This is a 16mm film made for Northwest Orient Airlines in the 1950s. This was made to be shown on the double-decker Boeing Stratocruiser airplanes, which were being used at that time. The film includes images from Japan, Formosa, and the Philippines.
Northwest Airlines was founded on September 1, 1926, by Colonel Lewis Brittin, under the name Northwest Airways, a reference to the historical name for the Midwestern United States that derived from the Northwest Territory. Like other early airlines, Northwest's focus was not in hauling passengers, but in flying mail for the U.S. Post Office Department. The airline was originally based in Detroit, Michigan. The fledgling airline established a mail route between Minneapolis and Chicago, using open-cockpit biplanes such as the Curtiss Oriole and the Waco JYM. From 1928 the enclosed cabin six-passenger Hamilton H-45 and H-47 designs were used.
Northwest Airlines began carrying passengers in 1927. In 1928, Northwest started its first international route with service to Winnipeg. The airline's operations had expanded to many smaller cities in that region by the end of the 1920s. In 1929, a group headed by Richard Lilly, a businessperson from St. Paul, Minnesota, purchased the airline.
In 1931 Northwest sponsored Charles and Anne Lindbergh on a pioneering test flight to Japan via Alaska, scouting what would become known as the Northwest Airlines' Great Circle route that could save as many as 2,000 miles (3,000 km) on a New York City to Tokyo flight. Northwest developed this route further during World War II, when it flew soldiers and supplies from the Northwestern United States to Alaska. During that time Northwest began painting its airliners' tails bright red as a visual aid in the often harsh weather conditions. The airline's experience with the sub-arctic climate led the U.S. federal government to designate Northwest as the main airline over the North Pacific following the war.
In spring of 1947 Northwest began stationing employees at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, flying them from the United States via Alaska on its Great Circle route. On July 15, 1947 Northwest became the first airline to begin direct service between the United States and Japan, using a Douglas DC-4 airliner named The Manila. (All pre-war airline service to the Orient had been via Hawaii and the Philippines.) The flight to Japan originated at Wold-Chamberlain Field in Minneapolis and stopped at Blatchford Field in Edmonton, Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, and Shemya AAF in the westmost Aleutian Islands. The flight continued from Tokyo to Lunghwa Airport in Shanghai and then to Nichols Field at Manila.
A flight between Tokyo and Seoul (Gimpo Airport) began on October 20, 1947, and Naha Airport in Okinawa was included as a stop on the Tokyo to Manila route on November 16, 1947. Northwest service to Shanghai was suspended in May 1949 because of the civil war in China, with the Republic of China nearly ready to collapse, and its government evacuated to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). Northwest Airlines added Songshan Airport in Taipei, the new capital city of the Republic of China, as a stop on the Tokyo-Okinawa-Manila route on June 3, 1950, with ongoing interchange service to Hong Kong operated by Hong Kong Airways.
With its new system of transpacific flights established, Northwest began to advertise itself as Northwest Orient Airlinesalthough its registered corporate name remained "Northwest Airlines."
NWA continuously upgraded equipment on the transpacific routes. On June 22, 1949, Northwest received its first double-decker Boeing 377 "Stratocruiser", enabling more comfortable accommodations and faster service on transpacific flights. The Stratocruiser commenced service from the U.S. West Coast to Honolulu in 1950 and to Tokyo, via Alaska, on September 27, 1952.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com