Updated: Airline Livery of the Week: I don’t know — you tell me

By David Parker Brown

14 Aug2011

What airline or charter company or private person does this orange livery belong to? Photo by JL Johnson. Click for larger.

I have a mystery for you. Who owns/owned this orange Boeing 737 that was sitting in Wichita Kansas on August 6th? This was taken and sent by reader JL Johnson who was hoping I could help, but I am not familiar with the livery and we didn’t get any hits via Twitter. From JL:

“What we did see was a KC-135 running touch-and-go maneuvers and these three unidentified planes. As best I can tell they are on the Spirit tarmac although it is possible they may be on Boeing or even McConnell AFB property. To be honest I’m not sure where one ends and the other begins. In any case these were on the east side of Oliver street. Google and other searches yield no results for any of the planes listed. We were particularly interested in the tan 737 because of its unique livery. It appears that it has an N-number that begins with a 2 followed by what might be 9. The pictures were taken on August 6 just before 4 PM local time as indicated by the exif.”

I am hoping you fine folks can give us a hand. Yes, the photo isn’t going to win any awards, but this was the best angle to get the shot. Any ideas or information, please leave in the comments.

If you ever run across an airline livery you are not sure of, let me know and if I am not sure what it is, we can work together to find out!

Here is N29SW in better days with a bright orange livery. Photo by Paul Kanagie.

UPDATE: Although many folks have helped track down this plane, I have to give uber kudos to @t0eknee who got the answer in a matter of minutes. This plane is N29SW, a Boeing 737-200 that was first with Southwest Airlines, then sold to Ryan International Airlines. At one time the aircraft actually had a very bright orange livery, but today it is a bit more faded. The 737-200 now belongs to the Kansas Aviation Museum, where 80% of the original plane was built.

UPDATE2: Got an email from Jim Armstrong giving a bit more information on the other two planes: “The shiny one toward the left is a Boeing B-47E model, one of a very few left in existence. The tall dark tail aircraft toward the right is a Boeing B-52, probably a “D” model. Having grown up in Wichita from 1950 to 1962, I’m pretty familiar with both aircraft.”

David Parker Brown

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & FOUNDER - SEATTLE, WA. David has written, consulted, and presented on multiple topics relating to airlines and travel since 2008. He has been quoted and written for a number of news organizations, including BBC, CNN, NBC News, Bloomberg, and others. He is passionate about sharing the complexities, the benefits, and the fun stuff of the airline business. Email me: david@airlinereporter.com

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