Shipbucket

Nice work on the 727s, but I feel like leaving the engine white or silver will look better than having the cheatline cut through it.

FANTASTIC work BB old chap... Jolly GOOD show old boy

I really can't wait to see more please

_________________
https://discord.gg/5PHq8Dk
My artwork is posted here: https://www.deviantart.com/adenandy/gallery/all

Nice, but I have concern for the rate at which the early jets (DC-8s specifically) get turned over and replaced. I would think that transitioning them to long and thin international routes would be a better choice.

_________________
𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐍𝐄𝐓- 𝑻𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆

I made a try and you are right, having the engine all white looks better, I've already edited it.
Understandable and reasonable, but what I'm doing with Koutei Koku is not necessarily wrong. All three major Japanese airlines (ANA, JAS and JAL) retired their 727-100s in 1973-1976 (only JAL kept two of them up to the late 80s). Japan Airlines retired the DC-8-30 in 1975 and the -50s in the early80s. Delta Airlines retired it's DC-8-30s in 1973 and its -50s in 1981. PAN-AM retired its -30s as early as 1970 (and its 707-120s in 1974), Continental retired its 707-320s in 1973. Estern retired all its DC-8s by 1977 and Northwest its 707-320 by 1978.
Significative exceptions were United, TWA and American, which kept their early DC-8s and 707-120s well into the 80s.

_________________
My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

I read the history of these early jets in Koutei Koku service and it seems that is very possible to retired because of fatique. Koko is a fairly small country (only ~228,600 sq.km) with large population (like Japan). So I believe that domestic flights were (and are) very often and aircraft in domestic routes pass many full circles-take off/climb/travel/approach/landing-, therefore these aircraft, already with several thousand flying hours on their wings simply worn out quickly in domestic routes.

More than the high takeoff-landing cycles the main thing for early jets revolves around capacity on domestic routes as population and air travel increases. That's why the DC-8-10s and 727-100s goes off quite early (DC-8-10s, got 12 years of service each and the 727-100s as low as 7/8). The replacement of the smaller 727-100s with larger -200s is covered in the type accompaining text, the Douglas are replaced by the 747. I've looked to what the major Japanese Airlines did with their planes to guess what Koutei Koku might have done as well.
The other DC-8s are in the international fleet and are less subjected to this issue. Overall, the only "early" retirement is that of the -30s (averaging 13-14 years of service each), but it involves 9 planes, and it's still in line with the retirement years of similar models on many other airlines. Of the 35 units of the -50 and -62 series, most do serve for 20 to 22 years, which I believe is a fairly normal service time for such machines.

_________________
My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

Yes, exactly as I thought it. Perhaps the DC-8-62 could serve a little more, but indeed 20-22 years is a reasonable service time.

NAMC YS-11:

From 1966 to 1971 Koutei Koku recieved twenty-eight Japanese-built NAMC YS-11 turboprops, which replaced the Convair-440s domestically and utlimately the Fokker-27s as well. The aicrafts were an array of eight YS-100 (1966-67), fourteen YS-11A-200 (1967-70) and six YS-11A-500 (1970-71), the -200 and -500 being an higher-gross-weight version of the standard model. They served feeder and regional routes to smaller airports both in the north and south islands of the Kokoan Archipelago (like Hamashiro, Nadayoko, Mizushimo and Fuyustuki). Over their long service life, they saw two livery changes and suffered two hull losses, in 1980 and 1990 (one undershoot the runway, the other made a belly-landing after an hydraulic failure of the undercarriage). Yet, the only fatal event involving the YS in Koutei Koku service did not led to the loss of the aircraft. On November 14th 1977, an A-200 model suffered an engine failure during a flight between Hokuto and Mizushimo, one of the propellers disintegrated. Shrapnels from the engines and propellers cut into the fuselage, killing two and injuring six, but the pilots were able to land the plane safely. To date, this is the las event which resulted in passenger fatalities in the history of the airline. The plane involved was later repaired and returned to service, flying with Koutei colours until 1991. The YS-100 were retired 1975 and 1977 and sold to smaller airlines, replaced by 737-200s on more trafficked routes. The other models served well into the 90s, with the -200 retired between 1992 and 1997 and replaced by the DHC-8-300. Retirement of the six -500s started in 2001 with the replacement beign the DHC-8-400. The last YS-11 left the fleet in February 2003, ending 37 years of service of the type with Koutei Koku.

_________________
My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

Boeing 737:

The 737 is the oldest aircraft type still in service with Koutei Koku, predating the 747s by a year, with 58 airframes owned by the airline at various times. Consisting of ten 737-200, eight 737-300 and forty 737-800s.

Six 737-200s were delivered in 1969-71 to serve domestic routes to small and unimproved airports that needed a bit more capacity than the NAMC YS-11. For the second time in a few years, the airline choose a Boeing product over the Douglas DC-9. This time no favourable deals or earlier avaliability was involved, Koutei just Choose the 737s longer range and higher payload. A second batch of two planes was delivered in 1975, with another two following a few years later, so that by 1979 there were ten in service. During their service there were no serious occurrences. One airframe was retired in 1992, another four in 1997-98 and the last five between 2001 and 2002.


Between 1988 and 1990 eight 737-300 were delivered to replace the older 727-200s on domestic routes. Reliable like the other 737s they remained in the fleet until 2009, when six were retired while newer 737-800s entered service. Two airframes were retained for charter flights and ultimately withdrawn in 2013.


Last 737 type to join the fleet, the 737-800 was ordered in 2005 with a remarkable 40-aircraft deal with Boeing. Recieved between 2007 and 2016, they expand medium-range thin routes both on the domestic and international market wherever capacity is too small for the A330, 777 or 747 and they also replace some of the older A320 in the fleet. They serve business-oriented domestic routes as well as flights to Sapporo and Narita, Guam, Honolulu and even Anchorage with an all business class configuration. They are slated to serve well into the 2020s but things might change if, as rumored, Koutei Koku does end up ordering Airbus A321-NeoLR in 2018. In this eventuality other rumors says the -800s might be exploited to form a low-cost subsidiary. Nothing is official yet.

_________________
My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

Good work.