When Airplanes Had Beds
In 1955, some transatlantic flights still offered sleeper berths.
- By Mariana Gosnell
- Air & Space magazine, January 2013
A Sabena DC-6B from the mid-1950s, as pictured in a Sabena postcard.
Sabena
Whenever I see ads offering “beds” on international flights to first-class and business-elite passengers who want to be in tiptop shape for whatever awaits them at their destinations, I think of my own night spent in a bed aloft. It was 1955, back when Boeing Stratocruisers, Lockheed Constellations, and Douglas DC-6s had sleeping accommodations for transatlantic passengers. But unlike the beds on today’s airplanes, which are do-it-yourself flip-down “lie flat” seats with blanket and pillow, the earlier ones were meant to evoke long-distance train travel, which still had an allure suggestive of luxury and comfort: upper and lower berths with mattresses and sheets, Pullman-style curtains for privacy, windows, reading lights, and sometimes breakfast in bed.
I was the quintessential clueless Ohio ingenue. Right out of college, I had joined the U.S. Foreign Service as a secretary so I’d get to see Europe, and the government had given me a ticket to Oslo, my posting, on a Sabena DC-6, out of Idlewild (now Kennedy International) in New York. Before this I had taken only one short flight, to see a boyfriend, and didn’t know much about aviation other than that it involved air. My ticket was first class, which meant a “gourmet” meal. Until then, my idea of adventure eating had consisted of peanut butter on bananas, although I once watched my father eat a chicken gizzard. What I got on that flight was “aspic” (my seatmate identified it), which, though quivering, bore no other relation to the colorful Jellos of my youth. A pale amber mound with unidentifiable little dark items embedded, encompassed something leggy, probably a crayfish, entire. So European! I thought.
The rest of the meal may have offered something edible (I don’t recall), but as for the aspic, I just stared at it. A little while later, the stewardess had me follow her down the aisle to—as unexpected a sight as a piano—a bed sticking out of the wall. Apparently the only passenger ticketed with such accommodations, I dutifully climbed in and the stewardess drew the curtains tight. I wriggled into my pajamas, put my hair up in pin curls, and lay there right under the airplane ceiling, too excited to sleep, looking from time to time out my porthole window at…total blackness, night over the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, sounds of hilarity reached me from below: passengers drinking and talking and laughing in their seats, a jovial bunch. Midwest modesty kept me from descending among them, in my pajamas, for relief of any kind.
When the night passed and the DC-6 landed in Ireland to refuel, all the other passengers went in the Shannon terminal to eat breakfast while I hurried down the aisle with the cleaners and washed up, got dressed, brushed my teeth, and combed out the pin curls. I was about to join the others when they all trooped back on board, full of toast with Irish butter I was sure. The stewardess did not respond to my tragic expression—I guess if she’d had a breakfast for me she probably wouldn’t have sent everybody out to get theirs. She seemed far more interested in preparing the cabin for takeoff.
I was later told that my ticket—with a berth that provided no rest, isolated me from jolly times with my cabin mates, and deprived me of sustenance—cost the U.S. government $500; in today’s money, $4,200. But there was an up side: I got my first experience of the wider world I’d soon enter.
Mariana Gosnell wrote about her first overnight flight shortly before she died in March 2012.
Comments (8)
Hi,
I remember these beds as well, and also slept in them. In 1957, my family flew to the Philippines. The flight from Hawaii to Manila was on Boeing Stratocruisers. My parents didn't get the beds, but my 3 brothers and sisters and I all did.
I also remember the stir that was caused when the 747 first started flying, and all the publicity about the "Upstairs lounge". As I recall, however, this was only available to 1st class passengers. The Stratocruiser had a lower level "lounge", that was available to everyone.I can remember sitting down there, staring out the window, at the Pacific waves far below...
We stopped on Wake Island to refuel. We have the movies my Dad took of the four of us kids surrounding the sign on the island with pointers to cities around the world, and distance to each. We walked the entire perimeter of the airfield during the stop, and the wreckage from the war was still visible on the beaches.
We flew back in 1959, again on Stratocruisers, and again slept in the beds. I'd have to look but I'm pretty sure that somewhere I have the certificates they handed out for crossing the dateline...
Bob Fogler
Posted by Bob Fogler on November 19,2012 | 04:12 PM
I never saw these beds except in the movies, but I do recall a BA flight from London to Miami in February 2000.
The Purser took a shine to my daughter Emily, then just eight years old, and gave her and Dad a guided tour of the 747.
Standouts on our walkabout included the Purser's Office, tucked under the stairs, and the newly-installed First Class seats which we delighted in for long minutes. Ah, the pleasure of being able to lie flat on a jetliner! And in a 747 you can see ahead, as the windows curve into the nose cone: delightful.
Emily also had a turn on the flight deck, but of course this was before 9/11, when such invitations were not uncommon.
It was a great way to break the flight - afterwards, there was just time for a meal, then we were entering Miami airspace, vacation targets: Disney, SeaWorld, the Everglades and the Keys.
Posted by David Jefferis on December 13,2012 | 02:43 PM
If my calculations are correct then three rows of two abreast seats would take the same space as a three tier, double bunk sleeping area. It should cost no extra and just takes a little clever engineering to accomplish. This could apply to three abreast for a small family. The beds could be offered in select areas rather than the whole airplane. Anyone who has spent 8 or more hours on a plane as a family would see the huge benefit.
Posted by Nigel Boreham on December 15,2012 | 02:35 AM
I recall such a "pullman"-style flight - domestic. On board a Constellation from Oklahoma City to New York in 1961. Can't recall which airline. It's a 1300 mile flight and we had an early morning arrival at 'Idlewild' - about a 5 hour flight so we boarded the airplane & went to bed.
Posted by Tod Young on December 21,2012 | 05:14 PM
That was the best reading I have done in ages. I was totally mesmerized by her writing and her story. I need more.
Posted by Elizabeth Mitchell on January 6,2013 | 06:20 AM
She was quite a wonderful, successful person. All who were lucky enough to know her were blessed. Thank you Carolyn for remembering me. Fondly, Sally
Posted by Sally Buel on January 7,2013 | 09:39 PM
I flew Americans sleeper from columbus ohio to washington dc in 1944.It was a DC3 with a pullman bed . The flight was also paid for by the State Department.I was 4.We then went by train to Miami to take the clipper to Rio.At the end of the trip my father tipped the purser like on a ship.
Posted by richard brown on January 16,2013 | 10:48 AM
I too recall airline sleepers, from two perspectives.
in the 1960' as a child i got to see/ride some old connies(1049's), with them for officers families, then due to some blown jugs,at hawaii on the 1049, us kids and Enlisted families got to ride on home on the Navy L1249,one of Only four ever built which the maintainence crew was able to put the seats into in fairly quick time, later we owned an air cargo company and bought old DC-3 to haul freight with, we ended up with two old dc-3's with the long windows and sleepers, never got to ride in those bunks, as we ripped them out post haste, but they were fairly nice looking for the Vintage.
Posted by Rick A on January 17,2013 | 01:20 PM