Babies on airplanes

SFO Museum’s 52 Objects: Baby on Board

Courtesy State Library of Queensland via Flickr Commons

It Happens: Babies Get Born on Airplanes

Babies don’t always arrive when they’re supposed to.

And once in a rare while, they’re born on airplanes.

Airlines know that. And so as early as the 1970s – and likely before – disposable obstetrical kits such as this one in the collection of the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) were stocked onboard.

The museum shared this unusual object as the first item in its new ’52 Objects’ series. And we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Courtesy SFO Museum

The kit has an illustration of a stork – and a rabbit – on the lid delivering a baby. And the contents include a disposable scalpel, a bulb aspirator, and a receiving blanket among other things needed to deliver a baby.

The Smithsonian Museum of American History has a similar kit in its collection and has a photo of the box opened so we can see some of the items inside.

Courtesy National Museum of American History