Sleeping berths on aircraft have been around for quite some time, beginning in the 1930s. Travel times were so long that even aircraft like the Douglas DC-2 and Douglas DC-3 had provisions for sleeping, even before the giant Boeing 314 flying boats introduced later that decade.
The Lockheed Constellation proved to be a very popular aircraft during the 1940s through to the early 1960s. It was operated by airlines all over the world and set the standard for domestic and international travel at that time. You don’t automatically think it would have had provisions for a proper sleep, but it did.
Sleeping berths on a Lockheed Connie…
There is an excellent website called Aussie Airliners, which is filled with histories of the aircraft that operated in Australia. This is done on a frame by frame basis, and included along with each aircraft’s history are photos of that very plane.
Overall Thoughts
I never knew sleeping berths were a thing on a Lockheed Constellation. One thing about the Aussie Airliners site that strikes me are the interior pictures sprinkled around. While they are uncommon, they show that the cabins of the 1950s and 1960s were very elegant and comfortably appointed. That makes sense, considering how long you might be on board your flight.
Do you know of any other airlines that offered sleeping accommodation on board the Lockheed Constellation? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Duncan Fenn Photography via AirlineRatings.com.
I definitely can say those are upper bunks in a Constellation
when I was seven, my parents, my brother and my sister flew to Australia on a Constellation I’m pretty sure it was Qantas.. I do definitely remember my mom and my younger sister sleeping in that upper bunk. I think my brother and I slept in a lower one and my dad probably slept sitting up.
Excellent, thanks a lot for the info!
The upper bin ia certainly not a bunk bed… Look at the sidebars. they dont hold. I think it’s just an overhead bin.
They didn’t have overhead bins back then – it’s definitely a bunk!
The top bunk looks like a head banging good time if you get up too quickly. Interesting that they had this. I wonder how much of the plane had this option.
Hahaha! Fair. Most of the pictures I’ve seen of the Qantas Constellation show normal seats throughout. So I’m not exactly sure at all how often this was used and when. Found it interesting though!
My parents and me and my brother and sister in 1957 flew from San Francisco to Sydney with a stop in Honolulu on a Quantas Constellation. Come late night the flight attendants lowered that upper door and out popped a bunk bed. My younger sister and my mom slept in that bunk. My brother and I slept in the lower bunk and my dad slept sleeping up..
Thanks for sharing the first hand experience there. That’s pretty cool that you got to experience that!