All the Way the Paper Bag Was on My Knee

My cousin Jay in Mississippi e-mailed me to let me know that the plane I saw at Pilot Pete’s (see yesterday) was likely a species of “ultralight aircraft,” the kind that enthusiasts build and fly. I’ve heard of such, and seen pictures, but I don’t think I’d ever seen one myself, which only goes to show that you never know what you’ll see out in the inexhaustible, variegated world.

I forgot to mention it, but my favorite bits of decoration at PP’s weren’t the planes, but the reproductions of travel posters from the early days of jet travel. Why the proprietors picked jet travel, I don’t know, since jets do not land at the airport in Schaumburg, but there they were in the small waiting area just inside the entrance.

FLY FINNAIR TO FRIENDLY FINLAND said one, illustrated with a lush scene of lakes and trees and a blonde bathing beauty ca. 1960 style. Funny how you can feel a touch of nostalgia for a time when you weren’t quite born yet—but something of the newness of jet travel, the progress it represented over slower airplanes in getting you to exotic destinations, comes across in the posters.

There was also a poster for destinations served by BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corp.), another distinct bit of airline nostalgia. A lyric in the Beatles song “Back in the USSR” is probably where I first heard of BOAC, which in a fit of rationalization in the 1970s -- the British had several such fits in that decade -- was merged into another state-controlled airline to form British Air. I had a good couple of flights on BA once upon a time, but it doesn’t quite have the distinctness of the older name.