Himmelbahn DC4 1949-1960

This is Himmelbahn's first livery on its first series of aircraft, the DC-4. One of the results of the constitution of West Germany in 1948 was the charter for a new national airline. The board put in charge of this new organisation was tasked with establishing a new air carrier for the West German sphere given the the nation had not seen a national airline since the collapse of Deutsche Zentrale Fluggesellschaft (commonly DZF) at the end of the war. The board considered reviving the DZF name for the new carrier, but decided to craft a new identity in the end given the previous carrier's still strong and salient connections to the Nazi regime. This pivot in branding occurred in the later stages of planning, and so the Himmelbahn logo, colour scheme, and livery were designed quickly rather than deliberately. In fact, some history books claim the paint was still slightly wet on the ex-Berlin Airlift DC-4 which operated the carrier's first flight from Munich to Frankfurt. The earliest days saw dueling hubs in Frankfurt and Munich with a plan for a Berlin hub once the political situation improved and a mostly domestic flight network but a few flights further afield to London, Paris, and Rome. The DC-4 was later joined by other Douglass aircraft in the Himmelbahn fleet and the reliability of the early fleet encouraged Himmelbahn to order the DC-8 at the dawn of the jet age a decade later.

I have intentionally avoided this period of design in the past on the gallery because I really struggle with it but I gave this one a valiant effort so let me know how to make it better