Chicago's United Airlines introduced the world's first stewardess service on flights between Chicago and San Francisco.

This Boeing 80, is flying over the Streeterville neighborhood in the Near North Side community of Chicago. (circa 1928)

The first Model 80 was delivered to Boeing Air Transport (BAT) in August of 1928 and was immediately put into service on the San Francisco to Chicago C.A.M. 18 route. 

The pilot and co-pilot sat in a separate forward cabin and were kept informed of changing weather conditions by two-way radio. The Model 80, which accommodated 12 passengers in a heated cabin had hot and cold running water, individual passenger reading lamps and leather upholstered seats, was soon redesigned to carry 18 passengers and designated the Model 80A. The 80A was powered with three 525 hp Pratt & Whitney “Hornet” engines with a cruising speed of 125 mph and a range of 460 miles. The gross weight was 17,500 pounds.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, airline passenger travel was primarily the realm of Business people, the Rich and the Adventurous. The average person preferred to travel by train, boat or by private automobile.

An airline passenger paid up to $900 (one-way) to fly across the United States and upon arrival often found it necessary to transfer to a train or automobile to reach their final destination. There were few airports and were often located in relatively remote areas. Worst of all, the airplane cabins lacked sound-proofing.  In addition to the unsettling noise, vibration was also a problem, one passenger stated that his glasses kept sliding down his nose the entire flight.

Interior of the Boeing 80. (circa 1928)

United Airlines introduced the world's first stewardess service on flights between Chicago and San Francisco. The first female flight attendant was a 25-year-old registered nurse named Ellen Church. Hired in 1930, she also first envisioned nurses on aircrafts. Other airlines followed suit, hiring nurses to serve as flight attendants, then called "stewardesses" or "air hostesses" on most of their flights.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Chicago Photographer, Kenneth Heilbron, Chicago Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus Portfolio.

Kenneth Heilbron

Kenneth Heilbron was born in 1903 in Chicago, Illinois and was a professional commercial and fashion photographer for over 50 years. He worked for Life, Time and Fortune magazines in the 1930s-40s.

In 1938 he became the first instructor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he taught until 1942. From the late 1930s through the 1940s, Heilbron became fascinated with photographing the Ringling Brothers Circus whenever they came to Chicago, even occasionally traveling with the circus and its performers. His photographs of circus life and the performers are some of the most intimate and penetrating ever taken.

Heilbron died in 1997 in Galena, Illinois and is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Galena. His archive is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Sideshow Barker - Chicago, 1939

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Clown "Pierre" - Chicago, 1941

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Clown "Honkalu" - Chicago, 1946

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Charlie Bell dog Trixie - Back Yard - Chicago, 1940

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Clown "Charlie Bell and Trixie" - Chicago, 1940

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Horse "Starlen Night" and Groom - Chicago, 1942

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Bareback Horses - Back Yard - Chicago, 1942

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Back Yard - Chicago, 1946

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Steam Cahize - Chicago, 1937

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Sideshow Visitors - Chicago, 1941

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Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus - Chicago