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N920RW Northwest
DC-9-31
NWA FLAG TAG!
You know you want it!
Soldout fast like all things PT
TheMcDonnell Douglas DC-9 – a true icon in the history of aviation, has left anundeniable legacy on the industry
It washere that DC-9-31 N920RW served out 19 of its 37 year career before retirementin 2005, and man was it tired
#47163first took flight on 12th January1968 and forged a career spanning decades outlasting many who flew, crewed,maintained, loaded, cleaned and most importantly - those who managed theorganisations it operated for, providing quality examples of leadership with a relevanceextending far beyond the boundaries of aviation. We can thank these wonderfulstewards of aviation for establishing the high bar of modern aviationmanagement we witness today. Bravo to the managers
Acareer starter was as N8940E with Eastern Air Lines from February 1968. A solidfoundation established by Rikenbacker, MacIntyre and Hall forged an airlinewhich took no reservations, offered no tickets and took cash payments forcarriage enroute
When aservice reached capacity, additional demand would simply be met with another aircraftrolling out of the magic hangar to tranship them
Crazy stuff!
It wasall too good to be true for #47163 and in 1977it was re-registered as N920RW for San Fran’s Hughes Airwest, a side hustle ledby a charismatic fellow who needs no introduction
As acontrast, in September 1979 Air Worst ticket agents, reservationhandlers and the all-important office workers walked out due to a lack of contractualcommitment by their employer. This effectively grounded the airline for twomonths. Flights resumed in Movember but the damage had been done – Airwest wasnow a takeover target for the next cycle of management excellence
Nextit was Republic Airlines – a JCL who formed in July 1979 as a conglomeratebetween North Central Airlines and Southern Airways, who acquired Airwest on 1st October 1980 for theprincely sum of $38.5M. This mob were serious DC-9 players with the biggestfleet in the whole world
CEOHerman the Duck made sure that Phoenix services were curtailed partly in spite(it was a former Hughes hub after all) and less importantly, citing an inability tocompete with non-unionised airlines operating out of Sky Harbour. Herman went on tototally dismantle Airwest’sextensive former western route network
Itreally was the ducks trainset
Republicwent on to do a lot of downsizin’ with the exception of North Central’s Detroitand Minneapolis and Southern’s Memphis hubs
Hermanfor President
Littleol’ #47163 maintained its rego but finally got a Dulux overhaul in October 1986 when Northwest OrientAirlines launched a takeover offer of Republic. Northwest dates back to September 1926 when Colonel Brittin had asoft spot for flying the mail out of Detroit in open-cockpit biplanes for the USPost. They eventually started taking passengers in 1927 and the following year MinneapolisDick Lilly got on board, probably with a view to getting a piece of the Spoils Conference action and the sweet purseof government funding to be had on postal routes whereby top airline executivesdivvied up route access to squeeze out smaller players from competing
The AirMail Scandal of 1933 brought an end to this boys club enacting punitive measuresagainst executives who were a part of such secret societies. Surely this wouldn’t happenthese days, would it Alan? To cleanse and distance itself from this nepotism, Northwest Airways became Airlines
A coupleof wars, new alliances, filing for chapter 11,more takeovers, pandemics
MGMT101- never waste a good crisis
Butwait – what about little #47163 you say?
Well,after accumulating 96,653 flight hours N920RW retired to Pinal Airpark on21st September 2005
Itwould somehow appear that it made its way to the Mojave Air and Space Port sometime in2015…
Nowyou could hold a little piece of him/her/it in your hands
You could even attach it to your keys heaven foroffer, whatever gets you through the night
Justdon’t spend your evenings counting Planefetti
HappyTagFest 4 Y’all!
Rememberthis before you go – next time you’re hanging out around your local airport precinctand you spot a management type (or the equally valued aviation office worker) allpuffy chested with ASIC swinging on a corporate lanyard proudly on display for all tosee while lining up for donuts, give them a subtle nod and a wink
Maybe even strike up a conversation and introduce them to Planetags
These people keep the industry in check. They are the cogs of the machine that is aviation, yet they may just not quite know where their next adventure lie$…
Encourage them so that the legacy may continue
Pleasebear in mind that pricing is in AUD
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR$
Checkout the exchange rate at your leisure
