Have you seen these fabulous Imperial Airways 1930s seat maps?

Britain’s premier overseas airline during the 1930s was Imperial Airways. They connected the United Kingdom with the rest of the British Empire using a collection of primarily locally built aircraft.

The fleet consisted of land planes as well as flying boats, some dating from the previous decade still with open cockpits. Actually, that term for where the pilots sit doesn’t seem to exist. As you’ll see below, back then it was called the ‘control cabin’.

The Seat Maps

All of these came in a booklet produced by the airline in the early 1930s. Each double page spread shows a photograph of the aircraft on the right, while on the left there is information about the aircraft. I’ve edited the images so they stacked to ensure they will display better.

Information includes the seat map, as well as who manufactured the plane. In addition, data such as the wingspan, length, height, crew complement, number of passengers, engines and cruising speed are there too, as well as the aircraft names and registrations.

Handley Page H.P.42

The H.P.42 was the longer range, international version of the aircraft (below you’ll see the H.P.45 with more seats for shorter flights). All aircraft had names beginning with H, and it was internally called the Hannibal after the lead plane.

Those wanting to see the plane in action can check out a video in my article about it. The article features both colour and black and white pictures of the interior as well. It’s definitely a different era of flying!

Handley Page H.P.45

As the text below states, “This and the HANNIBAL type are the largest aeroplanes in the world employed in civil aerial transport”. The Handley Page H.P.45 was the giant of its time, carrying 38 passengers.

What is fun is that the H.P.45 is basically the variant of the H.P.42 for European flights, trading range for more payload. This is why this one carries more people.

Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta

Remember the days when aircraft engines had interesting names? The Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta was powered by four Armstrong-Siddeley Double Mongoose engines. Very cool!

You can also see two videos and a few interior pictures of this plane in my article about it. The marketing picture with the passengers and tableware is really very nice.

Armstrong Whitworth Argosy

Entering service all the way back in 1926, the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was initially used on flights from London to Paris. It sported an open cockpit and fabric covered control services.

Once again, you can see a couple of videos of this plane flying around back in the day. We are quite lucky to have a good few videos of these aircraft for posterity.

de Havilland Hercules

Another aircraft that first flew in 1926 is the de Havilland Hercules. This was designed for the air mail route from Cairo to Baghdad, and services commenced on 7 January 1927.

Service life for these planes was relatively short, with the airline withdrawing them from service by 1935. That cabin certainly looks tight, doesn’t it?

Avro 618 Ten

A licensed version of the Fokker F.VII Trimotor, two Avro 618 Ten aircraft saw service with Imperial Airways. Delivered in April and June of 1931, one was lost in December 1933 in a crash in Belgium, killing all on board.

The other plane soldiered on through to 1940, when it was written off on take-off in Cairo, thankfully without casualties. By the way, it was called a Ten because it carried two pilots and eight passengers.

Westland Wessex

Just one Westland Wessex was in service with the airline when the seat maps were produced. It seems that the main operator of this type of aircraft was Belgium’s Sabena.

There were ten Wessex’s produced over the production run, so it’s a pretty rare aircraft. Since it only carried four passengers, it filled the “air taxi or special charter” niche.

Short S.17 Kent

The Short Kent flying boat first flew and entered service in 1931. At Imperial Airways, they were called the Scipio class, after the name of the lead airliner.

Once again, I’ve written about this plane before. You can see a video, colour cut away, and interior pictures in my article.

Short S.8 Calcutta

Flying boats were once a big thing in commercial aviation, though they mostly disappeared shortly after the second world war. The Calcutta had an open cockpit and an enclosed passenger cabin. And what about those seats – they look like they are straight out of the dungeon of a serial killer!

I imagine it would have been some effort for the flight Steward to be able to serve anything interesting from the buffet. Since the manual control would have made the flights a little more wobbly than we are used to these days, I wonder how much anyone really ate at all.

Overall Thoughts

With their control cabins, stewards pantries, wireless operators, double Mongoose engines and more, these seat maps are a real peek into an era that has long passed. I’m sure there are people out there who have no idea what a wireless is, let alone knowing what someone who operates one does.

You had to have a really daring streak – and a lot of money – to fly as a passenger in those days. Ultra modern at the time, they were also much less safe than aircraft of today, with accidents being very common.

What do you think of these Imperial Airways seating plans? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Simanaitis Says.