B-377 advert
Posted by Nun-Taken@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 37 comments
As a follow up from u/twarr1 post of the B-377 cockpit, here’s an advert from the 1940s. Interestingly, the cockpit is referred to as the ‘control room’.
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0------------------0@reddit
This image appears to be a modern fake created at least in part with AI.
It’s an unsourced image, reverse image search only shows recent results from Reddit, the magazine in the lower left corner has mangled text like AI-generated images, the caption has improper grammar, the format is not typical for an ad, the plane pictured is a Boeing 367 C-97 and not actually a Boeing 377, and the style is atypical for the time period.
Euphoric_Policy_5009@reddit
The aircraft was extremely unreliable so its service life was very short. The DC-7 and Constellation aircraft had a much wider use and life.
Silver996C2@reddit
It had a terrible record.
twarr1@reddit
The B-377 promised an elegant future for air travel. How did we end up with air-busses? (Rhetorical question)
jlp_utah@reddit
In conspirational Winnie the Pooh voice: "Money."
ChartreuseBison@reddit
I mean yes, but hardly a conspiracy, flights were outrageously expensive in the prop and early jet era. Flying was bougie shit
jlp_utah@reddit
Oh, I wasn't implying it was a conspiracy. I was thinking about the scene where Pooh asks Christopher Robin for a balloon and when CR asks what he needs a balloon for, Pooh answers on the down low "honey."
cyberentomology@reddit
By the early 1970s, less than 10% of the US population had traveled by air.
Now it’s flipped, only about 10% have not.
And a flight costs a fraction of what it did.
Now you’ve got me wanting to go see what CASM/RASM numbers looked like in 1970.
niton@reddit
Because humans don't want to pay more for all these elegant extras
HokieAero@reddit
Because Boeing didn't want Le Euros to call them Strato-busses?
HokieAero@reddit
Oh - and apparently a few of us here don't know what a rhetorical question is (ha ha).
Nun-Taken@reddit (OP)
1 word answer? Profit.
avi8tor@reddit
sad there is no Boeing 377 or Boeing 314 Clipper as a preserved museum anywhere
twarr1@reddit
In the late ‘00’s I was involved in the effort to try to save the last one, but unfortunately we failed. There are a few C-97 airframes left but no 377’s
realsimulator1@reddit
Thank you for the effort!
cpav8r@reddit
We have a C-97 we have restored to flying condition. We’re missing an engine right now, but we’ve obtained a replacement.
www.spiritoffreedom.org
wyo_poisonslinger@reddit
There are/were several C-97 airframes at KGEY in Wyoming - I recall (it has been a few years since I was there) that most had engines on them. Contact B&G Industries in Greybull, Wyoming.
cpav8r@reddit
Yep - we bought one of them. That's where our replacement engine is coming from.
cpav8r@reddit
We have one. It’s at Reading airport in Pennsylvania. We lost an engine a few years ago, but we’ve acquired a replacement. We’re trying to get it back to flying condition in the next year or so.
www.spiritoffreedom.org
HokieAero@reddit
There is a 1:1 scale B314 replica at Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum in the UK. https://flyingboatmuseum.com/aviation-museum/b314-replica/
Jetjr81@reddit
Man that spacious seating. Where commercial air carriers go wrong?
cyberentomology@reddit
They lost money on that.
Gripmugfos@reddit
Kinda surprised they advertised the fact that it was based on a bomber. Figured that's not how you'd present it to the public.
ConstableBlimeyChips@reddit
I think it's mostly a case where the general public is very much aware of aircraft like the Superfortress and the Lancaster. They were well-known aircraft with well-known capabilities that were now going to accessible to the general public as commercial aircraft. In an era where air travel was still rather dangerous, it would have been considered a positive to know the aircraft you're flying in was based on an aircraft that was built to fly through AA fire and fighter screens and come back in (mostly) one piece.
Gripmugfos@reddit
Makes sense when you put it like that, can spin it like the airline industry taking advantage of military advances and expertise. I guess I was mainly thinking with a modern brain where I feel like this wouldn't be advertised like this.
HokieAero@reddit
Considering how unreliable the airliners were in the day, it was a good idea to take advantage post-war of the thousands (millions?) of hours of experience with the B-17, B-29, and Lancaster bombers. (I should add that Germany flew the Focke-Wulf 200 Condor 4-engined airliner as a maritime patrol and transport during WW2, but not exactly the same thing).
Nun-Taken@reddit (OP)
I guess that given the times, bombers were upfront in the publics mind. They even mention the competition, the Lancastrian in the text.
Spin737@reddit
Interesting that they mention the Lancastrian in the ad. Why bother?
Borkdadork@reddit
Wish I could time travel
abbottstightbussy@reddit
Wait how I only just learn in that the Stratocruiser was based on the B-29? That’s badass.
HokieAero@reddit
FYI - the Boeing 307 Stratoliner is based on the B17.
HokieAero@reddit
We call them "flight decks" now ...
superuser726@reddit
Wow they advertised the drones in the 1940s
Nun-Taken@reddit (OP)
Don’t say you weren’t warned then. Shem they only had B&W back then, otherwise they could have mentioned the green and red lights.
superuser726@reddit
Yeah, exactly...
Imaginary_ation@reddit
I love these cross sections!