The first transatlantic flight took place from New York to Paris in 1927, in a Clipper, piloted by the American Charles Lindbergh. A few years later, at the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s in the US, Clipper was the name of a new kind of holiday vehicle, the first, gleaming, aluminium-topped, Airstream motorhome. It was built to designs by engineer Hawley Bowlus, who had overseen Lindbergh’s plane. It was the beginning of a legend associated with escapism, long-distance travel and retains its aura to this day.