How would the interwar airline and airmail industries continue to develop had FDR's administration not added fuel to the flames in the aftermath of the Congressional investigation? Also, what sort of role would William Boeing continue to pursue in the aviation industry had he not resigned from UATC as a direct result of the scandal?
WI no Air Mail Scandal of 1930?
- Thread starter Color-Copycat
- Start date
I'm usually the first to call people out on implausible premises, but just roll with this one 
. Maybe the Air Corps convinces FDR it would be implausible to shut down the air mail carriers and take on their responsibilities. At the end of the day, I'd just really like to find out what direction the American aviation industry would take without getting rocked by such a momentous game-changer as the Air Mail Scandal.
. Maybe the Air Corps convinces FDR it would be implausible to shut down the air mail carriers and take on their responsibilities. At the end of the day, I'd just really like to find out what direction the American aviation industry would take without getting rocked by such a momentous game-changer as the Air Mail Scandal.Just change the Postmaster General, for a start.Color-Copycat said:I'm usually the first to call people out on implausible premises, but just roll with this one
Or keep the whole thing secret.Allowing there's a way... First thing that occurs to me is, you don't get the OTL DC-3. There might be two or three like it, including one from Boeing, but there wouldn't be a dominant airliner design. I imagine more competitive similar designs. I also imagine they'd be generally a bit smaller, since they're being subsidized by aircraft companies. OTOH, I see more makers surviving, since they're also subsidized by airmail, & later by passengers.
I have a feeling you don't see the B.314s at Pan Am, replaced by Sikorskys, maybe by somebody else.
I wonder if you get the rapid development of powerful civil radials, without Douglas' demand for 1000hp/side for the DC-3.
I also wonder if the XB-15 & XB-16 are turned around as airliners.
Last edited:
In the long run there will probably be a much stronger correlation between the airlines and regional coverage, and definite long term relationships between airlines and manufacturers. I'd also think that there's a real potential for the railways to be involved in the airlines in a big way once they start being serious competitors, though that might well still get blocked by antitrust regulations.
Taken as a whole though, the biggest effects are probably going to be more larger aircraft operating earlier; the original DC-4 seems likely to end up in service, as do Boeing and Lockheed equivalents. The aircraft industry is going to be very different heading into the war, and that seems unlikely to change. The airlines OTOH are going to have different names and networks, but the structure of the industry probably doesn't change a whole lot, especially if OTL's regulatory system, or a version thereof comes eventually. One of the bigger questions of course is whether anything like Pan Am is able to emerge from this system. This scenario might be helpful if you were looking to write something that has potential to create a national airline out of Pan Am if corruption in the airlines becomes a more direct parallel to 19th century railway corruption in the public mind.
Taken as a whole though, the biggest effects are probably going to be more larger aircraft operating earlier; the original DC-4 seems likely to end up in service, as do Boeing and Lockheed equivalents. The aircraft industry is going to be very different heading into the war, and that seems unlikely to change. The airlines OTOH are going to have different names and networks, but the structure of the industry probably doesn't change a whole lot, especially if OTL's regulatory system, or a version thereof comes eventually. One of the bigger questions of course is whether anything like Pan Am is able to emerge from this system. This scenario might be helpful if you were looking to write something that has potential to create a national airline out of Pan Am if corruption in the airlines becomes a more direct parallel to 19th century railway corruption in the public mind.
Thanks, guys. That's exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. Again, many thanks!