Arrested development factor

We owe you some explanations, so let's start with something really important.

Saunders-Roe (SARO) SR.45 Princess flying boat

 

In brief, the Strangers' 1972 looks rather old-fashioned compared to OTL 1972. Here are some points of interest. Feel the difference.

• Flying boat is still a popular way to travel between the North Sea and Baltic ports.
• Pneumatic mail is still widely used, and not only for in-office communication.
• Transistor radio is a novelty. You've got television, but cannot enjoy satellite transmission - there are no satellites. And nobody has landed on the Moon yet (no 'Good luck, Mr. Gorsky!'). Actually, nobody has entered the Space.
• Nuclear threat is pure science-fiction - the Bomb hasn't been tested, it simply doesn't exist.
• There are battleships in different navies, some of them completed not so long ago.
• No Japanese cars in the Western world. Japanese cameras and home electronics are illegal, but you can purchase them from a trusted vendor - in case you are a trusted customer.
• And jazz festivals are held every summer in Fiume, which is still Fiume and not Rijeka. The map is different. Very different from real 1972, very much alike a prewar one.

The pace of progress is slower. Something has never happened.

Image: (Global Aviation Resource)