FROM FLAGSHIP TO ASTROJET - Classic Color Scheme from the DC-3 to the Jet Age 

My Uncle was an AA Captain. We used to meet him in the cockpit after a flight at Newark or LaGuardia onboard the empty airplane. He flew the DC-7, the 707, 727 and the DC-10. His favorite airplane though was the 707. He retired in 1980 with 33,000 hours, having started flying with the Army Air Corp as a B-17 pilot. He taught me how to fly, a great guy and one hell of a pilot. Thanks for this video.

Dad was an AA pilot and when I was maybe 5 years old took us to see the newly delivered orange stripe AA 727s lined up at LaGuardia.

Great photo’s. You covered a lot of history/information in a short amount of time! Thanks!

Wonderful video. Stunning photos capturing the best views of American's classic airliners. I was transported back in time to the best times of my youth. I will return to this video any time I need a lift to my day.

Another typically great 👍program from you.

Super, Mike! A great tribute to a long standing and stunning livery. Looking forward to the Atlantis Models rerelease of the old Revell 707 Astrojet and Convair 990 coming this summer!

Mike, I discovered your wonderful videographies only a couple of week ago but really enjoy them. I grew up in Dallas in the 1950s and early '60s, and my dad and I spent a lot of time at Love Field, looking at not only all the passenger planes you describe but also quite a collection of vintage WWII aircraft as well. One topic I hope you'll explore is the story of the Lockheed Electra. I remember seeing the Braniff ones at Love Field and thought they were beautiful. Thanks again for your great work!

This was a lot of fun to watch Mike. Great photos and informative presentation. I absolutely love every one of the aircraft shown, but really have a soft spot for the 707 and Electra. Flew on both several times and was always impressed by their looks and performance. The AA 707 Astrojet scheme was outstanding. Thank you for your effort in making this enjoyable video.

Thank you for a great presentation. I fondly remember the BAC 111 with AA, with its super loud take off from JFK. Those Spey engines could be heard from departure thru most of Nassau County

Best one yet, my favorite so far! Thanks for doing these, Mike.

Great program Mike . Love hearing about US airlines . Being a Brit my background was BEA Viscounts , Tridents and Vanguards , BUA 1-11s and BOAC VC10s and 707s .

Unique video and good perspective. Thanks. I always look forward to seeing your latest video.

Thanks Mike, your presentations bring back the memories. Walking to the stairs in sleet in NY...Walking off in sun in Fl. Was MARVELOUS. Condolences to Johns family. Best to you Scott Whitmire

Your photos are not found on any other channel, another superb programme. I loved learning all about the interior layout of the 707. You are a national treasure and wealth of information. We are blessed that you share it with us! 😊

Another great video and very informative and interesting.

Great review of a great era, I remember it well.

Back in 1967 my family flew back to Virginia from Atlanta in an EAL Electra. We were seated in the lounge in the very rear of the plane. A far cry from the airline seating of today.

Am 71 now and was born and raised in the LA area of the "valley". I loved airplanes as a kid and my dad would take me to the old Los Angeles Municipal Airport and the new LAX in the early 60s to watch planes come and go. We would go to the different airlines to watch arrivals and departures. I loved seeing the DC-3s and the Convair from TWA and United come and go. I remember the Bonanza Airlines F-27. I loved the high wings. The DC-6, DC-7 and Constellation were my favorite 4 engine planes. When PSA came out with the Electra, my dad bought us round trip tickets to San Diego and back to LA. We had lunch or more of a snack in San Diego and came back in the afternoon. I could tell the difference in power and take off from the DC-6 we would fly on United to San Francisco. The first jet I flew on was a DC-8 in 1960 to SFO with my Dad to visit my aunt. 60 years later, I have flown in most Boeing equipment and all Douglas equipment except the DC-4. Thanks to the dishonesty of Boeing and former CEO Muilenburg regarding the 737MAX cover-up and lies and omissions, I will not fly on the newest Boeing equipment due to the possibility of something being overlooked by mistake or in trying to save a buck. Your channel is very informative and you are obviously a plane lover like I am.... especially the older and earlier models. Hope there can be one about the Curtiss Condor sometime.

To this day I think AA's lightning bolt livery was the best. Wish they would bring it back.

Regarding Boeing's decision to re-size the 707 fuselage to accommodate 6 abreast economy class seating, the event that ultimately forced the issue was Pan Am's decision to place orders for 25 DC-8's while giving Boeing only 20 for the 707. Had Boeing not played ball soon enough, Juan Trippe would've ditched the 707 in time in favour of the DC-8, which curiously enough, was a better built aircraft, albeit with a slight fuel penalty. The DC-8 is engineered to handled significantly more lifetime cycles than any 707. Furthermore, it was designed with a taller tricycle landing gear right from the get-go to accommodate future fuselage stretches without re-design the wing box (to augment landing gear extension).* *This was the 707's Achilles' heel; and reason why fuselage stretches were greatly constrained (poor planning).

It's interesting to note that the lightning bolt cheatline is still in use today with the RCAF. Their red lightning bolt was also to be seen on the 707/CC-137.

Another fine presentation Mike! Thank you!

I love the all silver with orange lightening bolt color scheme. I flew in a 707 Astro Jet in 1969 from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles. What struck me was when they showed the in flight movie l could tell the actual plastic movie film was moving through the length of the cabin as there was a delay from screen to screen.

Although I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about military aircraft, I'm woefully ignorant about civilian ones. Thanks so much for helping fill the gaps!

Excellent as always. Many thanks Mike.

Great presentation, photos and narration.

Your post about American Airline and it's fleet brought back many remembrances of my youth, back then my dad worked in the oil industry and the family lived overseas mainly in South America. Thus I can tell you that during those years as I commuted to middle and later high school I flow on ever single plane you wrote out at least once. Back then I always spent my longer holiday periods at home at what ever oil camp my dad was assigned to. Generally we flew Delta out of New Orleans but always starting and ending in Tulsa thus American and Delta were my main carriers and yes one of my last trips overseas saw me finally exposed to jet travel. Those were fun times to fly you never know what might happen. We generally flow over night going down and returns were generally in the day. Our stops included Havana Cuba, Kingston Jamaica, and Oranjestad Aruba before landing in Maiquetia the gateway to Caracas Venezuela. At which point flow by either company plane or later on by the national airlines. And yes we never what we would be flying on, anything from a DC3 to God only know what.

Very well done and informative. Thank you!

I really enjoyed that video, it brought back a lot of memories. My father was an Aircraft Electrician for Canadian Pacific Airlines after WWII. As a kid, I played in all those planes if he got called into work on a Saturday.

Love your programs, Mike. You do a wonderful job of explaining things and all your pics are first class! Best, Andy K. :-)

Mike, I really loved your video. I worked at UAL's Maintenance Operation Center at SFO in the mid 60s. Just out of the Air Force where I worked on B-52s and KC-135s. They turned me into a sheet-metal/structural repair mechanic when I started working Plane Overhaul on DC-6Bs. When United got their B-727s, we used to call them "rectum rockets". Thanks for a great video.

I flew the 737-800. There is one painted in this retro scheme. Thanks for the great look back.

Thanks for the cruise down memory lane.

That was a very fast 20 minutes....thanks for another great one, 707s and Electras....WOW.

Thanks for the all the facts you’ve included-lots of interesting comparisons and history. I enjoyed it throughly!

Great video! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and history of the early jet age. The subtle differences between the 707 and 720 were new to me.

Thanks for the memory lane report. My birthday present in 1967 was to spend the day on the observation deck at Dallas’ Love Field, a while before DFW. I saw many 707 Astrojets, 727s and a 990, several BAC 400 jets and Electras. I loved that old AA livery. I saw many Braniffs sporting their new “flying colors” back then and Delta DC-8s and CV 880s. My dad preferred flying AA Astrojets from Dallas to New York on business because it was the only airline that allowed cigar smoking in first class.

Thanks for the memories from an American Airline's Brat. Loved it!

Nice video Mike. I've always been partial to American as well. My first airline flight was in 1976, Detroit to Phoenix, on an American DC-10. The pilots let my brother and I in the cockpit and gave us each a set of pilots wings! We lived several miles from the airport, and always had jets flying over the house. However, they were usually at a couple thousand feet altitude. Still pretty loud sometimes. I took some photo's of the Concord flying over the house, in the late 70's I believe, probably it's only flight to Detroit. I remember it being a big event, which is why I was ready to catch it on film. Thanks for the great channel, take care!

Enjoyed the video. Thanks.

American Airlines was my favorite airline as a kid - because of its super neat color scheme!

Thanks again for another great video. God bless you and thank you for all you do. Happy Father's day Mr. Machat. 👍👍

As a "true AAr" for over 35 years, thank you! So proud of my true Eagle that once graced our skies. Sadly, long gone. Again, thank you.

really enjoyed this... my dad was a flight instructor in WWII and joined American after the war... I remember as a kid him taking me to the hangers at LaGuardia (grew up on Long Island) in the evening and getting to go thru the DC-7 as well as some of the "new" jets (707, 727) and even explore the cockpits... always loved the color scheme, simple but iconic... thanks again :)

Really enjoyable and informative presentation. Thank you!

Great video! I really enjoyed watching this.

Another great one Mike. Sadly we will soon be down to one pilot in the cockpit and dare I say eventually none? Hello HAL!

Mike, I'm really enjoying your presentations of piston airliners. I used to fly regularly on business, mostly on the Boeing 727, and after that, the Mad Dog series. Loved them all. But my first flight was in 1967, aboard a Piedmont Airlines Martin 404. Now, THAT was a plane!

thank for the Video and your Report. Best wishes from Germany

Love your videos. Great work I've built a lot of these planes so the information was great

Great video as usual, Mike. One minor clarification...the DC-7 bullet prop spinners are not a definitive indicator of a DC-7B. United's straight DC-7s were delivered without them but were retrofitted with them in the late 50s. How about a future video on United's Mainliner livery, both early and the later Raymond Loewy scheme?

Great video Mike! Having grown up next to Idlewild and early planespotter, I was witness to the arrival that Sunday Jan 25, 1959 of AAL Flight 2 LAX - JFK. And then the transition began, props to jets. Wow, what witness to aviation history and I’m still loving it at 77.

AA never should have replaced that scheme. It was clean, classic and iconic

First off great video as usual. Funny thing it made me thing of Disneyland, in Tomorrowland there was a ride called the "Astro Jets" but Disney changed the name to the "Tomorrowland Jets." in 1964 when United Airlines, as a new park sponsor for "The Enchanted Tiki Room," contended the name was free advertising for American Airlines. A few years later it was changed to the "Rocket Jets" as it just sounded better. Thanks for your time, work and posting your work for us to view.......

That L-188 Electra N6101A on the ramp at Burbank would crash at LGA shortly after delivery, I have photos of the salvage operation as my dad was part of it

Mike, I remember most of the things you have in your videos from the stick and tissue to the plastic models. The airlines different aircraft. I worked for TWA from 1962 to 1995 when I retired. I was also big into rocket models and a big fan of NASA in the 50’s and 60’s.

Wow! I just took it for granted that we could fly coast to coast regularly!

Great video,keep it up!✈✈🛩🛩🛫🛫🛬🛬🪂🪂💺💺🚁🚁🧍‍♀️

I feel fortunate to grow along with the industry. Six year old on an Electra from Tulsa to Houston unaccompanied! With a browning take down . 22 and ammo in the suitcase I carried on board. We were all safe 😉

Great content as usual. Hail Mike!

Hey Mike, actually the 727 APU is located in the wheel well. Only the exhaust is located on the right wing.

Awesome commentary. I miss seeing your drawings in print.

Great presentation. Even though we lived in Burbank, our numerous trips to SFO were always out of LAX. Western's 720s gave you a rocket ship take-off. TWA even flew the 880, along with the 707. If you flew to Phoenix, American operated the 990.

Nice selection of aircraft, especially the bi-wing. 👍🏻

Great trip in the Wayback Machine, Mike!! Cannot confirm this tidbit, but the story wandering around in the past was that the 727 APU was an afterthought which is why it was installed in the right wing root... Yes, no, maybe??

Wonderful video on AA's famous lightning stripe livery! Somewhat related here, American Airlines' international subsidiary, American Overseas Airlines (AOA), had Lockheed L-049 Constellations with the AA lightning stripe markings.

Eastern Airlines next then and their Great Silver Fleet? Love these aircraft and paint schemes....quite boring these days! 😉 ....another excellent video! 👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻🏆🥇

G'day from Australia. Loved this, it resulted in a new Sub.

Great video. In the '50's my parents flew United, but during the '60's and onward, mostly American. I remember the orange lightning bolt well, and built two 1/144th Revell 707's in that scheme. That said, I liked the follow-on red, white, and, blue stripped paint scheme just as much after it came along around '68. Wow, no APU's? Didn't know that.

Can you imagine what would happen if that Convair nacelle came unlatched in flight. What a speed brake that would make.

WOW... THAT WAS FUN !!!! THANK YOU!

Thanks for creating this video. I’ve always been fascinated that AA used orange as their signature colour from the 1930’s to the 60’s. I would think that orange would have been unusual in the 30’s.

I lived under the western outer glide slope of what is now Pittsburgh International Airport. It shared its runways with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. We called the sound of those jets flying overhead as, "The Sound Of Freedom". And, yes, they were loud. Growing up, like Mike, in the 1950's and 1960's, I too was able to see the change from pistons to jets. I can remember going outside on the roof of the main terminal at PIT to watch the airplanes load and unload. I could have sat there all day, but my parents had other plans, and usually our stay was perhaps fifteen minutes or so. You can't go out to watch airliners loading any longer, you can only watch from inside the sound-insulated terminal windows. It isn't the same, but safety and noise have taken their toll of things we thought "normal", at that time.

Just LOVE the Electra!

My Dad always told me that American Airlines paint scheme was mostly bare metal because they realized that paint adds weight and weight reduces efficiency. You were correct about what you said about the shock bodies on the Convair 990 reducing transonic drag. I also like the fact that all of that volume was used for additional fuel tanks.

Well Done!

Great video history of my former employer! I flew the 707's, 727's, A-300's and 757/767's in the course of 31 years; and my favorite airplane, of those that I actually flew, was the 757 with the original delivery scheme retro paint job from 1959. Sadly, that one got repainted at some point, but the Astrojet 737 still flies! American called their 720's 707's because, for all practical purposes, the 720 was just a hot rod version of the 707. It was formally named 720 at the behest of United Airlines, so the tale goes, because for the first few years of the jet age UAL had gone to great lengths extolling the virtues of their DC-8's and proclaiming the superiority of that airplane over the 707. By the time they bought the 720's it would have been downright awkward for them to acknowledge that the 707 was worthy of their consideration after all, so the 720 it became. AA operated both, and simply ignored the difference - only the pilots, and those few passengers who knew what you outlined here, knew for sure! The two types shared a common type rating - one of the first. As to the CV 990's speed fairings (sometimes called Kuchemann Carrots, after one of the men who discovered the area rule), they were very much an after-the-fact addition, and not part of the original design. The CV990, although it turned out to be a good airplane, was a financial disaster for Convair, which had already lost money on the 880 and was desperate for another sale to a major airline. CR Smith drove a bargain harder than any that Bob Crandall would drive decades later - he demanded a larger, faster version of the 880 powered by the then-new fan engines, indeed the first airliner to be so powered. Smith demanded and got speed guarantees, which were written into the contract along with a provision that allowed AA to unload most if not all of their DC-7's onto Convair in trade. So backed into a corner was Convair that they did not build a prototype, but started building production airplanes; and it was only at that point, when flight testing began, that it was discovered that the airplane would not meet the speed specs, not by a long shot. AA could have torn up the contract right then and there (and some argue that Convair would have lost less money had they done so), but Convair did some research and ended up adding the "speed fairings" to the airplanes. This got the speed up closer to specs and AA took delivery; but the airplane burned a lot of fuel to go that fast (even in the 10cent/gallon days this was a factor) , and it turned out that the passengers really didn't care about which airplane was technically the fastest (we're only talking minutes on the stage lengths that the 990 could handle - it was by no means a transcontinental airplane). AA flew them for a few years, and got rid of them in the mid to late 1960's as more 727's came on line. The pilots did like them, for the most part, but airlines have never based their equipment decisions on what pilots like! I just built the old Revell CV990, which is to my delight being re-issued by a modern producer, and in the process of building it I discovered from pictures that the AA 990 had a large area of the lower right fuselage forward of the leading edge of the wing painted Skydrol-resistant grey. This is a much larger area than what you see on the Boeings around things like the wheel wells and lav service panels, and I have no idea why it is there, but it is....

Nicely don!

That was verry nice..

15:19 I remember using those rear boarding stairs of the 727 when I was in Europe in 1969. Neither Tempelhof nor Frankfurt had jetways built yet. Don't recall using any 727 front self-contained stairways but may be Lufthansa just didn't use them. Also recall that the backstairs is what DB Cooper used to escape from Northwest flight a couple years later.

"Flying" magazine cover photo shot still has the USPS mail sticker on the bottom @ 05:45

Very enjoyable Mike. Alas when I flew for AA we didn’t have the ⚡️. I also flew the last 707 built; a very well engineered plane. Joe Petronnie was right!

Great vlog as always! Imagine the spare parts pin on all the jets. Mamma Mia! A Swedish charter airline ,Transair (TSA/TB) decided in 1964 to sell of all their DC-6Bs and buy 2nd hand DC-7s. They also wanted to meet the jet future, and ordred three B727-134s. I have never understood the difference between the -023 and the -123. In the spring of 67 the sales dep sent out the following: what ever you do, sell as many hours on the 727s as you can. Yes, it brand new and costs a bunch of money, but it is still cheaper to fly than the DC-7s….

As a kid, I flew on the Electra. I had my little brown suitcase with me. In the suitcase was my browning semi auto breakdown rifle. I was ready to protect everyone on board if necessary. I was very, very young, but very mature in many ways. My Dad flew A26's for Standard Oil starting in the late 40's and staying through all the name changes. Stanolin oil and gas, standard, 9-10 corp, so I had the coolest Dad in the world🤗

Enjoyable and very informative as always Mike. Just a query, the colour shot of plane shown behind the guy in that small glider at the 5:18 mark, is it not a DC2? The engine nacelles remind me of the 2.

quite a few turbo-prop airlinersoperated in USA, viscount, YS-11, ATR-42, 72, Dash 8, and CV-580 and others I didn't remember.

Great video, and info! Love the pix never seen before. Im a "Boeing" fan, but the "27" is my baby! That plane just looks like its going Mach 6 ON THE GROUND to me! Its that tail sweep! Keep them coming. I notice no one ever does anything on Continental Airlines, why is that? The "Golden Bird" has as always been my favorite as far as liverys go, until they killed the "Meatball". After that, it was all generics.!

This video was very informative. I grew up flying on 727 and 707/720 aircraft since my dad worked for AA. But I never realized in this much detail how these jets evolved because by the time I was old enough to remember flying, the modifications had already been made. I didn't know that the early 727-023 had built-in forward stairs in addition to the rear ones. Is this true as the narrator said? And like the narrator, I have always wondered why the 720 was dubbed a 707 (the 023B).

Used to ride American's BAC 111-400's many times DCA-LGA when I was a kid, My first 747 trip was Summer 1971, IAD-LAX, on AmericanMy most recent trips on AA were 737's IAD-LAX. They were a great airline back when air travel was special. Only now as a retiree senior citizen, that I dress "business casual" when traveling by air.

I remember the DC-3s and BAEs that flew into Toronto.... never saw the bigger types there....

Great video. P3 was not Americas only 4 engine turboprop transport. Lockheeds L-100 was flown in 53. Delta flew it as well!

Thank YOU for this, In 1959 we went from jets to wide bodies by 1969 and it seemed these advances would keep going to the Moon (Kubricks 2001 Space Odyssey). I’m reminded of the the SST pushback in the late 60’s with todays Euro pushback with calls to avoid air in the name of sustainability (The old “people with brains take the trains” joke). After 60+ years of jet travel are we at a crossroads and don’t realize it? Where do we go in size/propulsion as It seems we’re on a downside given todays airline experience,

An interesting side note is that all of the original American Airlines' aircraft (not purchased/leased from another airline) that were ordered from Boeing, carried the designator "23" in the model number (for example: B707-123, B727-223, B747-123, etc.). Each airline was issued its own "customer number" by Boeing, to be able to customize the aircraft to the individual airline's needs. This included galley layout, cockpit instrumentation, radio antenna placement, just to name a few). Pan Am was 21, United 22, American 23, Continental 24, TWA 31, etc. A listing of all of Boeing's customer numbers is available on-line. If you know the full model number of any Boeing aircraft, you can find out by whom it was originally ordered.

Butler aircraft operated Tanker 68 ex American DC-6 scrapped a few years ago. Still in American livery

If you ever revise this one, you could add in the 757-223 in the commemorative Mercury service lightning bolt livery.

My father worked for American Airlines from the mid 50's until the mid 1990's From age 7 to age 35, I practically lived on these airplanes. DC6, DC7, BAC111, MD70, 707, 747, 757, electras and so on. As a "non rev" flyer, I was told to wear a suit and tie on every flight and frequently got "bumped" in Buffalo or Rochester on flight between Chicago (Midway then O'Hare) and Syracuse. These days, Susan and I take United Airbus and 777s to Europe (Frankfurt, Brussels, et. al) to end in Budapest, Barcelona, Florence. for 2 month stays every year

Convair 240 was an odd duck. The passenger boarding door was on the right side @ 02:45.

Speed pods on the Convair 990s were anedoctally called “Kuckermann carrots “

I was lucky as a young boy I few from New York to LAX on an American Airlines Boeing 707 ~ My memories are as a 10 year old were the 707 postcard in the seat pocket along withe the map of the USA and also the Captain letting us all know when we flew over the grand canyon then when we landed at LAX the spider building and palm trees everywhere never seen a palm tree before I thought I was in an episode of The Jetsons ~ Great memories ~

As a kid in the 50s I use to go to LGA by subway and city bus and spend the whole day there watching aircraft and people come and go. I discovered ,one day, how to get to the approach end of runway 31. Back then there was nothing to stop you from walking to where the shore line was and following it to the end of the runway. The shore line was covered with enormous rocks and they were low enough to keep you out of sight from the airport authority. Once at the runway you could watch the the DC-7s and Connies, Electras and Convair and general aviation aircraft land right over your head. When the wind changed direction they would takeoff over you with a ground shaking roar! As long as I stayed below the raised berm between the shore and the airport I was hidden from view. One day someone on one of the planes must have noticed this kid being where he shouldn’t and told the airport cops. I could tell there was a break in the action with departures and asI peeked over the berm to see what was going on I noticed a yellow port authority car heading towards my direction. I quickly started my exit but those big boulders along the shore were difficult to negotiate without slipping and sliding all over the place. Since the grass at the top of the berm was very high I decided to climb up the berm and into the grass. As I was laying there I slowly peeked over the top of the grass and I could see the officer looking around for me where I had been. Fortunately he didn’t walk very far from the spot and gave up the search. After he left I made my way back to the terminal (the old old terminal) and as kids will do, I was convinced I was going to be picked up at any moment so I headed for home. Funny that many years later I would be working at LGA on the ramp for Mohawk Airlines and several years after that I would be making the same approach to runway 31 in twin engine Cessnas and later on in 737s for Piedmont Airlines. I guess life’s funny that way.