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The Airlines
Of The United States

Air travel and shipping were still relatively new and fresh in the 1920s and 30s. For the most part, Americans could only dream of taking trips from one city to the next, let alone from country to country. Airplanes were mostly limited to hauling mail and cargo, guns and bombs. This wasn't necessarily because air flight was expensive (though it wasn't cheap); it's because it took some years to develop civilian-friendly aircraft, companies to cater to those civilians, and a reliable infrastructure of airports and communications to make air travel and expanded shipping possible.

Whether for flying produce or people, however, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany's declaration of war against the US put the hammer to all but war-related flight.

The job of advertising during the war years was to keep concept, company, and commercialism alive for when the war ended. The Airlines Of The United States was a series of ads meant to depict "the near future" when the democracy of air power would return, in peace, for the "every man."

Illustrator James Bingham used different themes, historic and then current, to depict the dream and keep it in the hearts and minds of the American consumer.

James Bingham, "Jobs...And The Air Age" (1944) AotUS - 001

James Bingham, "For ALL The People" (1945) AotUS - 002

James Bingham, "Will ALL Mail Some Day Go By Air?" (1945) AotUS - 003

James Bingham, "How Great The Promise" (1944) AotUS - 004

James Bingham, "The Limitless Right-Of-Way" (1944) AotUS - 005

James Bingham, "*21 Names You're Going To Know Better" (1943) AotUS - 006

*The "21" airlines on the wall in the ad above, are, for the most part, gone (in some cases, long gone),
but at the time, they were:

Alaska Star Airlines

All American Aviation

American Airlines

American Export Airlines

Braniff Airways

Chicago and Southern Air Lines

Colonial Airlines

Continental Airl Lines

Delta Air Lines

Eastern Airlines

Inland Air Lines

Mid-Continent Airlines

National Airlines

Northeast Airlines

Northwest Airlines

Pan American Airways System

Pan American-Grace Airways

Pennsylvania-Central Airlines

Transcontinental and Western Air

United Air Lines Transport

Western Air Lines

James Bingham, "No Ma'am, $30 Million Ain't Hey" (1944) AotUS - 007

James Bingham, "Ready! ... Willing And Able" (1943) AotUS - 008