It's no secret that my MOST wanted livery in 1:400 are the three Air West (RW) 727-193's that flew during their 2 short years of operation from 1968-1970. These three planes were all delivered to Pacific Airlines, who along with West Coast Airlines and Bonanza Airlines merged in 1968 to form Air West. In 1970, Howard Hughes bought Air West and renamed it after himself. Preferring to concentrate on the DC-9 and F-27 model aircraft, Hughes sold these three 727's when he assumed control in addition to cancelling the order for two as yet undelivered 727-293's Air West was slated to take. The rest, as they say, is history.
During their tenure with Air West, these three birds flew with Braniff for a time and the Pink and Orange one also served under National. They all went on to serve with many other carriers...
Although a commonplace style today, the Air West livery was revolutionary for it's time. No airline prior to this had painted their fuselages all white with different colored titles and tails. This was a BOLD statement, every bit as fashion based as their contemporary, Braniff with it's "Jellybean" look. Everywhere they travelled in the Western US, they were sure to turn heads. The white fuselages contrasted starkly to the many white top and silver styled schemes with cheatlines. The bright and fashionable (futuristic) colors of the tails and titles bespoke of cutting edge thinking, just what the Western US was considered at that time. There were four basic color pairs. Pink and Orange, Blue and Mustard Brown, Lime Green and Light Blue, and Mustard Brown and Orange. All of the colors flew on RW's DC-9 and F-27 fleets, but having only three of the 727's, one had to be left out...
I herewith present the three RW Boeing 727-193's as they appeared in 1968, fresh from the paintshop...
Enjoy!
