World War 2 Great international airlines

The great international airlines Nevertheless, despite these later successes, the early US airlines had had problems. Would-be passengers studied the alternative form of transport — rail — and usually decided to travel that way. The early aeroplanes were snail-like by modern standards, 128 km/h (80 mph) being a fair average, and none could equal the luxury offered by American Pullman trains. Consequently, most of the aviation enterprises of the time concentrated on airmail services. Matters improved with the appearance of new aircraft, and then in 1927 Pan American Airways came into being.

Progress thereafter was exceed- ingly rapid. From operating a single 176 km (110 miles) route in its first year, Pan Am began to grow into a great airline. Steps on the way were services to the Caribbean and South America, an Atlantic route projected in 1937, and flights to Alaska the following year. By 1939 the company had a network of routes more extensive than that of any leading European airline, many of which had been in operation since the early 1920s. In Europe, airlines were proliferating.

Four of the most important were KLM, founded in 1919, Sabena in 1923, Lufthansa in 1926 and Air France in 1933. They were equipped mainly with Junkers, Savoia-Marchetti, Douglas, Fokker and Lockheed aircraft. By the middle 1930s, many of the ‘civilian’ aircraft were being built with an eye to immediate conversion to military configuration should the need arise. And by September 1939 that need had arisen, with the outbreak of World War II.