Guest Contributor: Shea Oakley

"Ann"
National Airlines (1st) Boeing 727-35 N4614 (msn 18815) MIA (Jacques Guillem Collection). Image: 966039.

National Airlines possessed one of the more striking and expessive liveries of the late 1960’s and 1970’s. The orange and yellow stripes and “Sun King” logo (in my opinion one of the best ever designed for an airline) made it crystal clear that NAL was very much “Florida’s Own Airline,” based in Miami for many years before arch-competitor Eastern moved its corporate headquarters there in 1975. Late in 1971 National launched its famous (or, for some, infamous) “Fly Me” advertising campaign which included virtually every NAL aircraft receiving a female name painted somewhere near their jet’s forward passenger loading doors. Boeing 727-25 “N4614” was no exception, being christened “Ann.” This practice continued until 1977 when “Fly Me” was finally replaced by “Watch us Shine” as the offical corporate slogan and by 1979 most, if not all, of the names had been removed. This photograph depicts Ann at Miami, possibly undergoing some line maintenance, and looking like she has just received a repaint. Time is unknown, but it is quite possible this image dates to the period shortly after “Fly Me” ads began appearing in October of 1971. N4614 continued to fly National’s domestic routes until the airline’s ill-fated merger with Pan American in January of 1980. At that time the Boeing trijet received a new name: “Clipper Reporter.” After passing through periods of ownership by several other operators the 727 was reported as being scrapped in Ottawa, Ontario in 1995.