You couldn’t be a stewardess if you were married…

Ethel Pattison, 93, has spent 68 years in the air industry. Has the time flown by? She talks to Chris Leadbeater

If you have the strength to have made it to 93 years old, you are likely to have seen a lot in your lifetime – the waxing and waning of eras, fresh tastes in music and fashion, the rise of new technologies to replace devices that were once themselves clever innovations.

This is certainly the case with Ethel Pattison, a Los Angeleno who has spent her entire career in the air industry – working on flights as a stewardess in the Fifties, and meeting film stars and celebrities as part of the administration team at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Even as the airport enters its own 10th decade (it has just celebrated its 90th birthday), Ethel is still there, as the historian at its Flight Path Museum – with plenty of tales to tell…

low. It was difficult to keep passengers comfortable. I was not a pioneer like those girls, who flew in the original days, or during the war.