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~~Just last week I received the last of the 5 Braniff Flying Colors models Gemini Jets produced. These models seem fairly common but are very nice nonetheless.
Braniff's story is well known so I won't say much however after Harding Lawrence's installation at the carrier the fleet was rationalised and certainly from the 70s onwards only two types held sway on the majority of the network (BN's dalliance with 747 and Concorde ops can almost be seen as a poorly conceived marketing exercise). These were DC-8s and 727-200s. Braniff was alone in being the only trunk carrier to avoid the use of widebodies on services in the lower 48.
In fact aside from a few 747s Braniff's only new aircraft purchases in the 70s were 727-200 Advanceds and they bought a lot of them - over 70.
The Flying Colors scheme itself lasted from 1971-1978 (though many aircraft never received the Ultra colours). The four combos were:
Red/Aztec Gold
Orange/Ochre
Green/Light Green
Blue/Light Blue
Then of course there was the single Calder 727 too. This aircraft was different from most BN 727-200s in that she was one of only 3 standard 727-200s BN bought new (they also picked up 6 second-hand from Allegheny and Frontier).
Anyway here are the five showing their flying colors together:
Braniff's story is well known so I won't say much however after Harding Lawrence's installation at the carrier the fleet was rationalised and certainly from the 70s onwards only two types held sway on the majority of the network (BN's dalliance with 747 and Concorde ops can almost be seen as a poorly conceived marketing exercise). These were DC-8s and 727-200s. Braniff was alone in being the only trunk carrier to avoid the use of widebodies on services in the lower 48.
In fact aside from a few 747s Braniff's only new aircraft purchases in the 70s were 727-200 Advanceds and they bought a lot of them - over 70.
The Flying Colors scheme itself lasted from 1971-1978 (though many aircraft never received the Ultra colours). The four combos were:
Red/Aztec Gold
Orange/Ochre
Green/Light Green
Blue/Light Blue
Then of course there was the single Calder 727 too. This aircraft was different from most BN 727-200s in that she was one of only 3 standard 727-200s BN bought new (they also picked up 6 second-hand from Allegheny and Frontier).
Anyway here are the five showing their flying colors together:
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