Alaska Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 727 in 1966 to replace its first jet, a Convair CV-880 (though there was a single 727-100 leased from Eastern in 1965). Twenty-eight 727-100s were operated at various times by Alaska between 1965 and early 1990s. The last Alaska 727-100s were used to support oil exploration in Alaska. The model depicted here shows a smiling Eskimo on the tail- the first Eskimo tail made its debut in 1973 as part of the four Alaskana or Icon Tails- there were four tails- an Eskimo, a Prospector, Onion Domes (referring to Alaska’s Russian heritage) and a Totem Pole. The Eskimo tail stayed on as the airline’s standard tail design but in 1976 a subtle tweak to the tail design had the Eskimo smiling as he does to this day on Alaska’s jets. This particular model is one of the -100 late comers to Alaska’s fleet, N7829A. Originally flew for Braniff International, the Mexicana, then AeroTal in Colombia before it was picked up by Alaska in 1987 and retired in 1992. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #airlines #planeporn #TheChickenport (follow this tag to see more of my collection) #airlines #aerosanctuary #Boeing #727 #N7829A #Alaska #AlaskaAir #400Scale #Aeroclassics #instaaviation #aviationlovers #aviationphotography #flight #Avgeekery #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge
