew on was a DC-3. Bridgepot WVa to Baltimore, MD. Allegheny Airlines it was.
 
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?
 
The first commercial flight I can remember taking was to Lake Placid, NY on Mohawk Airlines... Anyone remember them?
 
Mohawk was a major regional carrier until Allegheny bought it. Here's one of their Convair 240s back in 1959:

Mohawk_N1018C.png
 
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