That was a wonderful video from 1957. Oh I wish I could be on that plane! And it was all so luxurious back then, a flight of a life time!
@MrPhilippeBrun2 ай бұрын
Very interesting DC-7C all First class ‘’Royal Dutchman Service’’ configured aircraft (Standard First and Sleeper First) ride over the pond. Low First-class trolley service for cocktails and after meal spirits and interesting ‘’service à l’Escoffier’’ for main courses. When DC-8s took over, the mixed class configuration, First and Tourist class (Economy) redesigned the catering service altogether, leaving spils from frequent turbulences at 15,000 feet, for a more seamless and sophisticated service for Tourist class passengers and an extraordinary opulent in-flight service for their ‘’Royal Class’’ privileged ‘’guests’’. Very fine piece of archive here. Thank-you so much for the post!
@youconstubeАй бұрын
How much time did this flight take?
@collectionneur111Ай бұрын
@@youconstube 11h35 annoncé, altitude 15000 ft.
@keithwaites99912 ай бұрын
15,000 ft? Just think of the turbulence!!!! 11 hours to enjoy it, too!
@Heres_Johnny.2 ай бұрын
I was thinking the same thing!
@castlegate20152 ай бұрын
Think of all the lovely meals. 😂
@keithwaites99912 ай бұрын
@@castlegate2015 being puked all over the cabin floor
@bardo0007Ай бұрын
Turbulence was not as bad as you think. 15000 feet can be just as nice as 30000
@barryvincentredmond3973Ай бұрын
What a classic movie reel.!.Cigarettes on a tray, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, drinks flowing with dinner and very attentive service.Reclining seats to sleep and breakfast in the morning pre arrival.Another world away in service.!.
@Sorayako622 ай бұрын
In those days flying was very expensive, only a few could afford it.
@simonf89022 ай бұрын
So much better then.
@tnwhiskey682 ай бұрын
Ah how those days have returned!
@Sennmut2 ай бұрын
More and faster planes democratized air travel.
@dfirth2242 ай бұрын
@@Sennmut Larger planes with 300 passengers allow lower ticket prices. Operating cost is spread over more passengers. Smaller planes had to be government subsidized.
@힐만942 ай бұрын
imagine a plane with all first class service & passangers... that's how it went back then..
@charlesmclaughlin4444Ай бұрын
Nice editing by the film crew for KLM. Plane/cabin on the ground or in a studio/soundstage with actors, intercut with real footage of the plane taking off, in the air, and then landing.
@venetia62962 ай бұрын
The people were dressed so nicely & decorous.
@lookoutforchris2 ай бұрын
Western society had yet to be decimated by ✡️
@RafWuАй бұрын
I think these flights cost the equivalent of $20,000 in today's dollars, so why wouldn't they be?
@ozgirl45Ай бұрын
I first travelled in the late 60s when it was normal to dress up for air travel. And I was still a student so it couldn’t have been so expensive. Now most passengers seem to be wearing pyjamas - at best 🤷🏻♀️.
@timdelvillar8063Ай бұрын
What service! My, how the times have changed.
@rfrover2 ай бұрын
The whole thing plays like the setup for a ‘70s disaster film. A fine collection of “characters”, but where’s the nun or priest?
@dfirth2242 ай бұрын
The first flying disaster movie was "The High and the Mighty" with John Wayne, 1954. Airlines had a clause in their advertising contract that said no airline commercials could be run whenever there was an airline crash, which were not uncommon.
@MalachiWhite-tw7hl2 ай бұрын
Great comment. This footage should have been used in 1980s "Airplane!"
@MalachiWhite-tw7hl2 ай бұрын
@@dfirth224We forget how (relatively) common airliner crashes were in the mid-twentieth century. More in the US die on horseback each year than on airliners.
@ABa-os6wmАй бұрын
Nuns ans priests were not part of the class of people flying in 1950.
@mehmetokay7073Ай бұрын
Guitar playing nun on an intercontinental flight.
@danareynolds17862 ай бұрын
I kept waiting for Alfred Hitchcock's cameo!
@Ctrl-XYZ2 ай бұрын
The uncut version is 11 hours long.
@costernocht2 ай бұрын
LOL!
@madame-rosalitaduchesse7636Ай бұрын
11 hours dc-7??? Je voudrais acheter et restaurer une dc-....3...4...6...7....si j'avais l'argent et les ingenieurs autour moi....
@Nunofurdambiznez2 ай бұрын
WOW that food looks GOOOOOD!
@florentmagen59932 ай бұрын
Golden age of commercial airline.. ❤. When it's was a little adventure.. 😊
@arnoldpalthe39152 ай бұрын
In the late fifties, early sixties I made the trip from Amsterdam to Curaçao for eight years. Always on the Lockheed L1049 Super Constellation, the most beautiful plane KLM ever had. The longest stretch over the ocean was from Santa Maria on the Azores to Curaçao, a whopping 17 hours. Some 3 to 4 hours into the flight, you could visit the cockpit and talk to the pilots. The only 'barrier' between the cockpit and the cabin was a curtain in KLM blue of course with the text Crew Only. The only drawback, the Connie was equipped with very unreliable engines. Out of a total of 16 flights - out and back - none of them passed without engine trouble; sometimes so severe we had to return or divert to another airport in order to have an engine changed. That's where the Connie got its nickname: the fastest triple engined airliner.
@hardyboy19592 ай бұрын
What a great video! Flying, so familiar... Flying in the '50s, so strange!
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
OK folks, for those of you commenting on the price of flying when this was filmed, here's a breakdown of the KLM airfares between Amsterdam and New York according to the September 1956 addition of the "Official Airline Guide." Tourist class was $310.00 one way and $558.00 round trip. 1st class was $446.00 one way and $802.00 round trip. Now you know why people were so well-behaved flying back then.
@bardo0007Ай бұрын
That would have been 3 months wages for a normal worker back then.
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
@@bardo0007 Indeed!
@LMays-cu2hp2 ай бұрын
Thank you for sharing your Aviation History.😊
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
I have a nice, vintage, travel agency model of a KLM Douglas DC-7C from the 1950s. It says, "The Flying Dutchman" across the fuselage on the left side and "De Vliegende Hollander" on the right side. It's all cast metal, quite heavy for its size and was actually made in the Netherlands by a company named, "Raise Up."
@tsf5-productionsАй бұрын
"You're right on the button, madam. 58 it is...Here's your prize." That's pretty cool! Yeah...this film is like some kind of air flying movies. But...the lavish foods and drinks, and cigarettes! ("Cough Cough!" "Let me out a here! I'm dying!") All-in-all...a cute movie...and I bet some were fairly good "extras" in movies of the 1950s.
@josemiguelmarquescampo4902Ай бұрын
Happier times from a more civilised age...
@miguelsuarez8010Ай бұрын
More civilized age? WW2 just ended after 50 million dead....
@jerrywood45082 ай бұрын
Let's see, business suits, cigarettes and room to stretch out. Yes, it was definitely the 1950s. The Texan was a nice touch. KLM started flying Houston to Amsterdam via Montreal in 1957.
@TFinSF2 ай бұрын
I'll bet that route was established primarily to meet the needs of Shell Oil employees.
@halitosis752 ай бұрын
❤❤❤❤this video. ❤❤❤
@timmotel58042 ай бұрын
Good Day. I remember those days well. Born in 1952. My Father worked for American Airlines. DC6 & DC7 airliners. People were decent and the food was Excellent! Later flying on Lockheed Electra II and 707 jets. Many good changes today, and some Not So Good Today. Thank You & Best Regards.
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
Back in the day when you paid accordingly for those "decent" seats and "excellent" food.
@timmotel5804Ай бұрын
@@WAL_DC-6B Today, those costs equal the cost of a new car or house. And people used to act properly.
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
@@timmotel5804 I was curious as to the airfares at the approximate time of this film between Amsterdam and New York, N.Y. So, I referred to a September 1956 addition of the "Official Airline Guide" I have in my collection of vintage airline memorabilia (This is like having all the period timetables condensed into one book complete with illustrations and system maps). Anyway, tourist airfare between the two cities was $310.00 one way and $558.00 round trip. First class was $446.00 one way and $802.00 round trip. I don't think you could purchase a typical home or car in the U.S. for $802.00 in the mid 1950s but that was still really expensive if you consider that you could probably fly coach on KLM today for about the same airfare between the New York and Amsterdam. Well, there you have it and as they used to say in the piston propeller era, "Happy Landings!"
@vladilenkalatschev49152 ай бұрын
Yes, flying was more social that time
@bar10ml442 ай бұрын
It was good in 2024. How things have changed 😎
@Sennmut2 ай бұрын
Where do you find these gems????? Keep it up!
@boristrofimenko57722 ай бұрын
Much more sole and friendship vs modern capsules at 350-s
@OzBlackHat2 ай бұрын
Ah the good old days, when in-flight entertainment consisted of guessing how many toothpicks were in the orange.
@nigelh46172 ай бұрын
There's a chef!
@scottcantrell734817 күн бұрын
These people are exactly why noise cancelling headphones were invented.
@Tallguy0202 ай бұрын
‘Cigaret mam?’. Those were the days ! 💨
@tjittekamminga51702 ай бұрын
I do remember (I am from end 1945)as a young boy those endless flights towards South America from Europe (Ams - Santiago de Chile - Ams) with the Super Constellation
@rightwired2 ай бұрын
I thought it said " AN INTERCONTINENTAL FIGHT " Imagine my disappoint
@carlmontney79162 ай бұрын
11 hours on a plane with propeller driven engines at 15,000 ft going to be a pretty rough flight.
@DanknDerpyGamer2 ай бұрын
There were commercial p[rop planes that were pressurized - IIRCthe Lockheed Constellation, DC-7, Vickers Viscount 700 are 3 examples. Surprised they choose to fly an aircraft that low especially since it was possible that KLM had propliners that were pressurized.
@dfirth2242 ай бұрын
@@DanknDerpyGamer Depended on the weather.
@foxxster35652 ай бұрын
My mother and father had some pretty interesting stories about flying in these type of aircraft around this time. Right in the turbulent zone. People having to sit in their meals which had hit the ceiling and bounced back again landing on them or their seat. People hitting the ceiling. They were living in Singapore for a while. Tropical zone. Strap in.. tight.
@Thesmellofrain-h6oАй бұрын
So much food! Would you like a cigarette with that?
@pjt-h5fАй бұрын
When the world was civilized. I was waiting for William Shatner to open the drapes and see the wing monster staring back at him
@briangriffin4937Ай бұрын
The golden age of airline travel. If we can’t return to that era, we can experience it through magic of the movies 🎦
@DjRay19672 ай бұрын
@11:16 Wilson!!!!! Thats Wilson's granddaddy
@chrism11022 ай бұрын
That flight must have had at least 2 refueling stops. I'm guessing Shannon and Gander?
@Bacchusmbt2 ай бұрын
Correct, in the early to mid 1950s KLM flights to and from Amsterdam to Montreal or NYC had stops in Gander and Shannon (or Glasgow).
@viscount7572 ай бұрын
The long range DC-7C (the model in the video) in the late 1950s could do nonstop flights of at least 15 hours which eliminated many of the fuel stops.
@purrple.shadows2 ай бұрын
It's a DC-7, not a Viscount. The window shape and the engine sounds are different.
@DjRay19672 ай бұрын
Who said it was a Viscount? I'm looking all over in comments and I didn't see anyone say it was a Viscount.
@purrple.shadows2 ай бұрын
@@DjRay1967 The video description.
@DjRay19672 ай бұрын
Oh ok. I thought someone in the comments were saying that it was a Viscount. It's most definitely a DC 7
@peterparker92862 ай бұрын
@@DjRay1967You One of those. Huh
@timmotel5804Ай бұрын
I've flown on both
@robgrear1142Ай бұрын
There are some really strange people in that plane.
@cmalberts2 ай бұрын
10:18 "Here little lady, let a *man* unwrap your cheese!"
@bazza9452 ай бұрын
This is true, it took brute strength to prise loose the cheese. 😅
@peterwilles72272 ай бұрын
Times when fresh cooked food was standing on the table when you come home aftwr work
@peterwilles72272 ай бұрын
And when mom was the real mom
@jimaccornero3688Ай бұрын
I believe the DC-7 could do 25,000'' a much smoother ride. This must be a DC-6. Good luck with all that meal service at 15,000'.
@gerritkirchner8710Ай бұрын
If you compare it with today's flights it makes you feel a bit sad ..
@cmalberts2 ай бұрын
Imagine what Joel and the Bots would have done with this short film.
@necrophadian2 ай бұрын
Wish the mst3k team did these documentaries from the 50s
@SumOfSeveralEquations2 ай бұрын
So from the 50s to the 90s they had big advances in airplanes, but from the 90s to now it seems to stand still, what do you all think?
@petercermak19102 ай бұрын
As a Pan American Clipper club kid, I agree. I started flying in 1961. NY to London to visit family. We flew all the time around Europe, N. Africa, the US and down to Cozumel in 1976. Each year I noticed improvements, mostly in the engines and the cabin size. The food service was great up until the nineties. Then everything went Swanson frozen dinner platters. The other thing was the seat space. Before 1970, you had serious room. The last trip I took on British Airways, I felt like a sardine. I do have to say that the tech entertainment has greatly improved. Having your own tv, music control, and more is great. It sure beats the in-flight movie with air driven headphones of the day. All they need to do is bring back a few inches please!
@JackF992 ай бұрын
The Boeing 707 started flying in the late 1950s. 70+ years later todays single-aisle jetliners are not much different from it. Twin aisle jets starting with the Boeing 747 in 1969 are obviously larger but that's about the only big change since the late 50's as far as the passenger experience is concerned. The biggger change in the US was the deregulation act of 1978. Massive cost cutting followed. Today flights are much cheaper but less enjoyable than they were before 1978. Probably the final change in the passenger experience was after 9/11 TSA came to be.
@dfirth2242 ай бұрын
Blame it on deregulation around 1980. No more government subsidy.
@Cousin.2 ай бұрын
I think that Clinton was elected, and it’s all gone downhill from there. Carter destroyed a lot of things, which are STILL a problem today, but the 8 years of Reagan helped a lot.
@ClausB252Ай бұрын
High bypass efficient engines, avionics, GPS, ADS-B, in-flight video and Wi-Fi, better crew training, improved safety, many innovations. And way more affordable.
@BobGeogeo2 ай бұрын
"All drinks are on the house," seems like a coping strategy for the crew.
@cmalberts2 ай бұрын
Notice at 6:38 it was like the crew couldn't break out the booze fast enough. "This load of passengers are insufferable when sober...for God's sake get some liquor in them!"
@keithwaites9991Ай бұрын
@@BobGeogeo and for the passengers...
@fujifrontierАй бұрын
I don’t think they were bad except for the fat guy with all the matches and smoking
@jamesschrom317Ай бұрын
It is a DC-7C
@Cousin.2 ай бұрын
LOL Absolutely hilarious! I don’t know if it was supposed to be, but absolutely hilarious.
@pedrojuliancereceda8301Ай бұрын
The wonder years when every single passanger was neatly dressed wearing smart clothes!
@alifloydtvАй бұрын
I'll take today's safety stats, turbofans at 40,000 feet, and cabin not stinking of stale cigarettes, thanks. I would much rather survive and see a few folks in jammies than put up with the torture of the imagined 'golden age'🤪
@pedrojuliancereceda8301Ай бұрын
@@alifloydtv I did not experience that (people smoking in the cabin). What I have, though is passangers stinking with bad corporal odor...
@alifloydtvАй бұрын
@@pedrojuliancereceda8301I'll take a bit of BO and magnitudes of safety and lack of vibration any day. And as someone who had cruised the Atlantic (for work) I can assure you both ways of crossing were rough, bumpy, and sickness-inducing 🤢
@m.jeanlorsbach64642 ай бұрын
Well the booze flowed freely along with the auderbs and it looked more like a cocktail party. Compare that with flights today where the passengers are crammed in like cattle and assholes are trying to open the airlock and fight with each other! Send me back to the 1950s!!!
@anthonyblue1002 ай бұрын
Yes and they had hors d’oeuvres too.
@DjRay19672 ай бұрын
@7:35 Amstel? I wanted a Heineken. Im getting off this flight.
@berteisenbraun74152 ай бұрын
I would have definitely been tore up from the floor up if I were on that flight. 😂 probably passed out and snoring 😴.
@tsnovak20Ай бұрын
The time when the western world was peaceful and people didn’t have to fear of getting stabbed
@Kabong-d9e2 ай бұрын
GibsMe all dat............BOOZE!
@berendharmsen2 ай бұрын
The spectacularly corny script and acting makes this a time capsule masterpiece. It's quite clearly not shot in the air, although they did shoot out of a window on a real flight of course.
@oscare.quiros63492 ай бұрын
I do remember when people dressed up and all food was served in plates and all drinks were free.
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
And more than likely those were plastic plates in order to save on weight.
@oscare.quiros6349Ай бұрын
@@WAL_DC-6B All I remember from the 1960s were regular ceramic plates. Maybe some airlines used plastics but I do not think they were available at that time. Only ceramics.
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
@@oscare.quiros6349 TWA begin using a plastic called "Beatleware" (I'm not too sure on the spelling) in the mid to late 1930s. I believe with the propeller airliners such as the Douglas DC-7C weight was more an issue than with jetliners (especially when the jets were equipped with the later, more powerful, fanjet engines). I have several complete meal services with compartmentalized plastic trays from the 1950s. One is a TWA circa 1958, and all the meal items were made out of plastic (except the silverware). I have an early 1950s Eastern Airlines meal service that does have a green tinted glass dish that was for the main entree but everything else was plastic. In the 1960s indeed many airlines used ceramic dishes. In fact, I have a complete United Airlines, 1st class meal service from 1970 that's all ceramic which includes a bread plate, coffee cup, coffee saucer, main entree plate and salad bowl. All marked with the UAL shield logo from this period (backstamped Syracuse China). And speaking of Syracuse, I do have a complete American Airlines china set from about 1950, and this was Syracuse China's "Airflyte" brand that was a very light ceramic material used for a main entree dish, salad bowl and coffee cup. The salad bowl is the one that's hard to find. I suspect AA went to plastic a little later due to how easy it was to chip or break an Airflyte item.
@NA-me6sh2 ай бұрын
Shah of Iran laying low
@davidgold59612 ай бұрын
When I heard the stewardess say it was an 11 hour and 35 minute flight with these people, I would most likely force open the door and jump out after about 3 hours tops.
@jlacob2 ай бұрын
I’d be right behind you
@jeffk192 ай бұрын
@@jlacob and that annoying boy reading the brochure would be right behind you!
@robertdaniels12692 ай бұрын
Hence the free drinks and real food.
@Chris_at_Home2 ай бұрын
Today people fly on flights that are longer than that. Hong Kong to JFK is almost 16 hours. I used to fly long flights in military patrol aircraft.
@MalachiWhite-tw7hl2 ай бұрын
Hey, you should try ONE hour with today's passenger behavior--you'll take the leap after taxiing.
@CountryFenderBass2 ай бұрын
11.5 hours at 15000 feet……😢did they pick the most annoying passengers possible.
@JeronimoReyes2 ай бұрын
Just like Ryainair!
@tertommy2 ай бұрын
Bells & Circles Song by Iggy Pop and Underworld.
@creepingjesus51062 ай бұрын
@12:50 Bloody Mary for breakfast? Don't mind if i do...
@Sennmut2 ай бұрын
Anyone know what make/model the camera is @ 4:36?
@billyyoung29462 ай бұрын
Jeez...I would have been climbing the walls with so many obnoxious passengers.
@bazza9452 ай бұрын
Karen's were in the future.
@timmotel5804Ай бұрын
@@bazza945 Yup
@skranz27322 ай бұрын
Flying at 15,000 feet… fascinating… today’s planes fly at twice the altitude.
@purrple.shadows2 ай бұрын
Even three times.
@bardo0007Ай бұрын
It would have been safer too, a lot easier if you needed to land the plane due to an emergency situation. Engines could suddenly fail.
@ATLcentury3342 ай бұрын
Well, number one the stewardess can shut that kid up, he’s annoying.
@WAL_DC-6BАй бұрын
I actually have that exact, same KLM booklet that annoying kid in the beginning is reading from (and no, I was not he on this flight).
@raymondpeterson9522 ай бұрын
Maybe it's just me but...there was an awful lot of commotion in that little plane...
@castlegate20152 ай бұрын
Not sure what the point of the film is, however its a nice insight to the glory days of flying.
@robertgedzelman3802 ай бұрын
If anything, it was to "show off" what the wealthy did in the mid-'50s when only the wealthy could afford to fly. Airfares then were well over $600 - $700 round trip NYC to Europe...in today's money, that's about $10,000 to $11,000. It depicts the good life... champagne, fancy cheeses and fruit, steak dinners, pastries. The planes flew under 23,000 feet..thus the need for paper airsick bags. My dad flew to Germany a few times (paid for by his client) and he felt like a king. Idlewild airport (now JF Kennedy) was tiny then...and EMPTY. Flying was for millionaires and movie stars. Everyone else: drove or took buses or trains. European or Caribbean vacations were for the wealthiest 1-2% of Americans back then. So this film was to entice rich people to consider flying, or make everyone else a little envious...kind of like that 80's TV show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous".
@timmotel5804Ай бұрын
@@robertgedzelman380 It was wonderful. My father worked for American Airlines.
@Kaniela67592 ай бұрын
Cigarettes......lots and LOTS of cigarettes... 🚬
@PeterCox-k1w2 ай бұрын
Are there any complementary sexual encounters
@jonwebb2300Ай бұрын
People acted just as stupid back then as they do today.
@philboydstudge2 ай бұрын
Loved the food. 11 hours at 15,000 feet not so much. No exterior shots of the plane, a DC-4 perhaps?
@bazza9452 ай бұрын
Not a DC4, perhaps DC6, DC7 or Connie.
@viscount7572 ай бұрын
@@bazza945It's a DC-7C, the final long range version that went into service in 1956. It had quite a short period in passenger service with the early 707 and DC-8 jets only 2 or 3 years from going into service which cut flight times almost in half.
@lisablack23892 ай бұрын
11 hours in THAT???
@SumOfSeveralEquations2 ай бұрын
Drinking and smoking, in a pane with allot of europeans and 1 german 5 years after the world war, so many things could have gone wrong xD
@zekharye12 ай бұрын
Anyone got a match?
@dakinila39662 ай бұрын
And only one Dutch speaker on the flight. Even now, KLM is more expensive than other lines for the Nederlanders to fly.
@telekommandant2 ай бұрын
Air travelling was going down the drain, when they invent economy class.
@BR-bj3ot2 ай бұрын
How far mankind has fallen from God’s grace and moral decency
@timmotel5804Ай бұрын
I don't know about any God, but the rest is TRUE.
@dieselfan74062 ай бұрын
Why is there a clock running in the lower screen? Very disruptive and unnecessary
@NathanDudani2 ай бұрын
Buy the license
@PeriscopeFilm21 сағат бұрын
It's absolutely necessary. Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, so that they can identify the material they need to license, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes. In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous KZbin users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do. Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.
@roncoburn77712 ай бұрын
that is service these days are gone.
@ATLcentury3342 ай бұрын
And not one fist fight broke out, it must have been so boring to fly then.