Even More Eastern - The Great Silver Fleet - New Fleet Shots

[RStretton]

You can never have too much Eastern surely? Here are shots of my EA collection broken down by livery in the new style of my photos.

I start with the Great Silver Fleet scheme worn until 1952 and the first rendition of the Silver Falcon, with a natural metal base, worn until only 1953:

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

From 1953 along with most other US airlines natural metal was replaced with a white finish. In 1955 the DC-7s introduced Golden Falcon service and a new streamlined falcon. This lasted until 1960 though the Electras wore a modified version from 1959. Here's the original and the 1955 Golden falcon on the great competitors DC-7 and L-1049:

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

In 1960 the first DC-8s introduced a new scheme which was superseded in 161 as we discussed in the 720 thread by the '720 scheme' originally designed for the post LEAP Electras. From 1963 the titling was shortened to just 'Fly Eastern'.

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

From 1964 several experimental New Mark schemes were introduced (as seen here on the CV-440) but against opposition from the workforce the Falcon was eventually dropped from the tail and the hockey stick 'New Mark' created. This was unveiled in 1965:

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet: 1960s Hockeystick by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet: 1960s Hockeystick by rstretton, on Flickr

Into the 1970s and the New Mark appeared on the new widebodies and 727-200s:

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet: 1970s Hockeystick by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Airliner Fleet: 1970s Hockeystick by rstretton, on Flickr

There's more to come as there were no less than 5 liveries and variants after the white New Mark. We'll see if I get to them later!

[fleetlordatvar]

I the Fly Eastern logo, I wish it would have lasted until it showed up on the 747

[RStretton]

Ok it's later so I'll carry on! In 1978 Eastern modified their white New Mark to produce a short-lived half white/half silver version.




Compared to the full white:



Not in this late shot for the white scheme (1984) the WhsiperJet tilting is gone too.

The year before however the odd white/grey variants, in December 1977, they had actually introduced the full silver New Mark scheme. This also had the familiar if somewhat bizarre to modern observers 'Whisper Jet' titling removed.

Here is the 1970s Silver New Mark on some typical 1970s fleet members, the Tristar, DC-9-51 and 727-200 (Alexzar I think my 727 is chrome by the way):

Eastern Air Lines Silver New Mark Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Silver New Mark Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Silver New Mark Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

In 1982 both cheatlines were thinned and lowered beneath the window line whilst the new 757s had the plane type emblazoned on the tail. It looks great on the 757 and DC-10 but a bit odd on the DC-9s and 727s:



In about 1984 the A300s, which had always kept their white colours started appearing painted grey. This version also appeared on some 727s but never on the 757s, Tristars or DC-9s as far as I'm aware:



Eastern Air Lines Silver New Mark Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

Eastern Air Lines Silver New Mark Fleet by rstretton, on Flickr

The last Eastern scheme arrived in 1990 with a return to the first silver hockeystick albeit with slight modifications. The airplane number appeared in blue under the cheatline (and not in white in the cheatline by the nose) and Ionosphere blue covered whole radome. The 757s lost their distinct titling too. This scheme has never been made in 1:400:




Throughout the 1980s Eastern's fleet wore a bit of a hotchpotch of all 6 New Mark scheme variants though by 1984 few aircraft (except the A300s) were still in white. I guess the airline's financials (and general lack of attention to the details caused by the Lorenzo takeover and resulting loss of morale) didn't aid a uniform repaint schedule. On the plus side though that does make the Eastern fleet an interesting study in scheme variations!