April 3, 20215 yr [Note: This post is motivated by the sighting, this week, of a DC-3/C-47 repaint, in the "Old" Frontier livery. If you're curious about this bit of history, please review this text or/and you may jump (directly) to the 727 images, below.] Most of us are well-familiar with those (remarkably) striking pictures of animals, adorning the Tails of the "New" Frontier Airlines fleet. I read today, "We are happy to welcome our newest members to the Frontier family: Francie the Piping Plover, Crystal the Florida Manatee, and Hudson the Bog Turtle."...sounds "cute" and interesting...! I clearly recall, while in Chicago, having travelled, once or twice, in Frontier (Airbus) planes, around the time, they made O'Hare a focus-city of their route network (Frontier is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the locale of my pictures, below). I must qualify, here, my use of "New" and "Old" for Frontier, because, though, I've been aware of Frontier Airlines, I was not aware that the "Old" and "New" Frontiers, were actually two separate entities, and, moreover, there was a discontinuity, in the timelines of their operations. "Old Frontier Airlines" had lasted from 1950- to 1986, while the (current) Frontier was incorporated in 1994. It's easier to locate the "Old" Frontier, via on-line search, by looking for "old frontier airlines" or "original frontier airlines", nonetheless, it has quite a fascinating history of its own, "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN", as proudly proclaimed, on their websites. Of course, there is a connection between the two Frontiers (see next), besides the fact that both had their roots in Denver, CO, and operated out of the same city, as their headquarters. In 1993, the three founders of the (current) Frontier Airlines, had proposed a charter airline named AeroDenver Travel Services,...and, to run the company they brought the ex-CEO of the original Frontier Airlines, as CEO of the new Frontier Airlines, with the proposed (new) airline pivoted to fill regional routes..., so, the new Frontier was founded eight years, after the ceasing of original Frontier, adopting the (same/original) name. Frontier began scheduled flights in 1994, using B737-200s (to be later replaced by A320s, which, I'd the chance to travel on). The focus of this post and the images below, are, however, about the "Old Frontier Airlines". This Frontier Airlines dates back to 1946, when (one of its original roots) Monarch Air Lines began service (see MAP below) in the Four Corners states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Frontier served cities in the Rocky Mountains bounded by Salt Lake City to the west, Billings to the north, Denver to the east, and Phoenix / El Paso to the south. I've indicated these four corner cities, in my MAP. In May 1958, Frontier was flying to 40 airports (around the Rockies); two years later it flew to 69 cities/towns...many of which had never before seen an airline... Although the (then ubiquitous) DC-3s were the staple of its (historic) fleet, the airline entered the jet age with new Boeing 727-100s in 1966. Imagine the excitement...🙂...The Boeing trijet was called the "Arrow-Jet" by the airline. The Boeing 727-200 variant (see images below) became part of the fleet in 1968. The final Frontier logo, a stylized (and curious looking) "F", seen also in my images below, was created and introduced in 1978. For this post, as I looked for a 727 (Frontier) repaint, I came across an interesting (combo) paint, (thanks to a Painter, who was way ahead of me, in terms of thinking about the "old" Frontier), and, we note, the 727s were, of course, long gone, by the time, "new" Frontier was born. The (727) pictures, you see below, belong to "Frontier Horizon", which was created by Frontier, in January 1984, as a wholly owned "airline within an airline". Unfortunately, due to multiple (business) factors, this short-lived 727 based low-cost subsidiary, ceased operations, just about a year later, in April 1985, so this livery is, kind of, special. And, the "Old" Frontier, too, would cease to exist, one more year later, in 1986. Regarding the subject-plane of this post, the 727 trijet never seems to lose its (nostalgic) appeal for me. Today, during my (virtual) flight, I was looking around the [VC] and the externals, a bit, and, noticed several items, that caught my attention, indicative of this era of aviation. Here is a short list, many of which, someone (like me) who had never a chance to be closely involved with such (classic) planes, may find curious...you may spot these items, in my images, below: The partially obliterated "NO LIQUIDS PLEASE" signs, on either side, in the front flightdeck, far cry from the collapsible "tray-tables" of (some) of the modern airplanes....🙂... The "CATEGORY II" sign, proudly displayed, in its own special receptacle, fastened by two screws, on the glare-shield. On the record, HS Trident was the first to be certified for CAT II, in February 1968, and, interestingly, the 727-200 variant (shown below) had received FAA certification, just 3 months earlier, in November 1967. The "QUIET WING SYSTEM INSTALLED" sign, at bottom LHS of the Captain side HSI. I read, "The Quiet Wing Corporation originally developed, certified and patented a unique flap modification on the B727 series aircraft. The new aerodynamics of the wing is matched to a corresponding modification of the flap settings...", that gave the aircraft several (performance) benefits. The (convenient and clear) "VOR/LOC"/"GLIDESLOPE"/"MDA" annunciations, (all lit-up in one (close-up) final approach shot, below), just above the Captain side Altimeter. I also found curious, the (full) row of black Light Rheostat knobs, at the bottom edge of the overhead panel (see image), and, in the SIM, they are fun to turn (CW) "on", one-by-one, with a flick, each, of the mouse-wheel. It appears, though, these Rheostats disappeared from the (later) B737 overhead panel. The massive flaps and slats (see images) were clearly B727's novelty. In the modern age, airplane manufacturers use very complex software and Computer Aided Design (CAD) to test and build wings/flaps for planes like the B787 and A350, but these advanced tools were non-existent back in those early days, the only tools been slide-rules, blue-prints and wind-tunnels. That makes the (innovative) triple-slotted flaps on the Boeing 727 quite amazing, and, they proved super efficient for short-field-operations (if one could stand the "noise" and "smoke", of course,...🙂...). So, I hope, you enjoy this account and these pictures, below, of this classic trijet, in this curious, little-known, "Frontier Horizon" paint scheme, flying, here, on a short (test) circuit at KDEN/Denver, where the "Old" Frontier B727, must have lifted-off and touched-down, innumerable times, in its heyday...(here, symbolically, I've lifted off from Rwy 34R, and landed back on Rwy 16L). Thanks for your interest and good flying...! And Happy Easter...!! [CS(B727-200)] Edited April 3, 20215 yr by P_7878
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