Breaking Barriers

Seattle's Museum Of Flight Exhibits The Concorde And "Style In The Aisle”

By Cassandra Kamischke

You're hurtling through the stratosphere at speeds unmatched by any bird or plane in the sky. With a slight surge of acceleration, you break though the sound barrier and begin to approach top speeds of up to twice the speed of sound. Soaring at double the cruising altitude of most commercial airliners, the horizon gently bends with the curvature of the earth, as far below the deep blue of the northern Atlantic peeks through wisps of clouds. Sipping champagne, you settle back into your leather seat and enjoy the rest of the turbulence-free flight.

If you were lucky enough to travel on one of the twenty historic Concorde planes during their 27-year period of service you may have had this experience. Between 1976 and 2003, the Aérospatale/BAC-built airplane enjoyed superstar status in the world of commercial flight, able to soar faster and higher than any other working airliner.

Though it may never fly again, you still have the opportunity to climb aboard one of the planes that redefined the nature of air travel. Two exhibits at the Museum of Flight in Seattle offer unique perspectives on the history of aviation, from a plane that broke records, to the fashions of the airline industry that demonstrated the changing role of women in the American workforce.

Supersonic Shape in the Skies

With the first commercial flight of the Concorde in 1976, a new era of luxury travel took to the air. In addition to being both the fastest and the safest passenger airliner in operation, the Concorde also held the most mystique. Day-to-day business often came to a standstill as crowds stopped to watch the supersonic aircraft soar overhead. Now, however, the plane is permanently grounded. Despite unmatched records in flight times, flagging demand and rising expenses led both British Airways and Air France to discontinue use of the plane by 2003. The remaining Concordes descended from the clouds to museums.

The Concorde on display at the Museum of Flight began service for British Airways in April of 1980. Nicknamed "Alpha Golf,” it logged over 16,200 flight hours and 5,600 take offs. Climb aboard the plane and you'll see the rows of leather seats that held up to 100 passengers at a time, as well as the clutter of dials and switches in the cockpit. From the inside the Concorde looks a lot like any other plane, though perhaps slightly more dated. The ceiling is barely over six feet high, and the seats are narrow and don't recline. Nonetheless, the Concorde maintained a reputation as a privilege of the rich, due in part to high levels of passenger service and an astonishing 3.5-hour flight time from London to New York.

What made the Concorde most remarkable was not its interior, but the innovative design that allowed it to achieve speeds of up to 1,345 mph. The Concorde stands out from the other planes at the Museum of Flight's Airpark because of its unique triangular shape and distinctive nose cone. Also visible are the four Rolls Royce/SNECMA turbojets, each capable of 38,050 lbs of thrust. The Concorde was unmatched for speed in the world of commercial aviation, able even to outrun the earth's rotation and overtake the sun, leading to the plane's British Airways slogan, "Arrive before you leave.”

The beginning of the end for the Concorde came with the crash of Air France Flight 4590, scheduled to travel from Paris to New York in July 2000. Though the crash was the result of a piece of scrap metal left on the runway from a previous plane taking off, the negative publicity associated with the deaths of all 100 passengers and nine crew members brought a sharp decline in ticket sales. Following the slump in air travel after 9/11, the airlines announced that it was no longer economical to keep the plane in the skies, and the Concorde's wings were clipped. Now visitors to the Museum of Flight can explore the aircraft that broke the speed record for a flight from New York to Seattle on the way to its place of retirement.

Fashion in Flight

The Style in the Aisle exhibit is unique at the Museum of Flight. It's the only one that doesn't contain a hulking metal craft as its centerpiece. Instead the focus is on fashion. Through a variety of photographs and mannequin displays, the exhibit reveals a timeline of the fluctuating hemlines and shifting colors that marked the evolution of uniform trends for flight attendants. Beyond the clothes, the exhibit outlines the struggle for equitable working conditions in an occupation that was almost exclusively female before the 1970s. From the drab grey uniforms of the 1930s to the go-go boots and hot pants of the 1970s, the dramatically changing outfits illustrate a history of changing ideas about the role of women in the aviation industry.

From the beginning, jobs as flight attendants were among the most desired of the "pink-collar” careers. The first flight attendants were hired as on-board nurses. In addition to attending to the passengers, they were required to load the luggage, perform routine maintenance, and even refuel the planes. A mannequin at the museum displays the typical fashion of the 1930s: A military style wool uniform, including a double-breasted jacket and matching cap and necktie in "beautiful Boeing green.” Though hired to perform relatively mundane duties, flight attendants were associated with style and allure. The glamour and romance connected with traveling to exotic locations attracted so many young women that only a small percentage of those who applied were actually able to get jobs.

During World War II, as the nurses serving as flight attendants volunteered to help the war effort, women without nursing training replaced them. In the 1940s and 50s, flight attendants were expected to be feminine and modest, and required to be single and avoid "unladylike” behavior. The style of this time involved white gloves and girdles. "Appearance rooms” were provided so the attendant might check her outfit in a mirror before and after the flight to avoid fashion faux pas.

In the 1960s, fashions of the airplane runway could also be seen on a different sort of runway, as airlines employed top designers such as Christian Dior and Emilio Pucci to place the flight attendant's image at the forefront of marketing schemes. In 1965 Braniff International began advertising for the "Air Strip,” a promotion designed to attract male flyers. Female attendants on these flights would take off layers of clothing at different points during the flight. A poster of the ad in the exhibit declares, "If the flight seems too short, that's the whole idea.”

After the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the subsequent rise of feminism, many flight attendants fought to end such restrictions as the mandatory retirement imposed on an attendant should she get married, become pregnant, or simply age. The clothes on display for this period took on a variety of colors and patterns, such as the appropriately named "Big Orange” of TWA, the bright yellow "Sundance Kid” of Hughes Airwest, and Continental's uniform, "The Burger King.” As time progressed, the role of the flight attendant became less about entertaining and maintaining an image than ensuring passenger safety and comfort, in some ways a return to the days when attendants were employed primarily for their use as on-board nurses rather than simply eye-candy. The modern uniforms on display at the museum are more familiar and professional.

Visiting the Museum of Flight is an opportunity to observe the history of an industry that has captured the public's imagination since the time of the Wright brothers. From the original Boeing manufacturing barn and a replica of the Kitty Hawk, to the impressive SR-71 "Blackbird” and the last remaining Mars Viking lander on earth, the exhibits celebrate the dramatic leaps in aeronautical engineering resulting from innovation coupled with the desire to explore new frontiers. We're left to wonder at what shape the next technological advance will take, and where it will take us.

Cassie Kamischke is an undergraduate studying biochemistry at the University of Washington.

Images:

Top: The "Alpha Golf” Concorde rests at the Museum of Flight's Airpark. Photo: The Museum of Flight

Bottom: A variety of fashions are displayed in the Style in the Aisle exhibit. Photo: The Museum of Flight