The Years Fly By

Ivan Dmitri, the photographic pseudonym of the American artist Levon West (1900–68), was a pioneer in promoting the widespread use of color photography and published one of the first books on the subject in 1939. Dmitri had a life-long interest in aviation and it was frequently the subject of his work.

In the years following WWII, BOAC showcased the latest in British aerospace design. The de Havilland Comet, shown here departing from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, was the world’s first commercial jet airliner. BOAC would later evolve into today’s British Airways.

In the 1950s, TWA and other overseas carriers used images like this one to promote international travel to American consumers. Here the calendar artist depicts one of TWA’s graceful Lockheed Constellations making an unrealistically low flight over the Rhine river in Germany.

The massive Boeing 314 flying boats were Pan American Airways’ premier aircraft in the late 1930s and ‘40s and were frequently given pride of place in the company’s promotional materials. In this image, one of the big Boeings sits in the western terminus of Pan American’s trans-Pacific route, Hong Kong Harbor.