1974 World’s Fair

            Visitors to the History Centre who were not around the airline thirty years ago often ask: “What has a model of a Chinese Junk to do with the airline?” We recently came across a copy of a news release (dated May 2, 1974) that pretty well answers the question.

            “A certain candidate for the most unique exhibit at Spokane’s Expo 74, which opens Saturday, will be the authentic Chinese Junk sponsored by Northwest Orient Airlines.’

            “Located in a Hong Kong shipyard last fall the 48 foot 20 ton vessel has traveled half-way around the world before coming to rest in the Spokane River – smack in the middle of the Expo 74 site. Constructed in 1965 as a fishing vessel the junk is of the Lowcha style of Hong Kong construction with a high stern and poop deck. It is equipped with three masts and is powered by a five cylinder Gardner Diesel engine formerly used in a London double-decker bus. Its voyage to the Expo 74 site was as exotic as the junk’s birthplace.”

            Nestled in a specially built cradle it made the Pacific crossing from Hong Kong to Portland Oregon on the deck of a U.S. Merchant ship, the M.M. Dant. At Portland it was off-loaded onto a barge for the trek up the Columbia River to Pasco Washington. On arrival there it was lifted by crane onto a truck transport for the final leg of the journey to Spokane. A truck-mounted boom lowered the junk to its mooring place in the Spokane River smack in the middle of the Expo 74 site. It is located in the fore-bay south of the Soviet Pavilion and east of the Washington Street overpass.”

            During the run of Expo 74, Northwest Orient’s Chinese Junk will be connected to the shore with ramps to permit on board inspection by the public. NWA booths on land will also serve as information headquarters for some of the nation’s largest service clubs – including The Exchange Club, Kiwanis and Lions Club men’s organizations and Altrusa Quota Soroptimist and Zonta women’s organizations.”

            The company had several models of the junk made that were used as displays in city ticket offices to promote Expo 74 and travel to Spokane. These were approximately three-foot long wooden structures. Through the efforts of retiree Jim Hoffman, one of those models was preserved and is now on display in the History Centre. To the best of out knowledge that is the only surviving model.

            So what happened to the real junk? We don’t know, however we are led to believe that the junk was sold and there is also a story that it was sailed back across the Pacific and still is in operation in Chinese waters. We would be very interested to have verified information about a sale and if the vessel still floats.

When Airline Food Service Prevailed

            In the hey-day of in-flight food service, back in the 1960s and “70s, Northwest Airlines ordered about 20,000 replacement sets of silverware – knives, forks and spoons – each month recalls erstwhile Food Service Manager Al Carriveau.

            Replacement sets? Where did it all go? – “Well, it certainly didn’t fall out of the airplanes,” smiles Al, now a member of NWA History Centre Board of Directors. “You’ll recall we prided ourselves on having some of the nicest-looking stainless steel silverware around, and I think we did. And, I guess our passengers liked it, too.” Northwest bought its silverware in the Orient for about twenty-five cents a set,” Al recalls. “And we didn’t have to pay any duty on it because we used it ourselves.”

            Al was also responsible for purchasing and inventorying Northwest’s alcoholic beverages. “Yes, I could tell you some very interesting stories about that,” he says, “but frankly, I’ll just tell you one. On this one flight, one woman was asking for Scotch like it was going out of style. But she wasn’t drinking it, she was pouring it into a burp bag to take it off the plane.”