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Boarding a Flight at Dulles in the 1960s

Did you know that Dulles Airport was the first airport in the world build for jet aircraft? This photo shows passengers boarding an Eastern Airlines' Douglas DC-8
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Dulles Airport was the first airport in the world built for jet aircraft. It was heavily protested by Baltimore’s mayor, Thomas D’Alessandro (Nancy Pelosi’s dad) It opened in 1962 to much fanfare and was a modern marvel designed by Eero Saarinen.

Here’s a cool old photo of passengers boarding a flight at Dulles Airport, probably some time in the early 1960s. If you’ve lived in the area for a long time, you’ll remember those old gangways, when the mobile lounges would take you directly to the airplane.

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"Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Va., 1958-63. Eero Saarinen, architect. Mobile lounges." A sort of giant rolling jetway (mostly out of frame at left) that carried passengers at Dulles from terminal to plane. The stair truck supported the gangway. 120mm color transparency by Balthazar Korab.
“Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Va., 1958-63. Eero Saarinen, architect. Mobile lounges.” A sort of giant rolling jetway (mostly out of frame at left) that carried passengers at Dulles from terminal to plane. The stair truck supported the gangway. 120mm color transparency by Balthazar Korab.

The photo above shows passengers boarding Eastern Airlines’ Douglas DC-8 “Golden Falcon Service”.

Don’t forget to check out this post on Dulles Airport and this one with a great old promotional video from the 1960s.

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