The Tube map but make it aeroplanes

October 4, 2023 4:02 AM

In the mid-1930s, Harry Beck, of London Underground 'Tube' Map fame (previously), created a similar map showing air routes from London, England, to destinations across the globe.

At the time, all UK flights originated from Croydon International Airport (now the Croydon Airport Visitor Centre), which was visited over the years by famous aviators including Amy Johnson and Charles Lindbergh, and where Winston Churchill took flying lessons (and was nearly killed).

Croydon Airport was also the home of the world's first airport Terminal building, the first Air Traffic Control tower and where the idea of the aviation 'Mayday' SOS call was created.

posted by atlantica (12 comments total)

Mod note: Link added!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 5:17 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

What a beautiful creation! And how grueling it must have been to travel to Australia, yet presumably still faster than by sea (or why would you do it??). I wish there was an indication of duration - how long from London to Brisbane?

I love how it still shows the remnants of empire... Also the limits of technology - to get to South Africa, you have to fly east since you can't get across the desert any other way!
posted by scolbath at 5:20 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

(of course, no indication of duration - and distance - is Beck's hallmark)
posted by scolbath at 5:34 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Great post, thanks. That 'similar map' airways is such a time capsule. Really cool.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 5:35 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

That is excellent art, thanks!
posted by chavenet at 5:39 AM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Are these segments all the flights that existed or is a representation? Like, did you have a 20+ leg flight to get from London to Capetown? Or were some of the flights from London more direct and just depicted here as a line for similarity to the subway map?
posted by jacquilynne at 6:35 AM on October 4, 2023

I believe you had a 20+ leg flight. Each segment is about 500 miles. 1935 is 22 years after the Wright brothers - I imagine a 500 mile flight is likely to reach the fuel limit of the planes of that era, AND almost certainly they are flying during daylight hours only.
posted by scolbath at 7:21 AM on October 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

"In a somewhat ironic twist of fate, Croydon Airport, London, introduced the first air traffic control in 1921. It was just a year later that an airplane departing Croydon collided with an airplane destined for Croydon."

--from "The Big Sky Theory" at Code 7700
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:29 AM on October 4, 2023

scolbath: of course, no indication of duration - and distance - is Beck's hallmark
There's red numbers for miles to destinations, 205 miles looks right for Paris. (I carry on my phone the PDF with walking time between London Tube stations.)
posted by k3ninho at 7:39 AM on October 4, 2023

Yep, I missed those at first blush - and I suppose they are roughly analogous to time. I was more thinking about proportional distance.
posted by scolbath at 10:16 AM on October 4, 2023

> how long from London to Brisbane?
According to this https://londonairtravel.com/2019/08/09/british-airways-100-years-australia/ , page down to "Kangaroo Route", in 1935 London to Brisbane took twelve and a half days.

At the same time a ship (according to this https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter1/emergence-of-mechanized-transportation-systems/maritime-journey-australia-1788-1960/) took fourty days.
posted by southof40 at 4:27 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh boy, oh boy, this is such a lovely find! There are so many historical elements here, but allow me to point out two pertaining to the Kangaroo Route:

1. Gwadar here is mentioned as belonging to "Muscat", by which Beck meant Oman. This was true in 1930's, but the actual location of the port-town is in Pakistan, well away from the Persian Gulf. It's a fascinating historic anachronism that the Omani Sultanate ruled this town and its twin Chabahar 170 km away. Now, Gwadar is ruled by Pakistan and Chabahar by Iran, but both have a majority Baloch population. There's a bit of Great Game that China and India are still playing here, in helping develop the ports respectively.

2. The next station before Gwadar and after Bahrein (sic; it's usually spelt as Bahrain now) is marked as Calcutta. That's most likely incorrect. Calcutta, or Kolkata now, is a sub-continent away, and was marked accurately later. Instead, I believe the station between Bahrein and Gwadar should have been Sharjah, per an actual map of the Imperial Airways.
posted by the cydonian at 2:27 AM on October 5, 2023 [3 favorites]