I am giving away my age but I remember in the early 80's sitting at my desk in my office at Hobby airport. At the time I was the manager of an aviation fixed base operation. My window faced the Southwest gates and I was surprised to see a Boeing 727 parked at the gate painted in Southwest colors. Over the next several days, I continually saw the 727 pulling up to the gate and then being pushed back 15 or 20 minutes later. It happened so often that I concluded Southwest had added several 727 aircraft to their fleet. I was on the ramp a few days later talking to one of the Southwest ramp people who told me that there was only one 727 and it was obtained in a settlement between Braniff Airlines and Southwest. According to him, the aircraft and crew were provided by Braniff for a period of time until the settlement terms were complete. He said that Southwest used the aircraft as much as they could during that time.
I know Southwest had the aircraft but does anyone know if the rest of the story is true?
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