Guest Contributor: Shea Oakley

Eastern Air Lines tried out a number of experimental schemes in 1964 before settling on the famous “hockey-stick” livery which endured, in one form or another, until the shut-down in 1991. This, however, is the ONLY color photograph I have ever encountered showing this design, where the lower “Ionosphere Blue” stripe diverges from the lighter “Caribbean Blue” stripe towards the front of the aircraft. When I recently discovered this Nassau, Bahamas-shot of DC-8-51 “N8781R” I actually paid to have a print made up for my own EAL collection. I suspect she was the only one of the legendary carrier’s aircraft painted up this way and this look wasn’t around for long. Eastern’s factory-delivered DC-8’s, by the way, were mostly the -21/-61/-63 variants. Four of the company’s five -51’s were second-hand aircraft. In this rare photo please also notice the lack of painted outlines for doors and emergency exits. These outlines on U.S. transport aircraft would not be mandated by the FAA until July of 1966.