Color Scheme: Delivery Colors - "End of the Plain Plane" Scheme

Registration: None

Composition: A Refinished Douglas Factory Aluminum Model

Dimensions: Length: 37" (94cm), Wingspan 35.5" (91cm)

Condition: Excellent

Model History: This model is a refinished Douglas Factory Aluminum Model in Braniff Colors. Acquired on May 2, 2000 from Aeronautical Classics, Alexandria, VA.

Braniff's DC-8 History: Braniff Airways was created in 1930 by brothers Paul & Tom Braniff. Based in Dallas, the airline served mainly the American Southwest and prospered with the approval of US Air Mail contracts of that era. During 1945-1948 Braniff inaugurated it's first international service with flights to Mexico and Houston-Havana-Lima service. Along with these new international services came a new name - Braniff International Airways. During the 1950s and 60s Braniff International continued to expand - both within the United States and to more destinations in Latin and South America. Upon entering the Jet Age in the early 1960s Braniff had chosen the Boeing 707 and 720 to provide it's medium & long haul jet service. However, after Braniff merged with Pan American-Grace Airways on Feb. 1, 1967 & acquired Panagra's DC-8 fleet & South American Routes, the airline decided that the DC-8 better met it's operational needs. Click Here to See a Panagra DC-8-31 Model. During the late 1960s Braniff took delivery of 7 Factory Delivered DC-8-62s and also acquired used DC-8-51s and DC-8-62s to further expand it's medium and long haul fleet. Most of Braniff's DC-8s flew for the airline right up to May 12, 1982 when they ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy. Throughout most of Braniff's history the airline looked and operated like any of the other 11 "Trunk" Airlines but this was radically changed in 1965 with the introduction of the "End of the Plain Plane" Aircraft Paint Schemes which sported bright pastel fuselages, white wings & tail and a black nose. The Above Model Represents The Beautiful "End of the Plain Plane" Scheme. This new and "wild" look for Braniff was a "first" in the airline industry, received a lot attention from the general public and exposed this relatively small airline to the rest of the world! However, Braniff didn't stop with that and in 1971 introduced Four New Two-Tone Color Combinations for it's fleet and named it's newest look Braniff's "Flying Colors." In 1973, Braniff commissioned Alexander Calder, World Famous for his Modern Art, to paint one of their DC-8-62 Aircraft (N1805) and named the project "The Flying Colors of South America" - to bring more attention to Braniff's South American Route System. Mr. Calder did not personally paint the entire DC-8-62 but he painted several large models of the aircraft and then the Braniff engineers enlarged and transferred his work to the actual aircraft. However, Mr. Calder did personally paint some "finishing touches" to the aircraft before it was introduced into service on November 3, 1973. This paint scheme was quite radical for it's time & consequently brought Braniff a lot of attention & publicity - and the name "Braniff" was nowhere to be found on the aircraft! Later, in 1975, Alexander Calder did another stunning livery for Braniff in celebration of the 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial. The Boeing 727-200 (N408BN), the backbone of Braniff's domestic fleet, was introduced that year as "The Flying Colors of The United States" and was painted in "wild" stripes of red, white & blue. Finally, in 1977 just before the beginning of deregulation of the US Airline Industry, Braniff introduced it's final livery change - the "Ultra" schemes which went back to a basically solid color fuselage but using deeper tones, and adding lighter colored striping to highlight the lines of the plane and engines. To top it off, the Braniff name was changed from block print to a more elegant script print. Click Here to See Braniff's DC-8 Fleet Information. Sadly, though Braniff was brilliant in their marketing with these colorful paint schemes, after deregulation they made the fatal mistake of expanding way too fast and then collapsing due to over-capacity in most of their markets during a time of recession in the world economy. Thus, Braniff International became the first US "trunk" airline fatality in the new era of deregulation & ceased flying on May 12, 1982. Such a sad ending to such a daring and colorful airline! One final note, there have been 3 attempts to resurrect Braniff but all have been unsuccessful. There just couldn't be another Braniff like the Original.  Click Here If You Would Like To See Which DC-8's Flew In Which of the Above Paint Schemes.

Click Here to View a Photo of the Actual Aircraft

Links To Other Braniff International Models On This Web Site:

Second Colors - The Flying Colors Scheme
4 DC-8-51 1/500 Scale Models in the Small Scale DC-8 Models Section

Special Scheme - The Flying Colors of South America - The Alexander Calder Scheme
1 DC-8-62 1/72 Scale Metal Model - A Douglas Factory Model