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United Airlines in 1962: Flashbulbs for Celebrity Arrivals

Look what we found! Why, it's a June 1962 edition of United's old in-flight magazine, Mainliner. This week, we'll be flipping through the pages and learning a thing or two about the United of the dawn of the jet age.

Thanks to recent events, flyers have learned that airlines actually take seriously the privacy of their customers' itineraries. This means that airlines aren't (or *shouldn't*) be leaking celebrity travel information to the press, or even dropping names without express consent or endorsement.

In the 1960s, however, things were very different. Celebrities wanted to be greeted at the airport by adoring fans, most of the time, and airlines wanted to talk about it. There were official photographers whose job it was to simply get the A-listers to smile for the birdie, conveniently in front of the airline's logo or fin. They were men like Mike Rotunno, profiled here in the back of United's Mainliner.

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United Airlines in 1962: From Pistons to Jet Power

Look what we found! Why, it's a June 1962 edition of United's old in-flight magazine, Mainliner. This week, we'll be flipping through the pages and learning a thing or two about the United of the dawn of the jet age.

Oh, the Jet Age. When this magazine was published, the aviation industry was in the midst of replacing piston-powered planes with sleek new jets, like Caravelles and Boeing 727s. Still, the swap wasn't happening like the flick of a switch, so United obviously felt the need to reassure their flyers that being placed on a piston jet was perfectly fine.

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United Airlines in 1962: Frequent Flyers in the Space Race

Look what we found! Why, it's a June 1962 edition of United's old in-flight magazine, Mainliner. This week, we'll be flipping through the pages and learning a thing or two about the United of the dawn of the jet age.

Just as in any modern in-flight magazine, ads make up a good percentage of the content in this 1962 edition. This one, from National Car Rental is the most compelling, as it both features the early airline business traveler and looks as though it could've been made by Mad Men's Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

The happy customer featured is Paul Stancik, Purchasing Agent for Motorola's Military Electronics Division. The caption notes that he flies an average of 100,000 miles every year—a number today's frequent flyers would laugh at, but meant serious commitment to jet travel way back then.

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United Airlines in 1962: Opening Pancake Shops at O'Hare

Look what we found! Why, it's a June 1962 edition of United's old in-flight magazine, Mainliner. This week, we'll be flipping through the pages and learning a thing or two about the United of the dawn of the jet age.

What better place to start than with United's headquarters in Chicago? In this issue of Mainliner, United profiles their hometown airports: O'Hare and Midway, though O'Hare's modern architecture is obviously the focus of the pride. They've just opened some Mies van der Rohe-designed terminals, after all, and Chicago is only beginning to make its mark as the "Crossroads of the Nation" in terms of jet travel.

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Famous Ships That Did Not Sink: The 'SS President Grant'

As you already know, this last weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Though yes, the sinking is a huge part of history, it's also not indicative of how ship travel actually was in the early 20th century. Not every ship sank. This week, we'll show you some notable ships that managed to stay afloat and still make their mark in history.

Today's ship that didn't sink: the SS President Grant of Admiral Oriental Line.

Have you picked up on a theme in our series so far? It's that, for all these notable ocean liners that didn't sink, they eventually ended up serving their time as troopships, mostly during World War I. Had the Titanic continued on, she probably would have gone the same route, possibly even eventually sinking from U-boat torpedoes.

Still we focus on one more ship that didn't sink, and this one isn't a veteran of the transatlantic route; the SS President Grant instead plied the waves between the US west coast and the Orient, specifically Japan and Hong Kong. As the Grant, the ship sailed for weeks with passengers bound for new lives, or just new adventures, on the other side of the world. As the USS Harris, which is what she became in 1940 with a conversion to a US troopship, she sailed with troops fighting World War II in the South Pacific, in North Africa, and even in the Aleutian Islands.

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Famous Ships That Did Not Sink: The 'RMS Queen Mary'

As you already know, this last weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Though yes, the sinking is a huge part of history, it's also not indicative of how ship travel actually was in the early 20th century. Not every ship sank. This week, we'll show you some notable ships that managed to stay afloat and still make their mark in history.

Today's ship that didn't sink: the RMS Queen Mary of Cunard Line.

Let's consider something a moment. When the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic sinking rolled around last week, it became apparent that the younger generations were filled with kids who though the Titanic was a fictional tale made up for the James Cameron movie. It was only the news coverage of the anniversary that made them realize that—whoops, hey—over 1,000 did actually die when a real ship hit a real iceberg and really sank.

Now think about the fact that a transatlantic liner of the same style, though much younger, is currently still afloat as a hotel, museum and event space in Long Beach, California. This ship is the Queen Mary and she's not a stage set or a fauxboat; she's a real ship with a really impressive history and, lucky for her, a real future still afloat.

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Famous Ships That Did Not Sink: The 'SS Kaiser Wilhelm II'

As you already know, this last weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Though yes, the sinking is a huge part of history, it's also not indicative of how ship travel actually was in the early 20th century. Not every ship sank. This week, we'll show you some notable ships that managed to stay afloat and still make their mark in history.

Today's ship that didn't sink: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Norddeutscher Lloyd line.

Back in the day, Norddeutscher Lloyd had it going on. Steamships, mail ships, luxurious transatlantic liners...they had them all. That is, they had them all until World War I broke out and many of those hulls found themselves docked in the wrong parts of the world. Such was the story of yesterday's featured ship, the Kronprinz Wilhelm. Today we continue with one its sister ships, Kaiser Wilhelm II, which first fired up the boilers in 1903 and used them to their limit to earn the Blue Riband in 1904, for fastest eastbound transatlantic crossing only two years after the Kronprinz had done the same.

The Wilhelm II had a quiet life of cruising paying passengers back and forth between Germany and the US, until the latter decided to keep her for good in 1917. She became the Agamemnon, a troopship that pushed thousands of US soldiers into Europe to fight the very people who had built her.

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Famous Ships That Did Not Sink: The 'SS Kronprinz Wilhelm'

As you already know, this last weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Though yes, the sinking is a huge part of history, it's also not indicative of how ship travel actually was in the early 20th century. Not every ship sank. This week, we'll show you some notable ships that managed to stay afloat and still make their mark in history.

Today's ship that didn't sink: Kronprinz Wilhelm of Norddeutscher Lloyd line.

Look, if you were building an ocean liner in the early 1900s, you had a lot of competition. To stand out, ships aimed to take home titles and prizes, like "longest ship" or "fastest transatlantic crossing." The latter was the real gem, and the prize for being the speediest ship between the UK and US was called the Blue Riband. It's what the Titanic was aiming to claim when it kept its boilers running high and sailing fast through an ice field. Whoops.

Alas, the Kronprinz Wilhelm and her 660' length first set sail in 1901 and took the Blue Riband in 1902 (the Titanic didn't sail and sink until 1912) with a crossing time of 5.5 days. Not too shabby, considering today's cruise ships still schedule a transatlantic "cruise" for a straight week.

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You Know, Most Ships in the 1900s Didn't Sink

Since nobody has said anything at all yet regarding the imminent 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, let us remind you that yes—it is this Saturday, April 14.

For just a moment, however, let us also remind you that the Titanic wasn't the only ship to ever ply transatlantic waters, and it wasn't the only one to come to a horrible end. On a positive note, hundreds other luxurious liners didn't sink and didn't hit anything and—gasp—dont' now figure at the center of elementary school history essays.

As proof, we offer this excerpt from a 1903 brochure published by the Norddeutscher Lloyd Steamship Company. At the very center of the brochure, a map unfolds of their current routes. Look how involved in Cuba they were! Galveston, today a cruise port, was a transatlantic port back then! And, if you had many weeks to spare, you could always do the few Pacific crossings. No icebergs there.

Next week we'll go more in depth with this, so stay tuned.

[Image: Jaunted]

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So You Want an Airplane Seat? Better Try Restoration Hardware's 'Aviator' Series

Stick this to your Pinterest boards: Restoration Hardware has a whole collection of furniture inspired by retro aviation. We're talking World War-era steel and rivets and distressed leather. It's Amelia Earhart style and though we can't imagine it'd be great to outfit an entire room with the pieces, a single item here or there would be so awesome.

View the whole collection here. Prices range from $675 for an ottoman (but it's some ottoman) to $7,290 for a full leather sofa with chaise. Personally, we're already counting our pennies to get Jaunted HQ outfitted with the "1950s Copenhagen Spitfire Chair, a replica of the classic Arne Jacobsen "Egg" chair done up in antique ebony or slate leather, and backed by aluminum plates mimicking the structure of a vintage aircraft.

We know that serious aviation geeks seek out actual airplane seats for conversation pieces, but really—no one wants to sit in those in the best of times. Just go this wrote and enjoy the interior design envy when you finally get around to throwing that Howard Hughes-theme cocktail shindig. Oh, and invite us?

[Photo: Restoration Hardware]

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'Mad Men' and the Case of Mohawk Airlines

Raise your hand if hearing the dah-na dah-na dah-na opening sequence of the AMC series Mad Men makes you feel good. Now that it's finally back for a fifth season, we're reminded of all the lovely retro cultural references that pop up in the show, especially those that relate to travel. Of all the brands who've worked with Sterling Cooper/Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, the most memorable of the travel labels have been Hilton Hotels and Mohawk Airlines.

We won't give away any spoilers for those who haven't yet streamed the Season 5 premiere--don't worry.

All we'll say is that Mohawk returns to the scene, after such a long absence following Sterling Cooper's dropping their account in a bid for the bigger fish—American Airlines. They ended up losing both seasons back, but Mad Men gained the public's curiousity in the real Mohawk Airlines. The official Mad Men website even has a brief article detailing the history of the defunct carrier.

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The Way We Once Traveled: Helicopter Transfers to the 1964 World's Fair

We'll fully admit that we save our ticket stubs even sometimes our bag tags. Of course travelers of decades ago were no different; in fact, they were worse. Sometimes we dig up vintage gems that deserve to be shared. All week, we'll look at a few lost pieces of ephemera that continue to inspire.

The 1960s were a great time to hop a helicopter ride in New York. These were the days when buying a First Class ticket on Pan Am or TWA meant the inclusion of a chopper transfer to the airport, and helicopters weren't yet clogging the skyways above the rivers, causing the accidents and concerns that exist today. In 1964 specifically, families keen on spending a day at the 1964-1965 World's Fair could take a scenic ride on New York Airways' helicopters from Manhattan out to the fair at Corona Park in Queens.

Landing was the fun part, actually; the choppers set down atop the first completed structure for the fair, the Port Authority Exhibit Building, which counted the helipad, a restaurant ("Top of the Fair"), cocktail bar and 360-film feature theater as attractions. Coincidentally, the 360-degree film shown was also shot by helicopter, as the cameras dangled and captured the beauty and geography of the New York region.

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