Southwest Airlines Community

For as long as I have been with Southwest, winter has also been the “season” for Messages to the Field (where our CEO delivers a "state of the airline," talks about the priorities for the year, and fields questions from Employees). One of the traditional announcements at the Messages that affects all of our Employees is the amount of the Company’s contribution to our ProfitSharing plan.  (The proper name for our plan is spelled that way:  one word, capital P and S.)  This year, our annual profit was $417 million, excluding special items, and Southwest will contribute about $121 million to our ProfitSharing plan.  Fortunately, for the 18 Messages during my time at Southwest, we have turned a profit and have received the Company contribution to ProfitSharing. Actually, our string of profitable years began in 1973, when we earned a whopping $174,756 profit.  That doesn’t seem much today, but during 1972, we had lost $1.5 million.  So, that year’s annual report proudly proclaimed that we had “turned the corner in 1973.”  Besides turning the corner, Southwest took another important step in 1973, by announcing the creation of a profit sharing plan at the beginning of the year.  However, in spite of the modest profit, no contributions were made to ProfitSharing for 1973.  Why?  Well, the plan rules allowed the Board of Directors to allocate 15 percent of the pretax profit for earnings in excess of $1.5 million, and 1973’s profit fell well below that level. In fact, it wouldn’t be until 1975 when a contribution was made for 1974’s earnings that ProfitSharing finally became funded.  In 1974, Southwest had earned $1.93 million, and ProfitSharing received a contribution of $175,000, which was paid in 1975.  (Coincidentally, the amount contributed to ProfitSharing from 1974 was equal to our entire 1973 profit.)  In 1975, Southwest earned $3.4 million, and Employees received $445,000 in ProfitSharing.  So, while Southwest has recorded 40 straight years of profitability with the 2012 financial results, 2013 will be the 39 th straight year of ProfitSharing contributions. Interestingly, the minimum qualifying profit level would rise through the 70s and 80s.  In 1978, it was raised to $2.1 million and just two years later to $4.8 million.  By 1982, the first $9.6 million of profit was exempted from ProfitSharing, and the next year the exemption level was set at ten percent of the net income.  Thanks to Colleen Barrett for helping me research this issue (but the conclusions are all mine).  Although in the materials Colleen shared with me, the reason for having a minimum earnings level isn’t spelled out, it would appear that we were making sure that Shareholders got a decent return for their investments by having a minimum profit level before the ProfitSharing plan was funded. In 1990, Southwest made a $47 million annual profit in an economy decimated by the run up to the first Gulf War, including sharply higher fuel costs.  Yet, the Board eliminated the minimum earnings requirement for ProfitSharing contributions that year.  However, in order to meet unusual conditions that might arise, the Board did keep the ability to “increase, decrease, or eliminate the Company contribution for such year.”  Nearing our 20 th Anniversary, Southwest had reached a level of maturity and stability, although the challenges we would face during the next 22 years would prove just as daunting, and maybe even more threatening, than those faced during our first 20 years.  ProfitSharing has been a part of our Employee’s lives for 39 years, but it still comes with a catch, and it is a big one.  You have to make a profit, to earn ProfitSharing. ... View more

It’s no secret that Southwest LUVs to celebrate holidays, especially Valentine’s Day and Halloween.  It’s a longtime tradition, but just how deep are those roots?  As these documents and photos from the archives show, our association with Valentine’s Day goes all the way back to our very beginnings.  I recently found documents recapping both our very first Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1972, and outlining the events planned (many of them the same as in 1972) for Valentine’s Day in 1973.  The cover document proclaims the plan to be “Valentine’s at the Love Airline,” and it is subtitled “Kisses from ‘The Somebody Else Up There Who Loves You’.”  Note that the word “Love” and not “LUV” is used—a definite play on Love Field.   The plan consists of the ten steps outlined above, and we have some photos that will help illustrate some of these steps. For example, step one for 1973 calls for “on the street awareness.”  This part of the plan called for Flight Attendants in hot pants to give our candy kisses “to passersby from a red square container decorated with Southwest hearts” in downtown Dallas.  Judging from the 1972 picture, the plan appears to have been modified from when a model of a Southwest aircraft was displayed in a store window as our Employee handed out candy on the street.  The 1973 plan also called for Flight Attendants to visit local media outlets to distribute candy. For the 1972 event, Southwest teamed up with Joske’s Department Store in San Antonio.  Maybe even more so than the airline industry, the department store industry has undergone major consolidation.  This San Antonio-based retailer became a part of Dillard’s in 1987.  Southwest sponsored a contest that gave away roundtrip tickets to either Dallas or Houston for two.  In addition, as the 1972 newspaper ad (above) points out, people could pick up a free Valentine “Sweetheart” fare card good for a $5 discount “when your best girl flies Southwest with you.”  The brand new Town East Mall in Mesquite would replace Joske's for 1973. This was the signup desk located inside Joske’s downtown San Antonio store, and it appears to have been a popular place.  The desk was staffed by San Antonio Ticket Agents, and if you didn’t know the photo was taken in 1972, the iconic, early 1970s sideburns and leather fringe jacket would identify the date just as surely as a calendar.  On the table next to the man’s hands is a Valentine’s heart with our original three stripes superimposed on it. Not all of the Valentine’s Day festivities were based in Texas.  For 1973, Southwest wanted to get a big national “splash” by having two of our Flight Attendants appear on ABC’s The Dating Game.  For those of you who don’t know, the premise of the show was that a bachelor or “bachelorette” would interview three potential dates sitting on stage but out of view behind a screen.  Once the date was selected, the two “losers” would come around the partition to reveal themselves, and then the lucky “winner” would get to meet his or her date.  The show would send the winners to a Los Angeles "hot spot" on a chaperoned date, and after that, the individuals were on their own if they wanted to continue seeing each other.  Ironically, as the document above outlines, neither the show nor our Employees could mention Southwest’s name during the episode.  The plan to generate what we now call “brand awareness” about our Employees' role in the show was based on feature stories about their participation. The two lucky Flight Attendants were Deborah Franklin, to the left of host Jim Lange, and C.J. Bostic, to the right.  They joined the list of other previous and future Dating Game participants that included Farah Fawcett, Steve Martin, Burt Reynolds, Phil Hartman, Michael Jackson, Sally Field, Ron Howard, and yes, even Paul Lynde. Southwest also sponsored a Valentine’s dance at the Press Club of Dallas, which is outlined in the club’s newsletter for 1972’s event.  In addition, on Valentine’s Day, Flight Attendants decorated the cabins of the aircraft with hearts, and they also visited the city councils of Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio; the local television and radio stations; and the main newspapers.  The two other components of the 1973 celebration involved holding a contest on Dallas radio station KIXL, and giving the secretaries in the “Southwest Sweethearts Club” a heart-shaped candy dish filled with candy to thank them for booking their bosses travel.  (Business travel was very different back then.)  It was exciting to find these landmark documents that outline our earliest plans to have Southwest Employees celebrate holidays with our Customers, and the birth of this longtime Southwest tradition is outlined in these documents and photos. ... View more

The first AirTran city conversion to Southwest Airlines in 2013 is just a few weeks away when Branson, Missouri, becomes a Southwest city on March 9.  It’s also going to be the first time since we began service to Little Rock on February 27, 1984, that a new Southwest city will open with nonstop flights to Dallas Love Field, thanks to the Wright Amendment.  (Missouri is one of the nine states we can currently serve nonstop from Dallas until the fall of 2014, when the final Wright restrictions expire.)  In this week’s Flashback, we look at May 11, 2009, the day AirTran began service to Branson, the entertainment center of the Ozarks, with two daily flights—one to Atlanta and one to Milwaukee.  On top of that, it is also the date the airport opened for operations, and AirTran’s arrival from Milwaukee was the second flight to arrive at the brand new facility.  An airshow from May 8 to May 10 preceded the start of airline service. These photos of AirTran’s first Branson service were in the archival material we inherited from AirTran.  Although the photos aren’t especially old by Flashback Fridays’ standards, they are rare, and most Southwest folks will never have seen them and are probably unfamiliar with this unique airport.  Branson is one of the few, if not the only, privately owned, privately operated commercial airports in the United States.  It also carries two different airport codes:  For Pilots, the FAA airport code is BBG, but for the public and reservations systems, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) code, BKG, is used.  (BBG was already assigned by IATA to Kiribati in the South Pacific.)  The terminal building (above) resembles a giant mountain lodge.  The portico down there on the right of the photo is the departure wing with the ticket counters.  The rustic landscaping with the split-rail fences makes this seem like anything but an airport. This may be the most rustic baggage claim area you have ever seen in a modern airport.  The use of wood in the interior reinforces that mountain lodge feeling. Even on the ramp side, the feeling of a lodge is very evident.  AirTran 717, ship 793 (N915AT), had the honor of operating the first flight.  There are no jetbridges at Branson, but that doesn’t mean Customers will be exposed to rain or snow.  Take a look at that telescoping covered awning underneath the “Welcome to the Ozarks” sign.  In wet weather, the awning extends to the aircraft loading ramp (more below) to provide a covered path into the building.  AirTran had a special guest onboard for the first flight into Branson.  That’s country music legend Lee Greenwood deplaning down the loading ramp.  Note the movable connector across the threshold of the cabin door that covers the gap between the aircraft’s floor and the loading ramp.  Mr. Greenwood, a frequent performer in Branson, flashes a thumb’s up to the camera after his flight. Above is a side view of the covered loading ramp at the aircraft.  It provides a gentle slope down to the pavement.  The telescoping awning that was depicted a few photos above would extend out to cover the lowest level of the loading ramp. During the formal part of the inaugural festivities, Lee Greenwood sang for the crowd.  I couldn’t find any record of whether he sang his mega hit, “God Bless the U.S.A.,” but it looks like he was putting his all into the performance. As part of those festivities, AirTran gave him the “key to the fleet,” but I don’t think that oversized skeleton key on the plaque would open the doors to any aircraft. Lee sits in the cockpit of Ship 793 holding his award.  One of the things that these photos show is that AirTran approached station openings as “big deals,” in much the same spirit as Southwest uses.  As we move forward with additional conversions, I will try to share some more of these archive photos because I think they are great introductions to the new cities that will be appearing on our route map.  ... View more

This week, we take a different approach to Southwest’s history by tracking some measurements of our growth over our first 40 years.  Upfront, I have to admit that I am intimidated by numbers, especially those used to express economic terms.  I just squeaked by my college Economics class (although I do remember we played a neat board game).  However, while doing research in our past annual reports for another project, I found some numbers that illustrate how far we have come as a Company.  While doing my research, I was also reminded again that the annual report is a wonderful document, filled with interesting information.  For the purpose of my research, I used the “landmark” anniversary years of the fifth, tenth, 15 th , etc. publications.  Don’t worry, I still have included some photos representing some of the covers of these reports.   We start with just two numbers, the amount of fuel we used during our first year, 1971, and the fuel used during our 40 th year, 2011.  That first year, we burned about five million gallons of jet fuel, but contrast that with the approximately 1.8 billion gallons used in 2011.  Of course in that time, we had expanded from an airline with three airplanes serving three cities in Texas to a coast-to-coast carrier.  And speaking of aircraft, take a look at these numbers:   Aircraft at year-end 1971:  4 1976:  6 1981:  27 1986:  79 1991:  124 1996:  243 2001:  355 2006:  481 2011:  698 (includes AirTran)   Let’s compare that with the number of Employees across the years: Year-end Employees 1971:  195 1976:  517 1981:  2,129 1986:  5,819 1991:  9,778 1996:  22,944 2001:  31,580 2006:  32,664 2011:  45,392 (includes AirTran)   To me, it’s illuminating that both the number of aircraft and the number of Employees in 1971 are .05 percent of the 2011 both numbers.  Again, I’m no economist, but that represents a pretty balanced growth in these two categories.  The two categories below also have a relationship, although not a direct correlation with each other..   Fuel cost                                           Average Fare   1971:  $0.11 per gallon                   1971:   $19.62 1976:  $0.33 per gallon                   1976:   $19.80 1981:  $1.01 per gallon                   1981:   $38.07 1986:  $0.51 per gallon                   1986:   $54.43 1991:  $0.66 per gallon                   1991:   $55.93 1996:  $0.66 per gallon                   1996:   $65.88 2001:  $0.71 per gallon                   2001:   $83.46 2006:  $1.53 per gallon                   2006: $104.40 2011:  $3.19 per gallon                   2011: $141.72   The obvious connection is that our fares go up when the cost of fuel goes up.  And, during our first 40 years, the biggest fuel cost increase occurred between 2006 and 2011, when fuel rose by $1.66 per gallon.  In fact, in the first 40 years after we took to the sky, the cost of jet fuel in 1971 represents three percent of 2011's price.  In contrast, our average fare in 1971 was a more robust 13 percent of 2011's number.  Compare this with the 30-year period ending in 2001, when the 9/11 attacks changed the industry overnight.  For those first 30 years, 1971's fuel price was 16 percent of 2001's and the average fare in 1971 was 24 percent of 2011's prices, both at appreciably lower rates than those recorded in 2011.  If you need an example of the volatility of the industry since 2011, let’s look at the first 25 years.  Comparing 1996 to 1971, the fuel price in 1971 was 83 percent of the price in 1996, but our average ticket price in 1971 was 30 percent of 1996's.  All it takes is a look at the charts to see the rapid changes since 2001 and to compare those numbers with the relative stability of the first 30 years. (In case you are wondering why 1981’s fuel prices were so high, it was because of the Iran-Iraq war which isolated prime oil supplies from the rest of the world.) Don't worry, Flashback Fridays aren't going to turn into a numbers series, but I thought this research really told an interesting story that I wanted to share with you.   ... View more

Back before the holidays, I shared some photos in a book my best friend from childhood had sent me.  The book, Transport Aircraft of the World by Lester Ott, was published in 1944, a climactic year during World War II.  In the first installment, I shared some American-built/designed aircraft that were unusual and that wound up either never being built or relegated to the scrap heap after just a few examples were completed.  At the time, I asked if you all wanted to see some of the European designs in the book, and the answer was affirmative, including a request from Southwest Airlines’ Chairman Emeritus, Herb Kelleher, so here we go. We begin in England, where the war had all but eliminated any commercial airline service, (as was the case in the rest of Europe).  In spite of German air attacks, the U.K. had an important aircraft industry, but it was decided by the Allies, that England would devote all its manufacturing capacity toward bombers and fighters, and that the U.S. would develop and produce all transport aircraft during the war.  This must have been particularly galling to the British because they had developed some amazing airliners before the war, and the state airline, Imperial Airways—forerunner of BOAC and British Airways—had developed long haul routes to South Africa, Australia, and Hong Kong at service and comfort levels far exceeding carriers on this side of the Atlantic.  One of the most beautiful airplanes ever built was Imperial Airways’ de Havilland Albatross, shown above at London’s original airport, Croydon.  Because Croydon had short runways and was located in a built up area, Heathrow replaced it as London’s primary airport after the war.  However, Croydon’s landmark terminal still stands in the southern London suburb of the same name. The Albatrosses’ sleek lines were especially evident during flight (above).  Interestingly, the Albatross was built of plywood, and it was fast for its day, cruising at 210 miles per hour.  During the war, de Havilland would use wood to build the famous Mosquito fighter-bomber. As the war moved toward a positive end, the British converted some bomber types into transports.  One of the best examples of this was the Avro York, which was a transport version of the famous Lancaster bomber.  The York used the bomber’s wings, landing gear, and engines, with a new deeper fuselage.  (Some civilianized Lancaster’s were also used as airliners by Air Canada to begin transatlantic service.)  After the war, BOAC used the York on some of its longhaul flights to South Africa until more suitable airliners could be acquired and by British South American Airways Corporation (merged into BOAC in 1949) who used them for flights from the U.K. to South America. Across the English Channel, Air France had operated a unique fleet of graceful French aircraft prior to the war.  During the war, some of these aircraft were used by the occupying German forces for military transports.  In happier times (above), we see an Air France 16-passenger Bloch 220 being serviced in front of the Art Deco terminal building at Le Bourget.  Today, this building houses the impressive Musée de l’Air (Air Museum), and the building can also be seen in photos of the biannual Paris Air Show at Le Bourget.  The Bloch 220 was similar in size to the Douglas DC-2. At the other end of the size spectrum was the six-engine Sud-Est S.E. 200.  While work on the aircraft had begun before 1939, construction continued during the German occupation.  This massive flying boat was another six-engine design like we saw with Boeing’s “Super Clipper” design in the first installment, and the French aircraft could carry 40 passengers and a crew of eight.  Only four aircraft were completed:  One was flown to Germany and destroyed by Allied bombing, but one of the surviving aircraft did fly after the war with the French Navy for three years before a landing accident grounded it.  As we saw with the American designs, land planes killed the flying boats because they were more flexible, cheaper to operate, and provided greater safety in operation.  Still, you have to admit that the S.E. 200 was an extremely good looking airplane. Nazi Germany had a very aggressive prewar airliner building program, but much of this commercial aviation activity was a subterfuge.   Treaty limitations after World War I prohibited Germany from building combat aircraft, so it designed airliners that could be quickly turned into bomber designs.  These “transports” that would become bombers include the HE-111 and the Do-17.  However, one of the most impressive German airliner designs, the Focke Wulf Condor, was actually designed as an airliner for Luft Hansa (it was two words originally).  This modern four-engine airplane was the first landplane to fly nonstop from Berlin to New York prior to the start of World War II in 1939, and one example served as Hitler’s personal airplane.  In spite of their civil origins, during the war, Condors served as a long-range maritime bomber for the Luftwaffe.  Winston Churchill called the Condor “the scourge of the Atlantic,” due to the damage inflicted on British convoys.  Ironically, in the early days of the war, the British seized a Danish Airlines Condor, and it was used by BOAC for wartime service until 1941.  The other landmark German transport/airliner of this period was the tri-motor Junkers Ju-52 that served airlines all over the world, in addition to the Luftwaffe. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, this prewar giant (above) was one of the largest airplanes in the world.  The L-760 required six engines and had a massive wing span of 210 feet, and it was 25 feet high.  Check out those huge wheel covers on the nonretractable main landing gear, and take note that the passenger cabin extended in front of the cockpit.  Soviet airliners of this period were oversized, lumbering, and not very advanced in design.  During the war, the Soviets began manufacturing the Li-2, which was a licensed version of the Douglas DC-3. The other European airliner manufacturing country was Italy.  In 1933, Italy’s Secretary of State for Air in Mussolini’s Fascist government, Italo Balbo, flew 24 Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying boats from Rome to Chicago for the 1933 World’s Fair.  The formation landed on Lake Michigan.  The SM. 83 (above) from the same manufacturer was a tri-motor ten-passenger land plane.  Aside from the Italian airline Ala Littoria, examples of the SM. 83 served with the Belgium airline Sabena from Brussels to what was then the Belgian Congo. After World War II, commercial aviation would never seem so quaint.  Within just 14 years after the war’s end, de Havilland Comets, Boeing 707s, and Douglas DC-8s would be circling the globe many times a day.  Air travel, spurred on by pioneers like Southwest, would cease to become a luxury enjoyed by a few, and travel by air would become a necessity for the masses. ... View more

In many ways, today may be the most important day on Southwest Airlines’ calendar because it marks the 109th anniversary of the date that humans took to the air in powered, controlled flight.  After all, without airplanes, you can’t have airlines.  While the problems of controlled flight would probably been solved sooner or later, the Wright Brothers did it first, and the aviation timeline begins on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  Orville Wright became the world’s first airplane pilot that raw, brisk day along the North Carolina Coast as his brother Wilbur watched.  Orville’s first flight covered 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds.  In other words, it took him 12 seconds to fly the equivalent distance of a 737-800 fuselage.  So as you go about your duties today, take a moment to stop and reflect on what a wonder the gift of flight really is and consider the progress we have made in such a relatively short time. ... View more

If you are lucky to know a World War II Veteran, and have an opportunity to ask them their recollections of December 7,   1941, most assuredly they will convey the shock and horror they felt when the Armed Forces of the United States of America were attacked.  Although, the number of people who have firsthand memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor is dwindling, this shouldn’t diminish the importance of the events that happened in Hawaii that day.  A few minutes on a beautiful morning would soon change that, just as a few minutes on another beautiful morning, half a world away and 60 years later on September 11 would change the way we look at the world. The attack on the huge naval base at Pearl Harbor and the Army Air Force bases scattered around Oahu would plunge the nation into a massive mobilized war effort that would circle the world and last four years.  Prior to December 7, I bet most Americans would have had a hard time locating Hawaii on a map.  We felt safe, protected by the two oceans along our coasts.  After that, we would become a global nation. But that globalization would come at a cost of the lives of almost a half-million Americans and up to almost 78 million dead worldwide.  Let us pause today and remember those Americans who served and fought at Pearl Harbor.  Imagine being 19 years old, just having graduated from high school and making plans to attend college or possibly to marry your sweetheart.  As the shock waves rocked our nation, these brave young men and women instead immediately enlisted to serve and protect our nation.  Their service touched a nation 71 years ago, and it touches us today.  Southwest Airlines is proud to be the official commercial airline of the Honor Flight Network and have the opportunity to send World War II Veterans like those who defended at Pearl Harbor to D.C. to visit their memorial.  It almost seems loath to talk about any good coming out of such a horrible conflict, but the shrinking of the world perhaps has made it more difficult to have such large scale conflicts in the future.  One tool helping to shrink the world is the airplane.  Prior to the Pearl Harbor attacks, Pan American had begun commercial service between San Francisco and Honolulu with its Clipper flying boats.  Often times, the westbound flights would reach their “point of no return” and would be lacking fuel to continue the trip, forcing a return to California.  Long-range land-based transports developed during the war, would bring almost every point of the globe and the inhabitants of those locations in reach of each other.  If you know a World War II Vet, thank him or her for their service.  Those who followed their comrades in arms at Pearl Harbor would know desperate times because victory was far from assured, but even though their backs were against the wall, the tide of battle slowly, but unfailingly, began to turn.  We owe them so much. ... View more

In a very real sense, Larry Hagman represents our hometown, Dallas.  As J.R. Ewing he made Dallas an international destination, even if his character was a shady, conniving scoundrel.  And as himself, he became a part of the city’s heart through his generosity.  As these photos from our archives show, Mr. Hagman had an early relationship with Southwest.  We see him passing through Houston Hobby in 1979, just as the television series was becoming a household name going into its second season.   During his stay at the airport, he shared his big smile with Customers and our Employees, and it’s hard to tell who was smiling the most.  Our thoughts are with Mr. Hagman’s family. ... View more

This week, I raided my postcard collection to find some photos built around the general theme of the way airlines display their names on the outside of their aircraft.  The other reason was that I just wanted a chance to share these interesting older images with you as an after-Thanksgiving treat. We set the stage with this early Southwest image from the archives, and as regular readers know, Southwest’s first three airplanes carried the word “airlines” on the aircraft.  Beginning with the delivery of the fourth airplane, N23SW, in late 1971, airlines was deleted from the exterior.  The rest of this post will show that we weren’t the only carrier to omit the word airlines from our airplanes, and we weren’t the first to do so, either.   Let’s begin with this Lubbock Airport postcard from the late 1940’s.  Like so many airlines back then, Pioneer (on the left) used two separate words, “air” and “lines” in their company name.  The photo shows their first livery, and I find it interesting that Pioneer, Air, and Lines are presented in three different fonts.  Some airlines were actually “airways” like Pan American, AirTran, and Braniff shown on the right.  Their DC-3 makes sure you know it is flown by “Braniff International Airways.”  Braniff would follow the trend in the industry and later drop airways off their airplanes.  As for the terminal, the airport restaurant was located in the round portion on the second story, and it offered great ramp views.  I stopped here as a baby on my first plane trip in 1954, but I would return many times.  I remember the building’s musky aroma, and the restaurant seemed more like a roadside café than an airport dining room. Delta is the only airline today to separate airlines into two words in their corporate name.  The DC-8 61 above proudly proclaims the company’s full name in a postcard from the late 1960s.  However, by the time their DC-9-30s, TriStars, 747s, and 727s were delivered a few years later, only Delta was displayed on the fuselage and tail.  Note that the postcard carries the full name in script.   Continental switched over to using airlines as one word in the 1950s, and this Boeing 720B (above), like all their aircraft at the time, carried the word airlines until a new livery was introduced the late 1960s.   This 707-320C shows that newer livery, and only Continental is displayed.  This (and the Delta changeover) happened about the time Southwest began flying.  When Texas International took over Continental in the early 1980s, they changed the color of the logo on the tail from black to red. American has always had a bare metal look to its livery.  This early 707-100 at the old terminal in Los Angeles wears the same basic markings as American’s DC-3s carried in the 1930s.  Airlines disappeared from American aircraft with arrival of the current livery in the late 1960s that was created by noted industrial designer, Massimo Vignelli. Some carriers had dumped airlines from their liveries right after World War II.  United’s first postwar livery just said “United,” and their 1959 livery, as shown on this DC-7, carried that trend forward into the jet age.   While Northwest was also an early adopter of the simplified title, it added and later removed a different word, “Orient.”  This mid 1950’s view of a Stratocruiser carries the bold Northwest titles, but few years later, Northwest aircraft would wear “Northwest Orient” titles.  Still later, it would be back to just Northwest.   And we close with this Eastern 727-100.  Eastern always looked at its airplanes as giant billboards, and all of their liveries urged onlookers to fly the carrier until the revolutionary “hockey stick” livery was introduced in the late 1960s.  Eastern was one of the last carriers to use air and lines in their name, and prior to the introduction of the 727, Eastern covered the length of the fuselage with “Fly Eastern Air Lines.”  (During the 1950s, Braniff also added “Fly” to the tail of most of its aircraft.)  The 727-100’s shorter fuselage was probably the reason for the editing in titles. This is just a brief look at the fascinating world of livery variations.  Airlines were always tinkering with small things like titles and logos (Continental had airplanes flying with three different logos at the same time), even if they weren’t changing their overall livery.  Conversely, it wasn’t unusual for a new type of aircraft to carry a new livery and fly alongside an older type with a different livery.  If you wish more details about what I think is the most interesting visual period of the airline industry, you should read some great pictorial books like, Classic Early Jetliners 1958-1979 by Martin Bowman. ... View more

Is there a more iconic symbol of Thanksgiving than the turkey?  No, we’re not talking about a big Tom as the centerpiece of the table surrounded by dressing, mashed potatoes, and cranberries.  I’m talking about the magnificent wild turkey, which was the mainstay of the diets of Native Americans along the East Coast.  Ben Franklin thought the bird was more deserving of being the symbol of the new United States than the bald eagle.  He wrote to his daughter:  For in Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on. The Southwest species of Wild Turkey comes in a bottle, and like Founding Father Ben Franklin's estimation of the winged version, Southwest’s Founding Father, Herb Kelleher is a fan of the bottled and the feathered version.  For years, a feature of his office was a smelly stuffed turkey that had seen better days.  At least, the liquid version holds its age over the years, unlike the product of taxidermy.  The dapper Herb doffs his hat (above), while holding a glass of his favorite drink.   Actually, Herb isn’t alone in his affection for both types of turkeys.  An executive from a distillery owned by the Ripy Brothers took a case of unnamed Bourbon on a wild turkey hunting trip in 1940.  His hunting partners would later ask for a bottle of that wild turkey whiskey, and a legend was born.  For years, Wild Turkey was considered the drink of the people, just as Southwest Airlines was founded to allow all Americans to afford air travel.  Because of that, it makes sense that Herb, as Southwest’s Founder and Chairman Emeritus, would make Wild Turkey his drink of choice.  No doubt Herb and Willie Nelson are discussing the virtues of the libation in Herb’s glass.   Whether you’re carving or sipping Turkey, here’s hoping this is a great Thanksgiving. ... View more