An airliner with legroom?

There was a time when air travel was fresh and utterly romantic. It was also expensive, even in craft like this, the Boeing W40, the aircraft builder’s first airliner.

This lovely time machine belongs to a guy named Addison Pemberton who, with the help of family and a couple of good friends, spent eight years restoring the aircraft to flying condition. The Boeing took to the skies again on February 17, 2007, for the first time since it crashed in mountainous country in Oregon in 1928. Late last year, Pemberton flew it across America along an old transcontinental mail route.

The aircraft weighs 2 772kg, has a 14 metre wingspan. Its 420 horsepower Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial gave it a paltry cruising speed of around 170km/h.

But, at least there was decent legroom for the two lucky passengers. And give me the legroom over speed any day.