Norman Bel Geddes was an American industrial designer and futurist who had a major influence on the streamlined Art Deco design of the 1930s and 40s.
Few of Geddes’ designs came to fruition. A notable exception was the General Motors Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, called Futurama.
One of his unrealized designs was “Airliner Number 4,” a nine-deck amphibian airliner that he sketched in 1929 and which was published in his 1932 book Horizons.
It would have been a mammoth airship, inspired by Germany’s Dornier Do X flying boat. Geddes wanted to seat up to 600 passengers and provide areas for concerts, deck games, a gymnasium, a solarium — even two airplane hangars!
He put the cost of building the aircraft at $9 million, which would be something like $125 million in today’s money.
