Photo of 747 cabin ca. 1969-70. Look at the people!

[Otis]

Hi folks, here's a photo I find very interesting. It's an apparently random shot of the interior of a 747 when they first came out ca. 1969 or 70. While the aircraft is interesting, what really gets me is how slim, healthy and well-dressed ordinary, everyday people were back then.

How refreshing! I remember when people looked just like this.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Mmm. Looks very different to the crowded modern 747 that I'll be on in a few hours flying back form Dubai. It seems that in 69/70 they had a little more legroom than today.

 

[MPicciotto]

And wider seats too. The reality is I wouldn't want to subject my nicer clothes to the rigors of modern air travel in all but Business or First class. Though I do draw the line at wearing pajama pants...

Matt

 

[Edward]

Yes, the oodles of extra legroom is what struck me first. Looks more spacious than even the business class section in the modern equivalent, at least in my experience. Is it only me, or are there no apparent seatbelts in shot!? Still, I suspect it's also the case that back then many fewer people could afford to fly at all. What, in relative terms, did a standard class flight between New York and London come to in 1970? I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that it was, once adjusted for inflation, close to what we'd pay for business class now.

 

[Doctor Strange]

The lack of seat belts is the least of it. I believe that picture is bogus.

First of all, according to Wiki, the 747 didn't fly until Pan Am began using them in 1970, so that "late 60s" caption is misleading. And speaking as an ex-pro commercial photographer, this photo was carefully staged and lit, not to mention being shot with a wide-angle lens that gives an inaccurate sense of scale.

I'd bet that it's a shot of an interior mockup built by Boeing that appeared in their sales brochures... while they were still developing the 747. Heck, the clothes and hairstyles are from 1965, not 1970.

 

[scrawlysteve]

This is the Mk 747 Tardis....financial constraints meant it never went into full production.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Here's another 1970 ad showing airline passengers in a 747. I recall people in 1970 looking more like these folks.

AF

 

[Talbot]

I too suggest that is mock up picture from some early Boeing sales literature.

There isn't anywhere in the 747 cabin that would give you that point of view from that far back.

In his book 'Queen of the Skies - Creating the 747', Joe Sutter describes the work that went in to selling the widebody concept to skeptical airlines.

A very interesting read - I had not expected to enjoy it, but it was fascianting.

 

[Fading Fast]

Being just old enough to have seen the change of dress from the 60s to the 70s as a kid, as I was reading this thread, I thought the first picture (which does look staged to me) says 1960s while the second says 1970s. Maybe the first airline wanted to present a more elegant appearance than the one in the second advertisement. It all went downhill real fast.

 

[Edward]

Yes, that first photo does look to have been taken in a mock-up that has yet to have the rest of the plane built around it.

Here's another 1970 ad showing airline passengers in a 747. I recall people in 1970 looking more like these folks.

AF

Even that looks a lot more spacious than the last time I flew economy.... The blurb is interesting. I love the notion of there being a room for people who don't want entertainment. Can't imagine that on longhaul these days...

 

[HudsonHawk]

Even that looks a lot more spacious than the last time I flew economy.... The blurb is interesting. I love the notion of there being a room for people who don't want entertainment. Can't imagine that on longhaul these days...

I flew a 747 from Tokyo to San Francisco last weekend. It looked nothing like either of those photos. I was in the upper deck, which did *not* contain a piano bar and lounge area. Unfortunately.

 

[Edward]

I flew a 747 from Tokyo to San Francisco last weekend. It looked nothing like either of those photos. I was in the upper deck, which did *not* contain a piano bar and lounge area. Unfortunately.

The only time I've flown in the posh end of a double decker was Emirates to Mumbai last February. Lovely experience. Nice little bar at the back end of the top deck, though no piano. Still a nice experience overall, though. Wish I could afford to fly business on my own pound!

 

[HudsonHawk]

The only time I've flown in the posh end of a double decker was Emirates to Mumbai last February. Lovely experience. Nice little bar at the back end of the top deck, though no piano. Still a nice experience overall, though. Wish I could afford to fly business on my own pound!

This was on United, so it was far from "posh". It was actually rather "dodgy", as I believe you Brits would say.

 

[Stanley Doble]

When people spent money on clothes not junk food.

 

[Dragon Soldier]

Or alternatively when people taking photos for advertised and publicity shots included only relatively fashionable, attractive people in them.

That's at least one thing that hasn't changed a bit then.

 

[Bugguy]

Yes, that first photo does look to have been taken in a mock-up that has yet to have the rest of the plane built around it.



Even that looks a lot more spacious than the last time I flew economy.... The blurb is interesting. I love the notion of there being a room for people who don't want entertainment. Can't imagine that on longhaul these days...

I was on a flight like this a couple of times in the early 70's - Seoul, Korea to LAX and back. I never saw the quiet cabin, that must have been a Lufthansa thing. All I remember were 24 Holt adoption babies on their first flight - 18 hours worth. Being a sitter was worth a free one-way ticket to us on United.