United was the launch customer for the Boeing 737-202. They were also the first operators to suffer a fatal loss and major calamity with the type, which had entered airline service nearly five years earlier in February 1968.
United Air Lines Flight 553 was a scheduled flight from Washington National Airport to Omaha, Nebraska, via Chicago Midway International Airport. On December 8, 1972, the Boeing 737-222 serving the flight, City of Lincoln, registration N9031U, crashed during an aborted landing and go-around while approaching Midway Airport.
The plane crashed into a residential neighborhood, destroying five houses and resulting in an intense fire on the ground. 43 of the 61 occupants aboard the aircraft and two people on the ground were killed.
The kit looks like a 737 and goes together well, with better-than-expected fit. The windows were filled with clear acrylic resin, not for see-through effect but because it is considerably easier than puttying and sanding. The doors were all sealed shut and the openings filled with CA and sanded smooth.
The engines in the kit, I learned while digging into the topic, were of the original design used only on the 737-100s, with a narrow pylon, short nacelle, and the original thrust reverser that deployed along the horizontal axis and was soon modified to avoid lifting the aircraft's tail off the ground with the thrust from the lower scoop while deployed (yikes!). I found a suitable replacement from Laci models, but was disappointed to learn that (1) I would have to close the open access doors, putty, and re-shape the nacelles and that (2) the nacelles needed tons of work to fit the Airfix wing.
At the same time, I learned that the Eastern Express 737-100 kit also has the "wrong" engines… that is, the engines with the fat nacelles that should be on the -200. So I went with a simple swap with relatively little re-work. The donor B321 is still in the box, with the Airfix engines, waiting her turn. You can have the Laci engines.
Decals are from Draw Decals and went down beautifully. Paints are WalMart rattlecan grey primer and gloss white, with Alclad II metallic and Tamiya acrylics for details.
The end result looks the part and fits well with my Boeing airliner collection. I hope it serves as a suitable tribute to all those souls lost that day, and to the loved ones that grieve their loss.
