The Normalization of North Atlantic Civil Aviation from Its Origins to the Rise of the Jumbo Jet, 1919-1970
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Hopping the Pond: The Normalization of North Atlantic Civil Aviation from its Origins to the Rise of the Jumbo Jet, 1919-1970 By Sean Nicklin Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate in Philosophy degree in History Department of History Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Sean Christopher Nicklin, Ottawa, Canada, 2016 ii Abstract The Normalization of North Atlantic Civil Aviation from its Origins to the Rise of the Jumbo Jet, 1919-1970 Sean Nicklin Supervisor: Dr. Eda Kranakis 2016 Flight across the North Atlantic is a routine process now, with thousands of flights carrying millions of passengers between Europe and North America every year quickly, safely, and affordably. By some measures it remains the busiest international flight corridor in the world and the most profitable for airlines. Yet there were no planes capable of making the flight a mere century ago. Aviation underwent a period of rapid development and expansion during the twentieth century that transformed the North Atlantic from a barrier into a central corridor in the global air network. This dissertation examines the development of civil aviation on the North Atlantic from 1919 to 1970, focusing on political, economic, and technological factors. Transatlantic flight was a focus of aviation but the earliest planes lacked the range needed to make the crossing. Technological improvements let pioneering aviators cross the ocean by 1919, proving that it was possible though difficult without further advances. Infrastructure also needed to be further developed since the North Atlantic was a hostile environment, with bad weather and limited facilities for aircraft in emergencies. Until 1945, the governments of the North Atlantic region thoroughly explored, studied, and built the infrastructure to make regular transatlantic possible. Postwar, governments supported their airlines through further infrastructural improvements, subsidies, by funding aeronautics, and by complex negotiations with foreign countries to open the skies to passenger travel. By 1970, transatlantic flight was a routine endeavour enjoyed by the masses and supported by systems invisible to the average traveler. iii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not exist without the huge assistance of my advisor, Dr. Eda Kranakis, who first suggested this subject as one worthy of study and provided constant feedback during its development, and to whom I am deeply thankful. Over the years, her thoughts and suggestions proved highly helpful in directing my research and offering new insights that were invaluable. I would also like to thank the staff of the University of Ottawa and in particular Suzanne Dalrymple, who helped me countless times when I needed assistance with my registration. I must also thank the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for their generous financial assistance during my research and conference trips. It is also important that I thank Carleton University’s Centre for European Studies for providing a travel grant for a research trip to Europe that proved essential to the completion of this dissertation. The research that went into this dissertation is the product of years of labour and a great deal of travel. Each of the archives and libraries I consulted were helpful and their staffs were often exceptionally friendly and welcoming. For the state archives, I thank the staff at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, the American National Archives in College Park, Maryland, the British National Archives in London, the Archives de France in Paris, and the Historical Archives of the European Union in Brussels. I also thank the staff of the Richter Library in the University of Miami, which hold the records of Pan American Airways, and the staff of the British Airways Heritage Centre in London, and particularly Jim Davies who made my stay in London quite enjoyable. I profoundly thank the staff at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum Library in Washington, who were very friendly and informative. I thank the staff at the Musée de l’Air et l’Espace and the Air France Museum in Paris, both of which provided me with a variety of unique and interesting material. The staff at the Canada Aviation iv and Space Museum Library and Archives was also very helpful, in particular Renald Fortier, the Curator of the Aviation History. All of these people pulled out a number of sources that proved helpful in this work, and I owe them a great deal of thanks. On a personal note, it is only fair that I thank the people at Air Canada who flew me across the very North Atlantic that I studied for the past several years. The people that work behind the scenes to make air travel a safe and pleasant experience are often overlooked since doing a good job means that their efforts is invisible. So many people have a hand in making transatlantic flight a reality that it is impossible to note them all, but they deserve gratitude for keeping the skies open to all. Finally, I would like to thank the people in my life for their constant encouragement and support as I worked on this dissertation: my mother Wendy, my father Jim, my stepfather Jim, my stepmother Tina, my sister Rebecca, my grandmother Norma, my friends both at university and at home, and above all my love Liz. Thank you everyone. v Table of Contents Title Page i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents v Introduction 1 Chapter One: Opening the North Atlantic Skies 31 1.1 Pioneering Transatlantic Flights 32 1.2 Airships on the North Atlantic 44 1.3 Determining the Best Transatlantic Route 53 1.4 Aviation Organizations and Institutions 70 1.5 Planning for Regular Transatlantic Flight 75 Chapter Two: Wartime Transatlantic Flight 86 2.1 Military/Civilian Airline Cooperation 87 2.2 Wartime Infrastructure 95 Chapter Three: ICAO, IATA, and the Bermuda Agreement 106 3.1 The Chicago Conference and ICAO 107 3.2 The International Air Transport Association 114 3.3 The Bermuda Agreement 121 Chapter Four: Aircraft on the North Atlantic 139 4.1 Government Backing for Transatlantic-Capable Aircraft in Wartime 139 4.2 Early Postwar Aircraft Development 143 4.3 Jets Transform Transatlantic Travel 150 4.4 Airbus: Europe Responds to American Aeronautical Dominance 163 4.5 Decline of Ocean Liners and Ship-based Travel 171 4.6 Concorde and Supersonic Flight 175 Chapter Five: Transatlantic Air Traffic Control 185 5.1 Air Traffic Control and Airports 185 5.2 Air Traffic Control over the North Atlantic 192 5.3 ATC and Planning Transatlantic Routes 196 5.4 Radar and Radio Beacons 207 5.5 Satellite Tracking 211 vi Chapter Six: Meteorology on the North Atlantic 216 6.1 Prewar Meteorological Developments 217 6.2 Wartime Meteorology 227 6.3 Postwar Meteorological Development 234 Chapter Seven: Weather Ships and The North Atlantic Ocean Station 241 Program 7.1 Ship-based Meteorology Before 1945 241 7.2 Postwar Weather Ships 245 7.3 Program Cuts and NAOS’ Decline 256 Chapter Eight: Air Mail and Cargo on the North Atlantic 262 8.1 Air Mail in the Interwar Era 263 8.2 Air Mail in the Second World War 278 8.3 Postwar Air Mail 283 8.4 Air Cargo Services on the North Atlantic 288 Chapter Nine: Airline Routes and Government Regulation of Air Travel 294 9.1 United States-Europe Routes 295 9.2 Canada-Europe Routes 303 9.3 Fifth Freedom Traffic 311 9.4 Aviation Protectionism 317 9.5 Air Union: A Failed Experiment 327 Chapter Ten: Tourism, Airfares, and Charters 334 10.1 Transatlantic Tourism Shifts to the Air 334 10.2 Regulations and Fares in the Postwar Era 343 10.3 Charters 353 Conclusion 366 Bibliography 373 1 Introduction This dissertation focuses on the development of transatlantic flight from the first experimental flights until the time passenger travel became routine and widely available, 1919- 1970. The twentieth century was a time of unprecedented technological progress, with powered flight being one of the most revolutionary sectors. Aviation embodied the popular perception that high technology could literally bring people across the world closer together, transcending traditional notions that long distance travel must be a time consuming and expensive process. By the mid-twentieth century, air travel began to offer the common man the chance to cross continents and oceans in mere hours and at a reasonable cost. The wispy patchwork of contrails on a clear day is a testament to the ubiquity of airplanes in modern society and the huge demand there is for such travel. Businesspeople travel for meetings in another city and fly home in a single day. Priority goods and mail can be delivered anywhere in the world at close to the speed of sound. Tourism has flourished as the middle classes took to the skies in ever greater numbers, seeking vacation experiences that were inconceivable a generation before. Why rent a cottage close to home for a week when Miami Beach or the French Riviera was within reach? The airplane made the world far smaller, spurring travel, trade, and tourism. As political scientist Robert Strausz-Hupé said in 1953, “The impact of aviation upon the entire economic, social, and political structure of civilization has shattered traditional concepts of space and time.”1 Airlines were the vanguards of this new world order. Widely seen as a prestigious enterprise, combining the latest technology with expansive trade links,2 airlines became symbols of national pride. As American musician Frank Zappa quipped, “you can’t be a real country 1 Robert Strausz-Hupé, “Aviation and International Co-Operation,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 299, Air Power and National Security (May 1955), p.