The History of British Airways' Ethnic Tails/Utopia Project

[@Aviation18]

Personally, I love the Chelsea Rose livery the best and I think the Wings livery is a little bit too abstract for my liking, what do you think is the best and worst out of the bunch?

[@a330neoaviation7]

Aviation18 I like the Rose one, and I don’t like the German one

[@stevensaviationspotting]

Aviation18 I love the Landor livery

[@Rqpturrrr]

USA!!!

[@alexaviation4202]

I love the landor livery and normal livery

[@itshyenahomie9629]

I like the stantela

[@bayareaaviation17]

Wish these tails still existed today. But that Landor livery is 🔥

[@Aviation18]

Same

[@Cartoonman154]

There's a reason it's called British Airways.

[@dominicindoubt]

@@Cartoonman154 Doesn’t mean you can’t acknowledge other countries smh

[@managed9348]

@@Cartoonman154”British Airways” is big and bold in writing and along with the crest……

[@sdfft820]

@@dominicindoubtit’s ok for western countries to be happy to display their own national airline and own flags. Multiculturalism typically means exclusion of western cultures.

[@telaandias3531]

Just BTW Qantas has its own livery series with indigenous art, and all those designs were featured on 747’s

[@MileHigh_Aviation]

Man this just makes me miss the queen ❤️❤️ they had a bunch of awesome liverys

[@Aviation18]

Same 😢

[@stevensaviationspotting]

Oh yeah, I seen videos of LHR Airport a lot of years ago in the past and seen their different liveries

[@lorddarlo6194]

It's in JFK Videos to

[@stevensaviationspotting]

Charlie Robertson Yeah

[@stevensaviationspotting]

DarkDestroyerGaming Yeah I knew that too

[@Lee247Jamaica]

Is it just planes vid

[@tomney4460]

Two things: 1: That thumbnail photo is my chrome book livery. 2: I have a British Airways 747-400 (G-BNLO) in the Emily Masanbo South African tail.

[@DanielChannel57]

Good video. Though you forgot to mention that the ethnic liveries also made it difficult for air traffic controllers to visually identify BA aircraft.

[@Lewis.TalksFootball]

Amazing work on Dulles Man, keep up the good work!

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man!

[@xmodder077_aviation9]

Thank you for the great info! My next video will be featuring a drawing of a BA 737 painted in one of those beautiful tails

[@oliverlane4050]

Thanks for sharing, really interesting. I found a few of my old ticket folders with these designs whilst sorting things out a couple of days ago.

[@MultiSUPERLATIVO]

I still have a marvelous booklet published by British Airways displaying everything about the new livery (World Tails / Utopia). The booklet is in high quality printable paper and I keep it as a magnificent souvenir of that project. As for Wikipedia, who resigned in October 1999 was Chris Holt, the head of design management at BA, who led the Utopia Project. The new corporate logo was created by the London-based design agency Newell & Sorrell, who also oversaw the implementation of the tailfin designs. Chief Executive, Robert Ayling, did not resign.

[@xrq3223]

Some of them are so pretty! I prefer them to keep most of them! Maybe just one on each aircraft, not the all Thai flag we see today…🇹🇭

[@garethroberts7045]

Really enjoyed the video like all your videos. The livery was officially known as the “World Tails” BA livery that came out of Project Utopia. The design common to the livery was the “Speedmarque ribbon” which is a modern interpretation of the BOAC Speedbird logo. The “World Tail” design that was originally only on Concorde was a stylised version of the Union flag designed by a company who at the time were based at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent (hence how that tail design got the name “Chatham Dockyard”). All the other tail designs were named as well, such as the excellent “Column” (Dove) a Celtic design representing Ireland in the foreground of the 747 lineup at Heathrow T4 in your video. Eventually every aircraft in the World Tails (Utopia) livery ended up with the “Chatham Dockyard” Union Flag tail but it’s still in effect the World Tails (Utopia) livery. The only changes in recent years being the the move to use a whiter shade of white and the return of the BA “To fly, To serve” Coat of Arms. It has been a very good livery though but it has gradually evolved back to be as Imperialistic as the Landor livery it replaced.

[@Aviation18]

Thanks mate, I really appreciate it and that's awesome to know, I agree with you about the return of the imperialistic design, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that that has returned but I think it is a bit hypocritical that they said they wanted to move away from that in 1997, but then now, in 2020, have brought it partially back. Thanks for watching!

[@WarhammerWings]

@@Aviation18 I'd prefer a full Landor repaint for all aircraft. Chatham needs to go.

[@brandonaviation6010]

I have the 1:400 2003 BAW GeminiJets 744 Poland Tail. 0:51 that’s the exact aircraft I have, G-BNLT

[@Aviation18]

Awesome!

[@Rqpturrrr]

WOW!!! Thanks for the description about each livery!! My favorite is the one that represented the USA. Should have kept the ones that represented UK, seeing how BA is UK's official airline. I personally liked all of the liveries.

[@AA828]

I think you did an amazing job categorizing, and explaining the beautiful artwork on the tails of the British Airways aircraft. Back in my day of aviation, I used to love seeing a British Airways widebody with a unique tail. I thought it was an incredibly innovative and thoughtful way to commemorate and acknowledge other cultures. I have never really understood why it received such negative feedback. I think that it showed British Airways as a worldwide carrier open different cultures and acknowledging the differences of those cultures while at the same time showing the creativity and diversity of the world’s artistic community. I was very sad to see all the tails go back to Uniformity.

[@aviationproductions2663]

wow amazing video

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man!

[@managed9348]

This Idea was ahead of it’s time.

[@captainduck5679]

I have a model of the 777 Canada tail livery and it looks really cool!

[@Aviation18]

Awesome!

[@RanjithTadvai]

I LOVE the Chelsea Rose 🌹. I think it is amazing

[@Aviation18]

I agree!

[@RanjithTadvai]

BTW,please please make an infinite flight ✈️ video

[@justtheguy27]

I loved the Chelsea Rose livery the most, but I have a higher preference for the Landor livery. This makes me miss the 747s even more. ): All the BA liveries sat so well with her.

[@alphabravoindia5267]

The 757 in 2010, 767 in 2018, and the 747 in 2020. If we don't salute to these birds, and they will be mad, just like Delta's mad dogs. In my opinion, the 3 best aircraft ever.

[@Aviation18]

So Sad 😢😢😢

[@alphabravoindia5267]

@@Aviation18 Exactly. An F in the chat from me

[@delvinrodriguez3341]

Great video as always mate!

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man!

[@HillierHugh]

Fun fact if you ever flew world traveller on BA back in the day like I did the fabric the seats used were supposed to resemble some of these tails originally USA, Japan and Botswana but now I think that it’s just USA but few planes still have it right now

[@Feddy_fatbeer]

Since joe said a BA of the alaska more to love livery and alaska is my home airline

[@aviationlba747]

Great video mate.

[@Aviation-fi3sv]

Nice video I will miss the BA747

[@Aviation18]

Thanks and same!

[@chinitonamoreno]

Actually, a lot of people loved the Landor livery compared to their Chatham Dockyard

[@Liza_F2P]

I personally live in SEA and BA don’t fly the 747 to my country but I have the BA 747 in the landor livery made by GJ. I live in Singapore and BA fly the 777 and A380s here if anyone is curious. Also, don’t blame me as I don’t know much about all the different liveries

[@RobbieLapage]

We need all of them back ASAP

[@elite_facts_10140]

Awesome vid! Very informative!

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man!

[@LeSY3D]

Aviation 18 what's your advice for starting what you do

[@a.gproductions_official]

Can You Please Make A Video About Why Delta Discontinued Their Interim Ron Allen Livery

[@steventurner820]

Not sure if this was mentioned, but some ATCs complained about this as well. The reason being was, the different tail colors made it harder to tell what airline the plane belonged to.

[@Rqpturrrr]

Nice!!! I didn't know that Thatcher didn't like those liveries.

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man!

[@Hm_m41115]

I have a qantas nalanji dreaming 747-300 skymarks model and i am hopefully getting a Ba 747-400 model with skymarks tomorrow

[@Aviation18]

That's Awesome!

[@rajnirvan3336]

Exactly only paint a few in Utopia Utopia liveries and rest in Union style. My favourite was Landor/Negus. Must admit liked Chelsea Rose could have kept that on some planes

[@Aviation18]

Raj Nirvan I totally Agree, Chelsea rose was my favourite

[@PlanesAndGames732]

I think they should have some Chelsea Roses, it fits quite nicely

[@Aviation18]

I agree, looks very nice

[@lorddarlo6194]

I like the Chelsea Rose and the Whale Livery as I have been to Canada and that represents it well Air Canada should do that for there aircraft. The Poppy, The British Liveries, The Canadian Livery and The Scottish Livery should be kept

[@g.real1811]

It’s embarrassing that Margaret Thatcher covered up the model’s tail with a tissue

[@Aviation18]

Yeh, she was a very anti abstract person

[@victoracosta5357]

Nah she was right to do that the landor livery was iconic

[@AussieGunzel]

I reckon BA should bring some of these back but only do commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and South Africa.

[@elclemento524]

The british blend is/was G-busi i found on Google befor he habe the denmark livery.

[@stapletonaviation2943]

Great video!

[@Aviation18]

Thanks

[@brianakinfenwa9601]

Hello Aviation_18! Do you recommend the Gemini jets A350’s?

[@Aviation18]

Hey and IDK, I've just ordered my first Gemini A350, all my current ones are Phoenix

[@aviationmco]

Landor was amazing! I loved this video, very great tribute to the British Airways tails, sucked that they faced back flash.

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man and I agree!

[@juliejohnson9892]

Great Content

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man!

[@a.gproductions_official]

My All Time Favorite Is The Benyhone Tail

[@Aviation18]

Awesome!

[@michealgo9646]

Great vid. A fascinating topic. I've heard a bit about this but it's nice to know the whole story. Quick thing, Colum could've been painted to represent St. Columbanus, rather than Columbia who travelled to spread Catholocism around Europe. Not nit pickkng though, again great video!

[@JoshuasPHXAviation]

Great Video👍👍. Liked

[@Aviation18]

Thanks

[@JoshuasPHXAviation]

@@Aviation18 You're welcome

[@raashika17]

Make washington Dulles construction update like if u agree

[@planespottingringway]

Wow this looks great! I’m really hoping to grow my channel like yours one day and get as many subs!

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man and go for it!

[@planespottingringway]

Cheers man!

[@aimarquejidogomara]

I have the Chelsea Rose 772 and the one of South Africa 744 that I can’t remember the name in 1/500

[@jarnold1236]

Tbh I feel like a lot of these liveries were very hard to understand. Some were good and easy to understand it’s meaning. However, so many were over complicated overwhelming

[@Aviation18]

I Agree, if they were going to make a livery about a country, your standard every day person must look at it and think of that country, these are all a bit too abstract for me

[@BoxInThisLapVR46]

i googled british blend and there was photos its a crown on the tail

[@Aviation18]

There were some I found but they were all heavily copyrighted sadly

[@stevensaviationspotting]

Aviation18 F

[@BoxInThisLapVR46]

@@Aviation18 oh have you thought about making a plane graveyard like Mojave,Victorville or Kemble for your damaged planes

[@고든의램지로버]

0:44 is this a real photo? I thought all ba 747s with jt9d was retired but not wearing a world tail livery

[@Aviation18]

It’s real, the last 742 with jt9d’s was retired in 2002

[@your_boi_ed2879]

Hey I’m first but this looks like this is a amazing video!

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man!

[@chinitonamoreno]

Quick question, was there a 747 that has a crossing borders livery pajnted to it?

[@matthampton9807]

No, this design was never applied to a 747.

[@chinitonamoreno]

@@matthampton9807 thanks for the info. Too bad. Would've looked cool though.

[@federicosarria6978]

It would be cool a klm and avianca version of this video that have far more variaty

[@type2523]

It looked nice

[@luisflucht6702]

Please do a video about the whole BA history so also with Deutsche BA and the other companies, BA founded

[@Aviation18]

Yeh, that's something I really want to do! I also want to do a video on the history of Heathrow airport

[@viewwwwer]

I remember boarding a BA aircraft with Scottish tartan pattern on its tail fin around 1999 and I thought it looked great!

[@patoffcuriosity4727]

i found the hong kong one the most recognizable from all of these liveries in this project

[@nealbagai5388]

Yeah I remember it from xplane 9 lol

[@avalonintlairport550]

3:34 “Oceana” isn’t the continent, it’s the region, and it’s Oceania Also you kinda made it seem like Nalanji and Wunala dreaming didn’t feature on Qantas planes at all, when they actually both had full body schemes on QF 747s

[@NeilPrasad_1905]

I love all those liveries especially the Pythani livery that represents my country India 🇮🇳. They shouldn't have removed it

[@mrman0-061]

My favourite is the English rose one! I think that and the poppy should of been kept, as well as the Scottish one, and one to represent Northern Ireland and Wales!

[@Aviation18]

Yeh I was thinking that, that would also play well with Uniting the country with all this drama of Scotland wanting Independence and N. Ireland becoming apart of S. Ireland, One livery for England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland, I agree!

[@mrman0-061]

Maybe in the future they will! If they did, I would try and fly on all 4 of the planes they are painted on lol

[@PlanesAndGames732]

I wish they still had Landor

[@Aviation18]

Landor was good

[@chinitonamoreno]

Here are my favorites: Animals and trees Wings Whale rider Bennyhone tartan Nalanji dreaming

[@empty...961]

The Hong Kong livery is still around on a 777-200

[@barbadianaviation]

No it isn’t. It’s great arts of Shanghai or something

[@cyberi4a]

I never liked this idea, but the South African designs were very nice. Like you mentioned a design for each continent would have been a better idea.

[@morfeasrellas3561]

5:10 i found the image of the specific summary

[@busspotterlondon4731]

I like the white red and blue

[@jonzy123]

The only one I ever liked was the Chelsea rose. I'm not sure why they did this in the first place as the Landor livery is one of my personal favourites. I hope they paint it onto another aircraft as we won't be seeing it on the 747 anymore.

[@Aviation18]

Yeh I agree, the Chelsea Rose was the best in my opinion

[@northtexas.spotteralonsofr3942]

Even tho BA isn’t my favorite airline but it is a nice airline and has a great history by the way how is Dulles can you make a video about the airport

[@Aviation18]

I agree and Dulles is going well! I hope to have a video soon about that but a lot of things are getting in the way

[@northtexas.spotteralonsofr3942]

Aviation18 yeah I bet it is Arranging stuff in your room

[@WarhammerWings]

Landor was a lot better than these eyesores.

[@ethan5947]

Love this mate ahah

[@Aviation18]

Thanks!

[@aviator3684]

Why dont u do a BA 747 tribute airport update this friday because its a sad loss. And include some other old BA aircraft too if u dont have enough 747s

[@Aviation18]

Yeh, Over the next couple of weeks I hope to have 2 videos about the BA 747

[@Locutus]

BA going woke before woke was A thing!

[@ASAviation]

Awesome recap of all the tails mate, would have been a sight to see if BA kept some of these flying! I do agree with you saying that BA should make a livery for each of the six continents, however the high costs of painting aircraft is something they definitely don't want to deal with, especially not now.

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man! and yeh I agree! The concept would be good but maybe not right now 😂

[@jkarhiaho]

Wunala Dreaming actually was painted on Qantas' 747-400 VH-OEJ and it looked quite nice. I find it funny that some countries got multiple liveries and many didn't even get a single one. And why did England and the British isles get so many liveries if the point of the liveries was to become more international? Respecting other nations' cultures by making liveries of the British isles is a bit funny. But this was an interesting video about an interesting topic!

[@Aviation18]

Yeh I agree, it's a bit odd but I guess that was part fo the criticism

[@garethroberts7045]

Over 85% of the BA fleet were painted with a World Tail that was not from England, Scotland, Ireland (which includes a country not part of Britain) or Wales. Some images were used much more than others as they were far more effective. One other issue BA had was that pilots of other airlines struggled to recognise BA planes so it may be they sent certain tails to particular airports as pilots of other airlines would become more familiar with them. Also having a US tail in the US was good for business or a Chinese design in Hong Kong so the proportions were proportions were possibly aligned with route frequencies. I think BA may have actually had more Netherlands designed tails than British ones which was rather odd but maybe that was to attract Dutch customers away from KLM

[@aviationsaltlakecity6164]

I love the Waves and Crane Since I am Half Japanese and I really looks like traditional Japanese Art

[@Aviation18]

That's Awesome!

[@brandoncisonno4545]

I like the Hong Kong one

[@busspotterlondon4731]

The should do it on the 350 787-8,9,10

[@fallguys1051]

I subscribed

[@CrowDepartment]

Second, nice video

[@Aviation18]

Thanks!

[@alexaviation4202]

This is sad! I wish BA never retired the 747, goodbye queen of the skies

[@stevensaviationspotting]

Alexaviation 420 Yeah, Same here and yup :(

[@Aviation18]

Same 😢

[@theresakavanagh5201]

#wow brave priminester #brekset

[@robertelvickers]

#respect

[@avgjoeavglife]

I like the U.S livery, and japan. The others are more or less ok.

[@tigerli9931]

they should have kept the liveries that represented great Britain

[@volantee]

Order a Silver Airways Aircraft!

[@pepazmoravy5]

I found british blend livery

[@man_like_snacks_6569]

They should of kept the Chelsea rose 🔥🔥

[@Aviation18]

I agree!

[@footballtalk5715]

British airways is a cool airline I just hit 90 model planes

[@Aviation18]

Awesome!

[@DAMNKERRY1]

Scotland was my favourite

[@Aviation18]

Yeh, that is a very nice one!

[@747heavyboeing3]

Chelsea Rose was best! Still British Airways repainted a 747 400 in classic BOAC colors. United Airlines just added 70s style United script and Friendship to their last 747 flights. It looked cheap. British Airways did it best.

[@ifj.kosagabor]

I think the utopa liveries where beutifull. But I agree with half of the fleet would be painted with theese colours. And why does Everyone forget Hungary!? It is such a beutifull country!

[@j.l7474]

Obviously didn't do research here, Wunala Dreaming made it on to 2 Qantas 747-400s VH-OEJ and OJB

[@Aviation18]

Bruh you can't come here and say that when this literally took me 3 days to make, 1 full day of research and I said it was designed for a Qantas 747 but was painted on BA, which is true 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️😂

[@aviationsaltlakecity6164]

Looks Like The Emirates livery

[@Aviation18]

lol yeh

[@chickenwing1898]

9:48 Who else thought it would be a fat bald eagle eating a burger with a 50cal

[@chickenwing1898]

JK

[@aviation04]

Amazing job Aviation18! Chelsea Rose looks gorgeous! I think we should all petition to get 6 of these liveries on 6 different planes! I hope they can repaint a couple of planes into some of the Utopia liveries!

[@Aviation18]

Thanks man and I agree, that would be awesome!