As I type these words from the relative comfort of a chair 30,000 feet in the sky, I can't help but marvel at the incredible advancements aviation has made in the last hundred years. Being connected to the internet is but just one thing airline passengers now take for granted as humanity's ability to move from place to place and communicate has not only become easier but, probably most importantly, less expensive.

Today we have an image from the April 23, 1967 Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) that accompanied an article imagining a "sea airport" or Sea Sky Terminal (SST) of the future. Some of the benefits listed in the article appear below.

Proponents of the dream terminal say that, among other things, it would:

1. Eliminate the danger of huge aircraft landing in congested areas.

2. Eliminate the noise associated with major airports.

3. Eliminate freeway and street congestion caused by ever-increasing numbers of air travelers trying to get in and out of major terminals.

4. Eliminate property problems, such as occurred in Los Angeles recently when that city had to purchase 400 omes in order to make room for a new runway for International Airport.

The sea airport of the future, engineers say, could be served by underwater subways and high-speed airfoil vessels. Helicopters, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and flying buses would link the seagoing airstrip with satellite airports in other cities, by-passing the freeways.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Airport of the Future (1967)
• Fuller's Traveling Cartridge (circa 1960s)

Popular Mechanics produced short films in the 1940s and 50s that showcased technology of the near and distant future. This short was released theatrically on May 21, 1948 and featured "streamlined marvels on wheels." The narrator cheerfully proclaims of the second car (pictured above), "If you're looking for a 1960 model, this may well be it!"

Clip from the Popular Science Historic Film Series DVD.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Dymaxion "Car of the Future" (1934)
• Personal Helicopter (1943)
• Gyroscopic Rocket Car (1945)
• Bubble-top Car (1948)

The July, 1944 issue of Popular Science contains this private plane of the future, as imagined by Douglas Rolfe.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Personal Helicopter (1943)
• Torpedo Boat of Tomorrow (1943)
• Passenger Air Travel (1945)
• Gryoscopic Rocket Car (1945)
• Commuter Helicopter (1947)
• Word Origins: Imagineering (1940s)

The May 9, 1897 St. Paul Globe (St. Paul, MN) ran an interesting article titled, "Strange Ships That Sail In The Skies." The article describes proposed flying vessels of the future, as well as newspapers around the United States that had were printing questionable accounts of flying machines already in use. Many of the illustrations from the article are similar to the flying machines we looked at from 1885.

I had no idea that so many newspapers reported -- with questionable intentions -- flying vessels throughout the country. If that's true, I imagine someone has written a book on this late-19th century phenomenon, no?

Mechanical Birds: Dreams of Flight in 19th Century Journalism. See? I already came up with a title for you. Go write the book. Yes, I'm looking at you. Just write it. I promise to buy a copy. But if you really want your non-fiction book to sell, make sure to put "...The Blankity Blank That Changed America Forever" in your subtitle. You'll thank me later. When you're rolling around in piles of money. Cuz that's a million dollar idea.

You can read, "Strange Ships That Sail In The Skies," in its entirety on Scribd.

This is the age of the airship. The evolution of the balloon to the flying machine is nearly complete, and it is not improbably that within a few years great aerial vessels for passenger service and monster engines of war and commerce will be seen sailing through space.

Recently the newspapers of the whole country have been exploiting stories of airships seen hovering over various towns and country places in districts very far apart. The testimony seems impeachable, especially in the face of so many witnesses, but certain details are always lacking to complete the evidence. Now it is a story of a wonderful vessel seen on the Pacific coast in the neighborhood of San Francisco or maybe Sacramento. Next a report comes of one having been seen in Nebraska, or a farmer in some Iowa county reports seeing a bright light and moving object in the air on a dark night. Then the scene shifts, and a man or a score of men report seeing a wonderful what is it from some other remote quarter of the United States.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Flying Machines (circa 1885)
• Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)

This illustration by Alexander Leydenfrost appeared in the fiftieth anniversary issue of Popular Mechanics (January, 1952). It depicts "science on the march" and even includes a chart explaining the various elements of the image.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Atomic Power Plant of the Future (1939)
• The Domination of Space (1950s)
• The Future of the Helicopter (1955)
• Our Friend the Atom (Book, 1956)
• Disney's Magic Highway (1958)
• Nuclear-Powered Aircraft (1960)

It seems Eddie Rickenbacker's passion for futurism started early. A of couple weeks ago we looked at his excitement over the prospect of post-WWII frozen dinners, plastic skyscrapers, and the wireless transmission of electricity. But as early as 1924 Rickenbacker predicted that the flying automobile -- complete with folding wings -- would soon take to the air.

This article is from the November 23, 1924 Zanesville Times Signal (Zanesville, OH).

Imagine the convenience of being able to drive around in the city, as is done nowadays, and then when you start for some other town and get on a straight of way or enter a nearby pasture, to unfold the wings on the machine and take to the air! It will mean quicker transportation for the suburbanite, for people living at a distance from a large city, and for traveling salesman, who now uses the motor car and highways to cover his territory.

 

1924 Nov 23 Zanesville Times Signal - Zanesville OH Paleo Future

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Latest Type of Flying Machine (1901)
• Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
• Future Plane Travel (1920)
• Gernsback Imagines Life 50 Years Hence (1925)
• The Family Plane of 2030 (1930)
• Personal Helicopter (1943)
• "Aerocar" Hits the Road (1950)

The April 24, 1960 edition of Arthur Radebaugh's Closer Than We Think imagined a futuristic world of robot-driven trains. Looking at this image makes me think that someone could produce some pretty awesome steampunk art featuring James J. Hill and a Katrina Van Televox type robot, even though the "robots" described in this strip weren't of the humanoid variety.

Future trains will be fully automatic -- robots that can regulate their own speed and control their own movements to meet the most precise schedules.

The Union Switch and Signal Division is currently working on two kinds of electronic "brains" to make this possible. One type would be a trackside "decision maker," to regulate train speed, routing, starting and stopping. The other would be a "control servo," to signal that the robot train is obeying orders -- or isn't, and why. A central monitoring panel would oversee train movements for hundreds of square miles. The first such installation may be on the New York subway shuttle trains.

Next week: Lunar Power Pack

Thanks to Tom Z. for supplying the color version of this strip.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Closer Than We Think (1958-1963)
• Farm to Market (1958)
• Speed is Key to Future Travel (1965)
• Car-on-Train Pallet System (1968)
• Robot Drivers (1985)