Title
1970s Italy Alitalia McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Jet Airliner Aviation Airline Postcard
Front
A colour air-to-air photograph of an Alitalia McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-jet airliner in flight, seen from slightly below on the port side, climbing against a pale hazy sky with a bank of white cloud below.
The aircraft has a slim swept-wing fuselage finished in white on the upper surfaces and pale grey beneath, with a broad green cheatline running the length of the fuselage along the window line. A single row of small square cabin windows runs within the cheatline, with the forward passenger door and service doors marked along the fuselage. The nose is rounded with the flight deck windows visible.
The airline name is painted in dark green on the upper forward fuselage, reading:
“Alitalia”
with the initial letter formed as the distinctive stylised arrow device of the airline’s marking.
The engines are two rear-mounted turbofans in pods attached to the aft fuselage, and the tail carries the DC-9’s characteristic T-tail, with the tailplane mounted at the top of the fin. The fin is white and carries the Alitalia device in red and green. The type designation is painted in dark lettering on the rear fuselage, reading:
“DC-9”
and the aircraft registration appears below it on the fuselage side:
“I-DIKO”
The swept wings extend to either side with flap track fairings beneath, and the undercarriage is retracted. Around and below the aircraft the sky is pale grey-blue with a band of white cumulus along the lower part of the frame. The card has no white border and a semi-glossy photographic surface, with light creasing at the corners.
Back
Printed in blue script across the top, within a ruled blue border frame:
“J Arthur Dixon”
Printed in blue at the upper right, within a device showing an envelope symbol:
“A POST OFFICE
PREFERRED SIZE”
Printed in blue vertically down the centre of the card:
“Printed in Great Britain”
Printed in blue at lower left:
“Alitalia – DC9/32
Manufactured by McDonnell Douglas
Engines:- 2 Pratt and Whitney JT8 D-9
Wing Span:- 28.44 metres
Overall Length:- 36.36 metres Height:- 8.38 metres
Cruising Speed:- 850km. per hr. at an Altitude of 9,500 metres
Range:- 1,520km. maximum with full load
Passengers:- 120 Economy or 8 First Class and 90 Economy”
Printed in blue italic beneath:
“Photograph by courtesy of Alitalia”
Printed in blue below that:
“PNA/24404”
Printed in blue within an oval device at the foot of the card:
“DRG”
There is no stamp, postmark, address or handwritten sender’s message; the card is unused and unposted. Light corner toning and minor edge wear are present.
Estimated Era
Circa 1970s. The card was published by J. Arthur Dixon, a British postcard house, and carries the DRG group device, together with the Post Office Preferred Size marking introduced in the United Kingdom in the late 1960s to encourage standard-format mail. The Alitalia livery shown, with the green cheatline, white fuselage and the stylised arrow device forming the initial letter of the name, was adopted in the late 1960s and carried through the following decade. The DC-9 Series 32 entered Alitalia service from the late 1960s and formed the backbone of the airline’s short and medium-haul fleet through the 1970s. All figures in the caption are given in metric units without imperial equivalents, consistent with a British aviation series of that period.
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