The Complete Hughes Airwest Livery History (1941-1980)

[JJ Skippy]

Hello everyone: Livery History threads are back and we have a more comprehensive one to take a look at. This thread we’ll be looking at Hughes Airwest along with its predecessors, going through their full history. Due to the amount of pictures, this will be spilt across a few posts.


SECTION I - West Coast Airlines (1941-1968)

West Coast Airlines began operations in 1941. As with most airlines for the time they would operate the Douglas DC-3, of which were named Scenicliners. Several different liveries existed for the type, so they will be presented below, starting with this bare-metal livery:









In 1958, West Coast acquired the F-27, the first US local service airline to do so. They originally wore this WCA livery but would adopt the livery shown on the last DC-3 picture above.




The only jets operated by West Coast was the Douglas DC-9.

 

[JJ Skippy]

SECTION II - Southwest Airways/Pacific Air Lines (1946-1968)

Pacific Air Lines was founded in 1941 and began operations in 1946 as Southwest Airways. They began their operations with the DC-3 and flew mainly within California. Unfortunately there aren’t any color photos; here’s one of their DC-3s in 1949:


A modified livery was introduced sometime in the 1950s as shown by this DC-3 at SFO:


Southwest Airways picked up their first Martin 2-0-2s in 1952.

In 1958, they rebranded to Pacific Air Lines and added the larger Martin 4-0-4 to their fleet. There are a couple different variations of this livery that I found; one has “Four-O-Four” titles on the tail underneath the PACIFIC titles and cheatline, another has a blank tail with a “404” decal underneath the cockpit windows, and another had a small Pacific Air Lines logo behind the passenger window line. Overall there are quite a few variations but I’d figured it was worth a mention.


Their first F-27s joined the fleet not long after.

In the airline’s final few years, they would operate the Boeing 727-100, the only jet for their existence. A new blue cheatline livery was introduced for the type.

 

[JJ Skippy]

SECTION III - Bonanza Air Lines (1945-1968)

Bonanza Air Lines began operations in 1945, based out of Las Vegas. They used the DC-3 after starting out with Cessna T-50s. Most of Bonanza’s existence saw one standard livery, though there was another I found in this low-res image:



This orange livery was adopted by the 1950s, and was subsequently used on their F-27s and DC-9s. The F-27s became known as Silver Darts, while the DC-9s were known as Funjets.






Funjet titles were applied to some DC-9s.

 

[JJ Skippy]

SECTION IV - Air West/Hughes Airwest (1968-1980)

In 1968, all three airlines merged to form Air West. All the types shown above would wear Air West colors, including the DC-3, which had a West Coast hybrid:


The rest of the livery was white with an anti-glare shield and AIR WEST titles up near the front. Colored tails were applied and each aircraft had a different colored tail.



One DC-9-30 (N9333) had been ordered and built for Bonanza before the merger; it was subsequently delivered to Air West.



Following Howard Hughes’ purchase of the airline in 1968, which was completed two years later, the airline was rebranded to Hughes Airwest by 1971. They unveiled a bright and bold yellow livery which was applied across the fleet.


Some aircraft only had the logo painted on the tail while the rest was left bare metal. Another variation does exist without the black nose.


Hughes Airwest was bought out by Republic in 1980, which significantly expanded their network into the western US. Due to financial struggles, most of the Hughes Airwest part of the network was dismantled shortly after. Hope you enjoyed!

 

[Purpleplane]

Very informative. Well done.

 

[Mikeymag]

SECTION III - Bonanza Air Lines (1945-1968)

Bonanza Air Lines began operations in 1945, based out of Las Vegas. They used the DC-3 after starting out with Cessna T-50s. Most of Bonanza’s existence saw one standard livery, though there was another I found in this low-res image:

View attachment 21643

This orange livery was adopted by the 1950s, and was subsequently used on their F-27s and DC-9s. The F-27s became known as Silver Darts, while the DC-9s were known as Funjets.
View attachment 21647

View attachment 21645

View attachment 21644

Funjet titles were applied to some DC-9s.
View attachment 21646

Bonanza used to fly to my home airport of YUM back in those days with the DC-3 and F-27.

 

[Mikeymag]

SECTION IV - Air West/Hughes Airwest (1968-1980)

In 1968, all three airlines merged to form Air West. All the types shown above would wear Air West colors, including the DC-3, which had a West Coast hybrid:
View attachment 21654

The rest of the livery was white with an anti-glare shield and AIR WEST titles up near the front. Colored tails were applied and each aircraft had a different colored tail.
View attachment 21655
View attachment 21653

One DC-9-30 (N9333) had been ordered and built for Bonanza before the merger; it was subsequently delivered to Air West.
View attachment 21657
View attachment 21656

Following Howard Hughes’ purchase of the airline in 1968, which was completed two years later, the airline was rebranded to Hughes Airwest by 1971. They unveiled a bright and bold yellow livery which was applied across the fleet.
View attachment 21659

Some aircraft only had the logo painted on the tail while the rest was left bare metal. Another variation does exist without the black nose.
View attachment 21658

Hughes Airwest was bought out by Republic in 1980, which significantly expanded their network into the western US. Due to financial struggles, most of the Hughes Airwest part of the network was dismantled shortly after. Hope you enjoyed!

Hughes Airwest continued with F-27 service to YUM.

 

[Aviation Enjoyer]

Bonanza used to fly to my home airport of YUM back in those days with the DC-3 and F-27.

Sounds YUM for plane spotting back then.

 

[LeoMuse747]

Lovely insight about these classic airlines.
I like the Pacific Air Lines livery on the 727. The absence of a polished belly and black antiglare shield makes it look quite modern and sleek, looking like a 1980s livery instead of late 1960s!

The Air West livery also looks very fresh and modern on the 727 and DC-9. I guess they were also one of the firsts to use an Eurowhite scheme instead of cheatlines back in the days. The flying bananas of Hughes Airwest are also beautiful things.