The Embodied Aerial Subject

Abstract

This article explores the history of air flight during the period between World Wars I and II. Particular emphasis is given to flight during the 1920s, especially as it evolved from the daredevil/flying ace image that developed during World War I to more practical and 'civilized' experience that highlighted leisure time adventure versus wartime danger. Besides making shift away from danger, inter-war flight also competes for rail and automobile passengers, by promising peerless travel experience. Consequently, early air passengers, unlike rail and automobile passengers, come from higher, more educated socioeconomic status. This higher social class encourages the development of the aerial tour, described by the author as sustained leisure that offers way for commercial air flight to grow by allowing passengers to take tours in planes that provide various flight experiences. Some of these flights involve making unscheduled circular trips that eventually return to the departure point, though not necessarily on the passenger's timetable; some flights are 'incidental,' where passengers charter planes to take them to specific destination. Flying experiences tend to run the gamut, from crammed open cockpits of light airplanes to large airplanes offering Pullman-style luxury accommodations. As flying adventures proliferate, they form the catalyst for the publication of aerial tour books that echo the adventure travel books developed for railway and automobile touring. Aerial tour books, which the author calls 'embodied aerial subject,' have European emphasis and reach their zenith by 1929. The author further notes that examining aerial tour books makes it possible to trace how early air flight passengers are encouraged and even taught to both experience and understand the nuances of their flying adventures. While not an actual person as such, the aerial subject embodies the experiences of an idealized passenger or, perhaps, pilot, who begins to learn how civil air space can effectively be used for leisure time activities. This idealized aerial subject is especially discussed in terms of female and male experiences, focusing on gender differences. Female aerial subjects, who at first contend with the typical inequality viewpoint that woman traveling alone is somehow inappropriate, eventually bring decidedly domesticated aspect to the 'aerial viewpoint.' One example centers on discussions of outfits worn for flying. Transcending vanity, discussions of wardrobe are seen as important to women travelers because of their strong desire to appear respectable and hence be treated respectfully by men. For male aerial subjects, flight experiences are often described as way to view the distant past from high above. Given the European aspect of aerial tour books, coupled with the classical education possessed by the typical male air passenger of the time, the distant past as seen from the air includes everything from ancient ruins, buildings and archeological sites to roadways and agricultural operations. The gender experiences that form the basis of the aerial tour books shows how these books, taken collectively, have contributed to developing a culture of aerial touring that still resonates today.