While Braniff International Airways (BI) awaited the factory delivery of several Boeing 747-227’s and 747SP-27’s for their rapidly expanding international route system (including new services across both the Atlantic and Pacific), they needed more than just their single owned “Jumbo Jet” 747-127 “N601BN.” So, ironically, they leased one in the early spring of 1978 from American Airlines (AA), the company that would be most responsible for BI’s demise four short years later. Needing to press 747-123 “N9666” into operation as quickly as possible upon delivery, Braniff decided to forego the usual solid color covering the entire fuselage and simply painted a single wide orange stripe over American’s triple stripe of red, white, and blue. They also left AA’s overall bare metal fuselage and simply added their “BI” tail logo and “Braniff international” fuselage titles to create a one-off design never seen on any other Braniff aircraft in the company’s history. Chances are the American interior was left untouched as well (although BN had installed leather seats in both coach and first class sections of N601BN by this time). BTW, N601BN was known informally inside the company as “Big Orange” since 1971. What was the nickname for partially bare-aluminum N9666, seen here at DFW, during her two-year stint with Braniff? “Big Alcoa,” of course!

https://www.koreheadset.com?sca_ref=9207681.Hp9XQi8d8qgNkpA.