Flights of Fancy

Handwritten note on the back of this small snapshot: "Boeing Clipper at Honolulu, March 12, 1939." Tail number (aircraft registration) visible on the plane: NC18602.

"Spoffords Lake in the Future, New Hampshire. Submarine No. 13." Postmarked: "Brattleboro, Vt., Aug. 1, 1910." Addressed to: "Mrs. Bell Brown, Elm St., Montpelier, Vermont." Message: "Hello old (?) sport, How goes it anyway. Am still alive and hope this will find you the same. H.A.K." This early twentieth-century postcard bears a mundane message on the back, but the front depicts an exciting futuristic scene of submarines, flying fish, battleships, whales, buoys, airships, sea serpents, sailboats, hot air balloons, lighthouses, and other figments of the imagination at Spofford Lake in southwestern New Hampshire.

Kids, It's Here! The New Mystery Atomic-Jet Flying Saucer. Watch it sail way up in the air--you can make it fly higher than a tall building. It will do five airplane stunts, too. Get several of them--and have flying saucer contests! Even dads go crazy over it. Be the first in your neighborhood and amaze your friends. Atomic-Jet Flying Saucers and extra flying wheels on sale at ________.

"See--flying saucers are real!" An advertising postcard with a postmark dated July 27, 1967. Excerpts from the back of the postcard: "Extraterrestrial Spaceship. Actual photograph of a flying saucer taken by Paul Villa on June 16, 1963, near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Learn: Why spaceships and their crews from other worlds are visiting our planet…. Subscribe to: Flying Saucers International…. Send for free brochure and saucer book to: Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America, Inc. (AFSCA)…." The Flying Saucers Are Real was also the title of a popular paperback book written by Donald Keyhoe and published by Fawcett Publications in 1950.

Space Shuttle playground toy at Whissel's. See also:

"In Washington, D.C., see National Historical Wax Museum. America's finest air-conditioned wax museum. 26th Street at E. N.W., near Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 9 am to 9 pm, including Sundays. Commander Alan B. Shepard." Cover of a 1960s brochure for the National Historical Wax Museum.

"Easter Seals. Space Ranger." A tin-lithograph tab button pin issued by the Easter Seals charity in the late 1950s. The satellite depicted on the pin looks similar to Vanguard 1 , which was launched by the United States in 1958. It's still orbiiting the earth today even though its solar-powered radio transmitter stopped working in 1964.

Part of a game that encouraged schoolchildren to eat a healthy breakfast that included Kellogg's cereals. Late 1960s or perhaps early 1970s. Excerpts from the text of the leaflet: Kellogg's "Astronaut'" Breakfast Game (Will your team be first to reach the moon?) . . . You are now a member of one of the Moon Ship Crews that is racing to have breakfast on the moon. . . . When you have a healthful breakfast like the one pictured on the inside of this score card, you are helping your team win the race to the moon. . . .

Front cover of Space Ship To The Moon , a 1952 Rand McNally Elf Book, authored by Edwin Clark Reichert with illustrations by Arthur K Bilder.

Interested in vintage magazines? Check out the Cover of a Magazine group, which is now administered by Smiley Derleth and yours truly. Read more about it here: Welcome to Cover of a Magazine! The cover of this May 1959 issue of Flying Saucers: The Magazine of Space Conquest has retained its pleasant garishness even after the passage of fifty-five years. The illustration, a scene from the 1950 movie Destination Moon , shows astronauts in their spacecraft during their perilous journey to and from the moon (I believe that the one fellow is actually dispensing a space sickness pill, although it looks like he's performing dental work). Raymond A. Palmer , who authored books on flying saucers and edited Amazing Stories and Fate magazines, was also the editor of Flying Saucers .

A real photo postcard showing three dapper gentlemen in suits, ties, and straw hats pretending to ride in an airship in a photo studio located in Douglas, Isle of Man. Notice how the pilot is carefully operating the fake control lever as a cigarette dangles from his mouth. I just hope that the gas bag above him doesn't contain dangerously flammable hydrogen! Printed on the back: "F. Johnson, Fort William, Douglas, I.O.M."

An airship photo for the theme of photographic tricks and amusements during the free-for-all week of Wild Card Month in the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See also the full version of this real photo postcard.

See also the cropped version of this real photo postcard.

A mother and daughter--both of whom are wearing corsages--at an airport. The French airline names on the sign behind them are Air France and T.I.A. ( Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux ). Kodachrome slide dated June 1960.

"Be sure to get back for Rally Day. 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.' Psalm 19:1." Rally Day is a special celebration held by some Protestant churches in September or October to promote family attendance at church services and children's participation in Sunday school. This postcard, which was used to remind church members (and astronauts, too, I guess) to attend Rally Day activities, likely dates to the 1960s when the Space Race was taking place. For some earlier aeronautical Rally Day reminders, see Rally Day Airship and Visit Our Sunday-School Air Port :

"Sorry, this seat Is occupied. National Airlines. NAL. Airline of the Stars. New York, Florida, Havana, Washington, New Orleans. If you wish to reserve the same seat through your trip, please leave this card on your chair every time you leave the plane at any of the intermediate stops." A "seat occupied" sign used on National Airlines in the 1950s. A Spanish-language version appeared on the other side:

"Lo sentimos mucho ocupado. National Airlines. NAL. La Línea de Las Estrellas. New York, Florida, Havana, Washington, New Orleans. Si desea usted conservar el mismo asiento durante su viaje, sirvase usted colocar esta tarjeta sobre su silla cada vez que baje del avion en alguna de las estaciones intermedias de escala." A "seat occupied" sign used on National Airlines in the 1950s. An English-language version appeared on the other side:

Cover of a short booklet: We Met the Space People: The Story of the Mitchell Sisters , by Helen and Betty Mitchell. Clarksburg, W.Va.: Saucerian Publications. Mouse over the image above to see a close-up of part of the illustration . Two sisters encounter space aliens in a coffee shop in the 1950s! Read all about it at the Internet Archive: We Met The Space People (1959) .