More BOAC goodness from the last Ephemera Fair.

This is the on-board safety leaflet from a BOAC flight, dating from around 1952 (we think).

We're totally in love with the shot of the girl on the cover. She's so wholesome, and cheerful, and looks generally thrilled to be wearing a lifejacket. "Gosh, I say Roger, I know we're plummeting toward the ocean awfully quickly, but this lifejacket is really terribly comfortable, and you do look so very handsome in yours."

She's looking far more serious on the inside of the leaflet though. But at the same time, resolute, and in no way reacting to the sheer terror of imminent death. Plucky old thing.

And that script typeface for the Safety Leaflet title. What on earth were they thinking? This is your Cocktail Menu perhaps? This is your Safety Leaflet; not so much.

We just like the fact that they were using actual photographs for their leaflet. Unlike the illustrations now used on flights, which seem to portray people made out of plasticine. (This one's from a BA Boeing 767, circa 1992.) Presumably if the people look soft and squishy, you feel less worried about the effect of the massive impact on their, and by implication, your bodies.

But we'd rather have a plucky young lass, what?