An Airplane Trip

"An Airplane Trip," a 1939 black-and-white ERPI Classroom Films Inc. produced instructional sound film, combines the novelty of flying in the early days with basic inner workings of a passenger plane. The film opens with a mother and her young daughter entering the Los Angeles Union Air Terminal (0:30). They purchase their tickets to Salt Lake City at the terminal (0:47). They then head outside to the gate and watch in awe and anticipation as the airplane rolls slowly to the landing field (1:00). The United Airlines metal plane, a DC-3 monoplane, is described as having big soft tires, two motors and two propellers, with one set of wings (1:04). Although the first successful aircraft were biplanes, the first attempts at heavier-than-air flying machines were monoplanes, and many pioneers continued to develop monoplane designs. A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with a single main wing plane, in contrast to a biplane or other multiplane, each of which has multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing configuration and is the simplest to build. However, during the early years of flight, these advantages were offset by its greater weight and lower maneuverability, making it relatively rare until the 1930s. Since then, the monoplane has been the most common form for a fixed-wing aircraft (Wikipedia). The monoplane in the film has windows in the front for the pilot and many more in the back. Airplane mechanics are seen wheeling their maintenance tools to the waiting plane to service it before takeoff (1:26). They check the electric batteries, work on the large motors, wash and clean the plane and grease the propellers. As the camera spans over to where a mechanic is filling the large plane with gasoline, the narrator exclaims, "what an odd place to put gasoline for the motors, (2:13)" The plane begins to warm up its motors. Workers quickly stow baggage and other package right below the pilot’s seat in front of the plane (3:03). Passengers are seen boarding the roomy plane (pilot and stewardess first, of course!) while an attendant checks off names (3:19). The fasten seat belt sign illuminates before the monoplane begins to pull away from the gate (3:57), accelerating faster and faster off the ground (4:17). And we have takeoff! The plane soars above the airport and over rivers and city streets and other vast Los Angeles landscape. It soars over fields and mountains and flies among fluffy cloud (01:13) before entering Canada at International Falls, Minnesota (01:16). The stewardess prepares food for the passengers. The plane is traveling at a speed of 190 miles per hour as it nears San Francisco Bay (6:52). The plane turns eastward and skims above the roads and the hills (7:03). The pilot maneuvers the plane even higher over the clouds, and uses the radio telephone to ask about the weather (8:02). As night ensues, we see the lights of Salt Lake City and the landing runway is shown below (8:56). The plane lands safely and the mother, her young daughter and the other passengers begin to disembark the plane after a safe landing (9:45). Baggage is unloaded off the plane (9:56) The plane is filled with more gasoline and more passengers begin to board the plane as it prepares to continue its journey to New York (10:01). Amazingly, the aircraft shown in this film NC-16070, is still around. It is located at the Evergreen Air Museum at the McMinnville Municipal Airport - KMMV, USA - Oregon.