Beginning Era

[brique]

well, there was degree's of 'neutrality' : technically, Vichy France was 'neutral', having signed a peace treaty, but it was hardly independent. But Sami is right to avoid the era, trying to model all that would be a total brain-clench.

But... *evil grin*... we could plant the idea of a 'what-if' scenario... as in no war as such, just a steady growth in traffic up to say... 1955... with planes like the Dakota's/ Junkers/Wellingtons launching as civilian types...

we can dream, cos I WANT a fleet of Empire-class FB's.... *drools

[Airbus101]

with those reliability of those engines think of all the crashes you all would have....
you'd be replacing planes every month

[brique]

with those reliability of those engines think of all the crashes you all would have....
you'd be replacing planes every month

*adopts optimistic face and...

'majority of earth surface is water : I shall be using flying boats : flying boat better able to transition from air to water and float afterward.'

Seriously tho, was looking at a site which lists all the Empire FB's built and their careers : surprising number made it through to late 40's when they got broken up : not bad considering they were flying long-distance sea journeys using compass and dead-reckoning: no radar, no sat-nav and no radio beacons to help either. Throw in 6 years of war-time flying and the wonder is that any of them survived at all.

[Troxartas86]

That's another thing that would probably be hell on the existing system, a two week trans-Pacific flight with a dozen tech stops.

[AndiD]

... or zeppelins...

[exchlbg]

Why not start 1650 and introduce sailing ships?

[brique]

Why not start 1650 and introduce sailing ships?

Dont be silly, we would keep losing them when they fell of the edge of the world....