Back in 1966 we flew to Alaska to visit relatives and do some good old “touristin'”.
This was our first trip by airplane, and we were lucky enough to fly on a Boeing 720. The photo on the right is our airplane as viewed from the gate window at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
The current issue of Airways Magazine has the second article of a series on airlines in Alaska. That story discusses Pacific Northern Airlines. There is an excellent color photo on page 61 of a PNA B720.
According to the article, PNA purchased 2 720s from Boeing in 1962. That means there is a 50/50 chance that the photo here is of the same airplane shown in the Airways article.
Livery color scheme was typical for the 1960s. The lower half of the aircraft was unpainted aluminum while the top half was white. A dark blue cheatline ran front to back just under the windows and over the nose. A right “speedline” (as they would have said at GM about their cards) started over the wings and ran back above the windows and up the tail. An Alaskan flag was painted at the top of the tail.
The Boeing 720 was not a famous as the B707, but that is not surprising. It was intended to be a airliner suitable for markets where the 707 was too large with more seats than necessary. The 720 was, essentially, a shortened 707. Of course, this isn’t exactly true as both the 720 and 707 had various upgrades and changes over the years. However, some people consider the 720 to be a variant of the 707.
I can’t tell you too much about the flight to Anchorage itself, except we had stuffed cabbage for dinner. Imagine that!