Aviation now and then...

[Vector4fun]

I have an old book of aviaton photos I picked up somewhere. It's called "Flight, A Pictorial History from the Wright Brothers to Supersonic" by John W.R. Taylor. Very Eurocentric, but lots of unusual photos. I was thumbing through it last night in bed.

Anyway, photo 339 is of a pusher biplane amphib from 1921 with the following caption:


"Direct services between city centres, now possible only with helicopters, were pioneered in 1921 by a Vickers Viking III amphibian. Carrying Major-General Sir Frederick Sykes, Controller General of Civil Aviation, it flew from the Seine, near the center of Paris, to the Thames, near the Houses of Parliment, in two hours. Same journey by normal airline service today takes over four hours."



Progress is such a wonderful thing. I laughed out loud and woke my wife up...

 

[urflyingme?!]

I fly for the $100 hamburger now and then to catalina island. Only problem is that you can't get to the city on the islandfro the airport! It's a 2 hour bus ride down from the airport! It would be faster by boat. Back in the day they flew Catalina's or something like that out there and landed in the water. Took 20 minutes...