Airline Meteorology through History

While this image suggested that God’s guiding hand keeps safe the air traveler, the accompanying text explained it was in fact “the Weather Man at Washington.” This image is featured in an online exhibit about airline meteorology history. (Image: a trimotor airplane illuminated by sunbeams amidst a sea of cloud, above the text “Whose Guiding Hand?” in a 1928 advertisement by Ford Motor Company. National Geographic, September 1928. Scanned from an image in the collection of Roger Turner.)

Meteorologists are essential for air safety and for the economic viability of the airline industry. Airlines used to show off their meteorologists in advertising and brochures, between the 1920s to the 1960s. 

 These specialist meteorologists don’t get a lot of public attention today. That’s partly because the airlines no longer try to persuade us that flying is safe and comfortable. And it’s partly because we’ve come to take for granted the benefits of meteorology.  

Understanding airline meteorology’s history can help us understand how aviation became central to the United States’ transportation system. Safe air travel is not a gift from God, but a product of science, government regulation, commercial organization, and expert-guided management. 

I’ve published a history of airline meteorology over at the online journal Transport, Traffic and Mobility. The piece is a deep dive into the work done by aviation meteorologists in the form of an online museum exhibit. It’s peer-reviewed and richly illustrated, and suitable for undergraduate courses in history of science, history of technology, and aviation history.

Learn More:

Roger Turner, “Weather Workers: The Unseen Scientific Labor Behind Air Transport,”Transport, Traffic and Mobility, November 12, 2018.