FlyPast: Crossing the Atlantic 1940s style

May 15 2009 By Barry Dix

The Lockheed Constellation at London Airport in about 1949

A FEW myths about the British weather must have been quickly dispelled for travel-weary Americans arriving at London Airport on the day this picture was taken in about 1949.

As their Lockheed Constellation descended gradually through the clouds after a gruelling transatlantic crossing, and the passengers got their first view of England, they probably thought they would soon be stepping out into a ‘pea-souper’ fog, a violent cloudburst or, at the very least, an annoying drizzle.

Fortuitously, on this occasion at least, it was a fine, sunny day – just the weather for a lengthy trek across the windswept tarmac to immigration, health and customs.

In those days there were no such luxuries as covered piers, moving walkways or electric buggies to take the pain out of struggling from the aircraft with coats, duty free and various other items of hand baggage.

Though coaches were provided for passengers travelling by planes parked on distant stands on Northside in the late 1940s, most had no alternative but to walk – whatever the conditions.

At least they were trudging towards reasonably-solid-looking buildings. As often chronicled on this page in the past, the passengers who used London Airport in its very early years had been forced to endure the facilities inside ex-military marquees. By the time of this picture, all manner of structures had been put up, and the number was constantly increasing.

Few were more than a single-storey high and, in an attempt to counteract the austere external appearance, the interior walls of many of those used by passengers were painted in fetching colours of pink, beige and grey.

Surprisingly, passenger numbers at that time were well below predicted figures.

In 1948, it had been expected that within two years up to 2,500 an hour would be passing through. Yet, even at peak times in 1949, that figure was no more than 1,500 a day. But that wasn’t going to stop the growth of the airport.

With runway and taxi-way construction still taking place, the airport resembled a building site (no change there then) and often there were fun and games when the drivers of the diggers, tipper trucks and other construction vehicles chose to ignore the carefully marked-out roadways and simply took the quickest route between two points.

Their shenanigans must have raised blood pressure among the staff in the RAF-style control tower, clearly visible in the middle of this view. The Constellation is N90926, operated by American Overseas Airlines, and one of the few planes to have served in the colours of all three of the main US transatlantic carriers of the early post-war years.

Pan Am made a bid for AOA in 1950 and, though objections were raised by the US aviation’s governing body, these were overturned by President Harry S Truman and the takeover went ahead. N90926, which had been named Flagship Eire, was one of the planes transferred into the Pan Am fleet and continued flying into London for its new owners, carrying the name Clipper Ocean Herald.

It was later leased to TWA, acquiring another new monicker, Star of Tunis, before being sold to Nevada Airmotive in 1962.

The faithful old Connie ended its days as a static trainer for the fire department at Oakland Airport in California, surviving nine years of being set alight, hacked open and doused with foam, until finally being broken up in 1976.