Postwar Propliners in Miniature

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Postwar Propliners in Miniature
New exhibition features models from the Collection of Anthony J. Lawler

SAN FRANCISCO — Making scale models of propeller-driven transport aircraft, or “propliners,” was an important part of the design, manufacturing, and marketing process for the aviation industry in the late 1940s and 1950s. Crafted by in-house model shops or independent model makers, they represented the new designs in miniature for convenient three-dimensional analysis. Accurately painted livery schemes on the models helped the airlines to imagine the new airliner operating within their fleet. Carriers also commissioned airplane models to promote their improved services in airline offices and travel agencies. Early examples were usually made of sheet or cast metal and complemented with metal bases often formed into unique streamline shapes.  By the late 1950s, models were produced from plastic, which was easier to mold into intricate shapes and reflected the proliferation of new synthetic resins. 

This exhibition features twenty-three models from the Collection of Anthony J. Lawler. They represent the age of postwar propliners, which lasted until the 1960s when faster, more fuel-efficient and propeller-less turbojet airliners superseded them.

Images from the exhibition are available for download at: http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/about/press_images/exh-postwar_propliners.html.

The Collection of Anthony J. Lawler

Mr. Lawler began collecting airplane models after seeing the De Havilland Comet—the world’s first jetliner—fly over his boyhood home in Rhodesia. Mr. Lawler has spent decades assembling one of the finest collections of scale airliner display models, most of which were acquired while working as a senior sales representative for Airbus North America during the 1980s and 1990s.

Postwar Propliners in Miniature is located pre-security in the Aviation Museum and Library, International Terminal, San Francisco International Airport. The exhibition is on view to all Airport visitors from June 4, 2011 to December 4, 2011, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday through Friday.  There is no charge to view the exhibition.

SFO Museum

The SFO Museum program was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purposes of humanizing the Airport environment, providing visibility for the unique cultural life of San Francisco, and providing educational services for the traveling public.  The Museum was granted initial accreditation from the American Association of Museums in 1999, reaccredited in 2005, and has the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport. Today, SFO Museum features approximately twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals displaying a rotating schedule of art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions, as well as the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, a permanent collection dedicated to the history of commercial aviation. For more information, please visit www.flysfo.com/museum .

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