When I was a kid, I was given a model Boeing 737-200 to put together. You know the kind, you glue all the pieces together, paint it, and then you have something looking a bit like an aeroplane. In my kit were decals for Ansett Airlines of Australia and All Nippon Airways of Japan.
The latter intrigued me for two reasons. First of all, they seemed to have a stripe along the roof of the aircraft, which I found unusual. Next, the ANA tail logo was completely baffling to me.
That ANA Tail Logo
ANA was originally called Nippon Helicopter and Aeroplane, which is why its IATA two letter airline code is NH. The livery at the top of this post featuring the interesting tail art was introduced in 1969 and is called “Mohican Blue”.
When considering the decals for my model, I just couldn’t work it out. Was it something that flew? Perhaps some kind of mutant Japanese bird? Or maybe it was a really weird caricature of the founder of the airline? You can see it close up below. What do you think?
Frequent flyers also see this logo, well, the best ones anyway! If you are a Million Miler with ANA, you receive a very elegant personalised baggage tag that is hand crafted and finished with expensive adornments, which highlights the helicopter logo.
Overall Thoughts
The old ANA tail logo is another one to add to the list of smart airline liveries. Not smart as in looks per se, but smart because thought has gone into it and it relates to the company in a perfect manner.
Were you aware that the ANA tail logo was Leonardo da Vinci’s helicopter prototype? Have you flown with ANA before and what are they like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by NZAV8A on Flickr.
ANA logo via Askthepilot.com
