Montblack wrote:

("Richard Lamb" wrote)
[snip]

Material gains over the last 100(!) years have been amazing.
For instance, can you imagine a wooden 747
Think I'm kidding?
Check out this 600 passenger design proposal by Bel Geddess, presented at
the New Your Worlds Fair in 1940.
And it's a SPAN LOADER, too!



http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tp-1/ged.pdf
That's neat ...in a 1929 -1940 kind of way.


Montblack

I particularly enjoyed the side by side comparison of the creature comforts.

Olde fashioned elegance New fangled jet
------------------------ ---------------

Main Lounge 36 ft high
9 decks 2 decks
3 Kitchens
13 pantries Peanuts
Library Bad movie
writing rooms
2 public dining rooms
The main dining room coverts into a dance floor for 100 couples
orchestra platform
3 private dining rooms capable of feeding 40 people
4 deck tennis courts
6 shuffle board courts
6 quoits pitches
library
writing room
1 gym with dressing rooms and showers 12 chemical toilets
1 men's Solarium w/16 couches and a masseur
1 women’s Solarium w/16 couches and a masseuse
1 children’s playroom
1 doctors office with waiting room
Barber shop
hairdressers salon
2 bars Bar cart
1 store
1 huge promenade deck
1 Veranda Cafe seats 90
18 single state rooms
81 double staterooms
24 suites w/ baths 606 seats w/ fold-down tables - 32" pitch
179 sleeping rooms
Air-conditioning Air-conditioning