Airliners today literally seem to look the same as each other. They nearly all have a blobby white fuselage with two fat engines dangling from under-wing pylons. Okay, so some have four engines hanging from the wings, but you get my point. I really cannot tell a Boeing 767 from a 777 or an Airbus A330, and to be honest I don’t much care.
The golden era of jet powered civil aviation was far more interesting however, with the aircraft being more distinctive, beautiful, and easier to tell apart than the bland aircraft of today. Some had T-tails, some had their engines mounted on the rear fuselage like today’s private jets, and some had the engines smoothly incorporated into the wing roots.
The best classic airliners looked fast and futuristic even when sitting still on the tarmac. They may have been noisier and less efficient than the airliners of today, and some had questionable safety records, but my word they looked good!
Here then (in no particular order) are the six best looking classic airliners of the jet age…
deHavilland D.H. 106 Comet
When the deHavilland Comet entered service with BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) in 1952, it must have looked like it had been beamed in from space. The jet age had truly arrived, and it was sleek and stylish!
The engines were faired smoothly into the wings, and the cockpit was integrated perfectly into the sloping nose, giving a smooth and beautiful appearance. Sadly the early variants suffered a number of fatal accidents, and by the time these were sorted out it was too late, Boeing’s 707 had firmly gained the upper hand.
Today you can see a complete Comet 4 at The British Airliner Collection at IWM Duxford in Cambridgeshire, UK. The deHavilland Aircraft Museum in the UK houses a Comet 1A fuselage section which you can walk through and see the interior and cockpit.
Vickers VC10
Arguably even more lovely than the Comet, the VC10 was another classic airliner that looked jaw droppingly beautiful, especially in BOAC colours.
Built for short runways at airfields in Africa and the Middle East, it was not especially commercially successful, but did have a long life with later use as a tanker by the Royal Air Force.
The four engines were housed at the rear of the fuselage, below an elegant T-tail, leaving the swept wings looking elegant and uncluttered. Today you can see a VC10 at IWM duxford, again courtesy of The British Airliner Collection
Concorde
Well, this is the blindingly obvious one isn’t it? It was not actually the first supersonic airliner to enter service, as that honour goes to the inferior Tupolev Tu-144. Concorde however, was prettier, safer, more comfortable, and more reliable.
Equally pretty in either British Airways or Air France colours, you have to envy the lucky few who got to cross the Atlantic at Mach 2 on this dashing beauty.
Tupolev Tu-134
An evolution of the rather unsafe Tu-104 airliner, the designers moved the engines to the rear (among many other changes), ending up with a rather sleek looking short range airliner which has more than a hint of private jet about it.
I saw this one at Budapest Aeropark, and was rather taken by it. Read Tom’s report from Budapest Aeropark here
Sud Aviation Caravelle
Air France were so confident that their new jet was the quietest thing around (due mainly to the engines being housed at the back), that they arranged for Sacha Distel to record a disc on board the plane to demonstrate this!
Another classic airliner with its engines housed on the rear fuselage, lending a beautiful clean look, the Caravelle also featured triangular shaped windows offering a great view out, and had a cool parachute to slow itself down when landing.
Boeing 727
Not to be outdone, this classic airliner has THREE engines at the back, and it’s a very cool look indeed. Boeing’s 727 again features a T-tail and an uncluttered swept wing.
Another rather neat feature of the 727 was its retractable tail steps, which rather unnervingly could be opened in flight, as demonstrated by the enigmatic hijacker D.B. Cooper. Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 on November 24, 1971 and jumped out of the rear of the aircraft with a parachute and a briefcase containing $200,000 in $20 bills, and was never seen again!
Final thoughts
So that concludes our list of the prettiest classic airliners of the jet age. Do you agree with our choices or not? Let us know in the comments!
