„Specials“ like governmental, nowadays rare or nicely painted aircrafts. Here you will find them…
Government Aircrafts - Regierungsflugzeuge
On July 15, 1910, the Bulgarian monarch Ferdinand I was the first government leader to fly to Belgium in his own plane. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George flew across the English Channel in an Airco DH.4 for the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. It was the British monarch who was to receive the first two government aircraft – Westland Wapitis – as official government aircraft and thus air transports in 1928. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first American president to fly in a Dixie Clipper and a Pan Am crew to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco in 1943. The first “government aircraft” for the President was then a Consolidated C-87 Liberal Express with the registration 41-24159, which was converted in 1943 and replaced by a Douglas C-54 Skymaster (VC-54C) with the nickname “Sacket Dow” and already had a sleeping alcove and a radio telephone on board.
Like all airplanes, government aircraft became larger and larger and – unlike today’s airline trend – more and more comfortable.
Special liveries - Sonderlackierungen
Once again, it was the United States of America. The first special aircraft livery appeared in 1976 to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of the USA. Overseas National Airways did not paint two of its aircraft with the usual livery and marked them with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the USA. Western Pacific immediately leased all of its aircraft to advertising customers willing to pay. This was soon followed by numerous special liveries for airlines around the globe.
Business Jets - Geschäftsflugzeuge
In the 1950s, William P. Lear converted a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar into a Learstar business aircraft. The idea was born that business travelers would no longer travel on scheduled flights. In 1963, the Learjet 23 appeared on the market as a twin-engine business aircraft with 4 passenger seats, which was widely imitated. Today, small, medium and large aircraft with varying degrees of luxury carry business travelers around the world.
