COLLECTOR CHRONICLES
4 Commercial aviation in the United States was kickstarted by passage of the Contract Air Mail Act , known as the Kelly Act , in 1925 . Three examples of early US timetables include this Universal Airlines System issue from July 1929 , a Wedell- Williams Air Service timetable from 1930 , and this TAT-Maddux timetable of coast-to-coast service , which utilized aircraft by day and trains by night .
5 This map format of displaying airline schedules was popular in Europe in the 1920s and ‘ 30s . Illustrated is the foldout timetable issued by Italian air carriers in November 1932 .
6 8 Though they were not commercial airlines , the European Air Transport Service ( EATS ) and the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) both issued timetables . Pictured are EATS issue # 15 , effective Oct . 1 , 1946 , and the first timetable issued by MATS , effective June 1 , 1948 .
7 History Editor Stringer alongside display cases of timetables in his San Francisco office .
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AIRWAYS : Why do you collect timetables ? DHS : As the late airline historian R . E . G . ( Ron ) Davies used to say , “ If you have the timetables and the annual reports , you have the history of the airline !” As a historian , I find the information contained in these documents to be invaluable .
In addition to the schedule , fare , and ticket office information , there is usually a route map , plus advertising and graphics within the pages of a timetable . These things are part of what constitutes a company ’ s branding , and thus you get a feel for the personality of the airline : colorful and innovative , perhaps , or dependable and trustworthy .
When did you start collecting ? I found timetables fascinating from a very young age . I took my first flight when I was seven years old and picked up my first timetable around that time .
For a young person interested in commercial aviation back in the days of printed matter , timetables were a good thing to collect because they were free . You would find them on the ticket counters at airports and city ticket offices , or in timetable racks located in hotel lobbies , or at travel agencies .
How many timetables are in your collection ? To be honest , I don ’ t know … several thousand . I have them cataloged in a Microsoft Word database , and I ’ ve never counted them up . In addition to my large collection of airline timetables , I also maintain smaller collections of railroad and bus company timetables .
70 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE MARCH 2024 www . airwaysmag . com