VARIG was the first airline founded in Brazil, more than 90 years ago, in 1927, until it (actually the "new" Varig, a component of the (broken-up) original Varig) finally merged with GOL in 2006. So, these two airlines span the spectrum of Brazilian aviation for a full century. The (GOL) company's name is native version of the English word "Goal" (as in football/soccer).

VARIG was founded on 7 May 1927 in Porto Alegre, by Otto Ernst Meyer-Labastille, a German aviator, who had immigrated to Brazil in 1921. The first aircraft of VARIG was a ten-passenger Dornier Do J Wal flying boat (see the first image below). The actual aircraft, named Atlântico, was also the first aircraft ever registered in Brazil. Operations started on 22 June 1927 with a flight from Porto Alegre (SBPA) to Rio Grande (SBRG). Those days, during the infancy of many Airlines (especially in South America), use of flying boats were common, because such aircraft could follow water pathways, that could afford emergency landing facility.

On 5 August 1942, Varig began its first international route from Porto Alegre to Montevideo using its de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide. At the end of WW I, a decision was made to unify the fleet around only one type of aircraft, and the chosen one was the Lockheed L-10 Electra (imagine a time, when the L-10 was considered a flagship airliner of choice!). In 1946, the (versatile) DC-3 joined Varig's fleet greatly enhancing its network (see image of Varig's DC-3). The "true" international flight (Rio de Janeiro to New York) was accomplished, on 2 August 1955, by one of the three Lockheed L-1049Gs (an image shown below). The Constellations helped build a "cosmopolitan" corporate image (and reputation) into the Airline. Ten years later, in 1965, Varig started service to European cities...and so on...the momentum continued till year 2000...In 2005, faced with financial challenges, the airline would be split in two different entities, informally known as "old" Varig and "new" Varig. In 2008, its (original) call-sign Varig ceased to exist. And, the "new" Varig would be eventually integrated into GOL Airlines.

During its long lifetime, Varig operated diverse kinds of props and jets! Please see a sample of its historic aircraft below. Also, to symbolize the transition from VARIG to GOL, I've fallen back to one of my most favorite (and most complete) SIM packages (the iFly 737NG), which contains the (600/700/800/900/BBJ) variants - only the 700 variant being flown/shown in the images below. And, to honor the ORIG/DEST airports of Varig's very first flight, back on 22 June 1927, find, here, few images each of VARIG B737-700 lifting off from Rio Grande (SBRG) and GOL B737-700 touching down at Porto Alegre (SBPA). Hope you enjoy these pictures and this account of the famous flagship carrier (marked by its elegant logo, the golden compass)! Thanks for reading/viewing and comments/thoughts are welcome. [Various (PW/FW) Aircraft / iFly / REX]

[Aircraft shown in order: (1) Dornier Do J Wal (2) B707-300 (3) MD-11 (4) B727-100 (5) A300B4-200 (6) Douglas DC-3 (7) Lockheed L-188 Electra (8) Lockheed L-1049G (9) DC-10-30 (10) B747-300 (11-20) B737-700]

Informative and enjoyable post! Lots to like about sim flying in Brazil.

John

***Excellent*** I wasn't aware of their long history,Another Superb Post,Thank You!

Folks: Thanks for the reactions.

John, Patrick: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed...! [Happy Super Bowl Sunday...Hope your team wins...🙂...!]

And, as I'd indicated on Steve's (other) post, this account of mine was triggered by the sight of the (B2B) Baby Boeing images of (GOL/VARIG) there...

In aviation, the demise of any historic (and long-standing) Airline is always fascinating made up of financial, political, and corporate factors....Here, VARIG/TAM/GOL fought for survival in a market that simply could not sustain all three...something had to give, and that was "VARIG"...[Glad, though, SIM offers us a chance to fly such iconic airlines in the virtual sky, as long as our painters come up with planes for us to fly...🙂..]

[BTW, John, Yes, I'm waiting to see what MFS2020 brings to South America in terms of (default) scenery...so we can fly more realistically over such (highly) interesting regions..(usually not adequately represented in the SIM)...]

[Note to Steve: Steve, FYI, on the iFly 737NG (F1) Library, while searching, this week, for these two repaints, I think, I saw (450+) 737 repaints!! Of course, these are for (600->900) models, still, quite amazing work by the painters there...]