Via: airlinemaps:

A vintage British Airways worldwide map from 1975, just a year after the carrier was just created through the merger of BOAC and British European Airways (BEA).

This map is a fantastic airline-meets-railway design that could be on the Transit Maps blog. Routes to destinations connect to main trunk lines that by and far lead to London, more like the current British National Rail map than an airline route map. By not including any landmasses, BA can (and does) divorce itself from geographic logic and shows routes as it sees fit.

This is not the easiest map for a passenger to follow. BA did publish a more airline-network style map with the above diagram.

Compare it to this 1936 Imperial Airways map on Transit Maps.

Possibly one of the most abstract transportation maps I’ve ever seen, although I do find it quite visually pleasing with the strict usage of only three different angles. Working out exactly where in the world your destination is located is a bit of  challenge, though…

Source: mpar21 on Flickr