An Ilyushin 62, a handful of DC-8s, a 767, a few Tristars.. what in heavens name am i talkin about eh? Well, all these are/were part of the Air India fleet. Honest! I even got pics to prove it :) Did a bit of hunting on good ol' A.net and found some interesting pics of old/rare AI aircraft.
This here is the Il-62 (NATO : Classic) that was leased from Aeroflot in the late 80's. Here its seen back with the soviets, waiting full repainting into aeroflot c/s. AI had apparently evaluated Il-96s as well before deciding on 747s. If the USSR hadn't collapsed, we would perhaps have seen that sight...
And I told you we had Tristars as well :) ... i stumbled across a die cast model of an AI tristar while browsing through the IndUS Aviation store in Bangalore, and did a bit more of research on them. I could find only two registrations, V2-LEJ and V2 LEK. V2 is for Antigua, btw, and VT is India. It sure is a beautiful airplane.
This is a Boeing 767 that AI has on its rolls right now. It has been leased from flyglobespan UK, and has a British registration. Its not gonna be around for long, and should go back by the time the brand spankin new 777s start rolling in from Seattle. This aircraft is sporting the unfinished new livery, which is being changed for the third time now to integrate elements from the Indian livery since the two airlines are going to be merged in
July.
And these DC-8s used to operate with AI cargo in the late seventies and 80s. Apparently they had both the low-bypass-engined DC-8-63s as well as the high-bypass-engined DC-8-73. I don't know exactly how many they have operated, but all the ones I found pictures of were leased aircraft. AI cargo started out with DC-3s but i havent found any pics of those.
This wasn't exactly a rare bird in its time, but then not many people know that AI used to operate Lockheed L-1049G constellations. These curvaceous tri-tailed beauties were all named after various queens in Indian history, like the Rani of Jhansi for instance. 
Speaking of unusual AI birds, I might as well add this one to the list. This is one of AI's leased A310s. This particular aircraft had been leased from CSA Czech airlines for a year and sported a livery that was a hybrid between AI and CSA. An AI A310 was the first fixed wing aircraft i ever flew in, and i'll probably write about that flight later :)
And why is this brand new 772 unusual you ask? Well, its unusual because this livery is probably never going to be used. The new livery will not have the centaur logo of AI, it will have an orange konark wheel instead on the tail and the engine nacelles, while maintaining the same red on the ivory base. The new airline would be named Air India.
N.B.- The pics are blatantly copied from Airliners.net ... hope they dont sue me or anything :P
This here is the Il-62 (NATO : Classic) that was leased from Aeroflot in the late 80's. Here its seen back with the soviets, waiting full repainting into aeroflot c/s. AI had apparently evaluated Il-96s as well before deciding on 747s. If the USSR hadn't collapsed, we would perhaps have seen that sight...
And I told you we had Tristars as well :) ... i stumbled across a die cast model of an AI tristar while browsing through the IndUS Aviation store in Bangalore, and did a bit more of research on them. I could find only two registrations, V2-LEJ and V2 LEK. V2 is for Antigua, btw, and VT is India. It sure is a beautiful airplane.
This is a Boeing 767 that AI has on its rolls right now. It has been leased from flyglobespan UK, and has a British registration. Its not gonna be around for long, and should go back by the time the brand spankin new 777s start rolling in from Seattle. This aircraft is sporting the unfinished new livery, which is being changed for the third time now to integrate elements from the Indian livery since the two airlines are going to be merged inJuly.
And these DC-8s used to operate with AI cargo in the late seventies and 80s. Apparently they had both the low-bypass-engined DC-8-63s as well as the high-bypass-engined DC-8-73. I don't know exactly how many they have operated, but all the ones I found pictures of were leased aircraft. AI cargo started out with DC-3s but i havent found any pics of those.
This wasn't exactly a rare bird in its time, but then not many people know that AI used to operate Lockheed L-1049G constellations. These curvaceous tri-tailed beauties were all named after various queens in Indian history, like the Rani of Jhansi for instance. 
Speaking of unusual AI birds, I might as well add this one to the list. This is one of AI's leased A310s. This particular aircraft had been leased from CSA Czech airlines for a year and sported a livery that was a hybrid between AI and CSA. An AI A310 was the first fixed wing aircraft i ever flew in, and i'll probably write about that flight later :)
And why is this brand new 772 unusual you ask? Well, its unusual because this livery is probably never going to be used. The new livery will not have the centaur logo of AI, it will have an orange konark wheel instead on the tail and the engine nacelles, while maintaining the same red on the ivory base. The new airline would be named Air India.N.B.- The pics are blatantly copied from Airliners.net ... hope they dont sue me or anything :P
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