One could be forgiven, on first viewing, for mistaking this aircraft for the fever dream of a Gulf potentate with a Liberace fetish and no taste for subtlety. The so-called “gift” from the royal family of Qatar—ostensibly a Boeing 747-8, but more accurately a $400 million airborne Versailles for a man who confuses grandeur with greatness—is less a plane than a monument to the aesthetic bankruptcy of late-stage American spectacle.

That it is destined, in some grotesque ballet of legal acrobatics and geopolitical ego-stroking, to serve first as Air Force One and then as the permanent property of the Trump Presidential Library is a joke so on-the-nose one can almost hear Jonathan Swift sighing in admiration. Here is the ceremonial barge not of a president, but of an emperor in exile, trussed in gold-leaf delusion and flying high above constitutional norms.

Flying in the 1950s was a glamorous affair.

Seats were more spacious compared to modern economy class.

In-Flight Meals: Served on real china with silverware, often with multiple courses.

Dress Code: Passengers typically dressed formally, with men in suits and women in dresses.

Smoking: Allowed on most flights, with smoking sections designated in the cabin.

Airline Innovations

Pressurized Cabins: Introduced in aircraft like the Lockheed Constellation, allowing flights at higher altitudes, thus smoother and faster journeys.