Which aircraft had such a luxurious-looking navigator's station? I'm reading the BBC's How Fiji changed the way we travel; The little Pacific island nation was the first to incorporate GPS into its aviation system – and in doing so forever changed the way we get from Point A to distant Point B. and saw this photo of a spacious navigator's station with a large, elegantly designed desk, bay windows, and a small set of instruments.

What aircraft and timeframe was this? Does the photo portray a commercial flight?

bonus points: Were flare guns routinely stored out in the open like that at the time?




  Until the late 20th Century, flight crews often included a flight navigator whose job it was to keep the plane on course (Credit: Museum of Flight Foundation/Getty Images)
It's a Boeing 314 flying boat. From the late 30s (look at the two rectangular windows behind the cockpit).

The last dedicated navigators on long range flights had started to disappear by the late 60s in the airline business.