Just occasionally, my casual browsing dredges up something unexpected, interesting, and aviation-related.
A couple of days ago, on Saturday (October 29th) it seems that Lufthansa flew their last commercial flights using the Boeing 737. The 737 is known as ‘Bobby’ or ‘Bobby Boeing’ by Lufthansa, who were the launch customers of the type in the late 1960s. ‘Bobby’ is being replaced by what Lufthansa describes as “quieter and more fuel efficient” equipment produced by Bombardier and Embraer. Lufthansa press releases also mention the present and future line of Airbus products as replacements for ‘Bobby’ on some routes.
This Ken Fielding photo from 1972 shows a Lufthansa 737 in an early livery and, as Ken says, it’s notable for the logo of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games on the aft fuselage.
Lufthansa Boeing 737-130 D-ABEA Seen at Manchester airport (UK) on July 31st 1972.
It first flew on May 13th 1967 and was delivered to Lufthansa on April 24th 1968.
After later service in the USA and New Zealand it was scrapped in the USA in 1995.
(Photo by Ken Fielding http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Should you desire to brush up on your German, here’s a YouTube video from a group of German plane-spotters commemorating the event. Its is, as they say a slightly sad event as an original customer retires a machine that was once the backbone of its short-haul fleet This is not simply auf wiedersehen, it’s farewell, Bobby.
Rambles in the Air 