On July 14, 1938, Howard Hughes and four companions landed at Floyd Bennett Field in New York after circling the globe in a record 3 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds.

Thousands came to see the aviators arrive. But if someone in the crowd wanted to immediately tell friends or family about it, there were obviously no cellphones.

The New York Telephone Company had a solution: a public telephone truck parked near the airfield.

The press had 47 dedicated telephone lines for reporting the event, while spectators could line up for five public phones inside the truck. These mobile telephone stations were still unusual.

The November 1938 Radio-Craft article reported that telephone trucks, buses and trailers were then being used primarily in New York and Maryland to provide temporary service at large outdoor gatherings.

Maryland’s 21-foot aluminum telephone trailers were surprisingly elaborate. Each contained five private booths with seats, fans and heaters, along with mahogany walls and chrome fixtures. An attendant connected and timed calls and collected the charges. Telephone directories for Maryland and frequently called cities were kept aboard.

Radio-Craft was already imagining the next step: eliminating the physical telephone line altogether. The magazine suggested that future mobile telephone stations might transmit calls by radio, allowing them to operate at fairs, rallies and other remote events. Its cover even depicted people using futuristic “wire-less public telephones.”

In 1938, decades before the cellphone became commonplace, engineers were already considering how radio could make ordinary telephone calls mobile.