Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Arlington County, Va., circa 1941. "National Airport. Interior of waiting room showing ticket counter." Safety negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.
Below is the same view from April of 2016.
It will never be anything but National Airport to everyone I know. We all grew up in DC and that is the name we all know. I watched planes take off from right there in that photo. My then boyfriend worked for the parking lot there and we used to count cars all night, and watch planes for hours. It was so quiet back then. about 1963? It is so huge now, and very busy, with tons of additional buildings and overpasses and underpasses and so much easier to get lost there too. The inside is still beautiful, and the view out the huge window is still outstanding, however it is busy now, so it is different.
Great Memories!
But are the openings in the ceiling recessed lighting or for ventilation or just decorative?
I'm an airline pilot and I never have called it Reagan. It's National Airport, period. The terminal in the photo is still there, by the way. I believe it's largely unused now though.
A great example of an "institutional modern" look that seemed to peak in the late 50s. This is similar to Dorval Airport in Montreal in the 50s, as I remember it as a kid.
Pennsylvania Central Airlines was not related to the well known Penn Central Railroad. Formed in 1936 through the merger of two smaller carriers, it was originally based in Pittsburgh but moved its headquarters to Washington National Airport in 1941. What with more of its flights being out of Washington than Pennsylvania, the old name didn't fit and the airline changed its name to Capital Airlines in 1948. United Airlines acquired it in 1961.
I flew in and out of there a few times when I was in the service in the mid- to late-'60s and that's how I remember it looking back then.
I remember flying out of there in 1968 when I was 10, my first time on a plane and first time in an airport. The big bestseller on all the news stands, everywhere there, was "Airport." And I thought, "Yes, airport." All the sophisticated grownups were in the cocktail lounge, which by then was located somewhere on that balcony.
And to some of us, it will always be National.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5