CATCHING a flight in North Korea is like stepping into “a time machine”, says self-confessed aviation geek Bernie Leighton.

He managed to snag a seat on a government-sanctioned tour of the People’s Democratic Republic, and saw a country unusually bonded to its past.

Its Soviet-manufactured aircraft from the 1980s offered a perfectly preserved facsimile of a Cold War flight, an experience that can no longer be had elsewhere.

First-class passengers on Air Koryo are treated to seats covered with white doilies, tinted window shades and white-speckled walls.

Reading material includes the Workers Party magazine, and overhead televisions screen movies featuring overweight Koreans heroically defeating American soldiers (played by thin Koreans. Plumpness is a mark of respect.)

With racks instead of overhead lockers, seats that push forward, four-person booths and cockpits that look as though they come straight from a museum, these planes provide a fascinating glimpse of North Korea’s Communist past.

And it could soon be gone, with Kim Jong-un now looking to decommission the fleet as the country slowly moves into the modern world.

Although all the aircraft Bernie travelled on were built in Soviet Russia, “their appearance is distinctly North Korean,” he tells news.com.au. “The painting, the maintenance, it’s all done with love and care in Pyongyang.”

The planes remain “immaculate”, he adds, with one even having an instrument panel installed at a seat back in 1968, so that Kim Jong-un’s grandfather — former “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung — could follow the progress of a flight.

Bernie went on only the third organised air tour of North Korea, travelling from Beijing to Pyongyang, Sondok and Chongjin on the old-fashioned aircraft. While none of the flights were longer than 1.5 hours, there were drinks services on every one, and usually a meal too.

Plane food might feature Korean dishes such as curry rice, along with a ham roll and fruit salad, served by cabin crew wearing “utilitarian, elegantly simple” uniforms, with pants for the men and skirts for the women.

But the aviation fans on the tour noticed something sinister. They were being “escorted” by military aircraft.

“We’re not sure if the “little friends” as I called them were always with us for every flight or just for some, as we only really started to catch confusing, metallic, glimpses of ventral stabilisers and wing undersides in the corners of our eyes midway through the trip,” says Bernie.

“Out the corners of the window we’d look up and see what was unmistakably a part of a fighter or interceptor aircraft. We could never tell exactly what they were.”

Bernie believes they could have been pilots training for intercepts; or there to add a layer of legitimacy if the tourists’ presence was questioned; or even as “a friendly reminder to the crew of our aircraft as to what would happen to us should they make a turn towards China, Russia, or the ROK.”

Meanwhile, the views were gently benign. Bernie says: “You don’t see many buildings, just farmland. It’s not that different from Western agricultural areas. What’s really shocking to Westerners is that there are no advertisements anywhere, just traffic signs.”

Instead of billboards, he says, the country is “edifice-based’, with “uplifting images of Dear Leader” dotting the landscape.

“It’s all very subdued. There’s a grandiose but pared-down aesthetic. People don’t need to be constantly reminded of the state. The culture of veneration exists in the workplace and domicile.

“When you go out of Pyongyang and further into North Korea, it really hasn’t changed since the 1960s.

“You can’t even really make phone calls — there’s satellite access in hotels but it’s really expensive.”

But “modernity is oozing in”, he adds. He was told that it was possible to ask restaurants for spaghetti bolognese if he tired of Korean food. A store might look like it came straight out of the 1980s, but would sell Chinese biscuits. Kit-Kats could be purchased from shops selling Western lollies.

While Bernie admits that international visitors “don’t exactly have freedom of movement”, he believes “North Korea is slowly opening up, beginning its transition out of the time capsule and into the modern world.”

He is keen to return and see the latest aircraft, added in the past few years and displaying the latest and greatest technology, from liquid crystal displays to improved safety and comfort and quieter engines.

One thing is for sure, a bird's-eye view of North Korea remains as intriguing as ever for Westerners.