Howdy y’all!
Just this previous Thursday, I hopped over to SNA to catch the final couple of SWA special 737 Maxes that I haven’t seen yet: Independence One and Louisiana One. With those shots, I have finally completed my Rolodex of SWA special liveries on a Max. As we await Florida One to reappear, potentially soon on N9019R, I thought I’d reach back (I had terrible file management ig) and edit the current special SWA Maxes that I’ve seen.
Boring Additional Details
Editing: Adobe Photoshop
Technique: Clicking ‘Auto’ & idak
The actual details you (might) care about
Camera Body: Canon EOS 1200D
Lens: EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM
Airports: SNA & LGB
Dates: July 2023 - 06 August 2026
Why are there watermarks dude?
b/c I think they’re cute and make the photo look professional, duh
I thought we’d start with just a luvly regular ole SWA 737 Max 8. Taken on the same morning as N8655D came out as the new New Mexico One (the reason I was at LGB), it’s not the first 737 Max I’d seen, but probably the first SWA one I took a photo of. Anyways, here’s N8777Q (that’s a lot of sevens), an, at the time, not even one year old 737 Max.
Here’s the very newest SWA 737 Max I’ve captured, N9008… what a weird registration for SWA, but we won’t shame it too much. So long to the engine text.
I need better pictures of N8710M. She keeps hiding from me, only stopping by at SNA or LGB while I’m at work, school, or otherwise indisposed. :–( This was the first special 737 Max I caught, followed moments later by Herb.
Ah, and here’s Herb coming down taxiway Lima. I’ve been lucky enough to catch Herb 3 times. Twice at Long Beach and once at John Wayne, every time had that mismatched nose cone though.
The gorgeous Canyon Blue Retro, dedicated to the former president of SWA, Colleen Barrett. Looking back through my past photos (the ones that were uncorrupted due to a past hard drive failure), I unfortunately found only 5 aircraft wearing Canyon Blue; shame I didn’t catch more of this pretty livery.
Personally, my favorite Southwest special. The pelican and little chicks are adorable, and the livery brings memories of visiting family in LA. I finally caught her on Thursday; she’s also been flying around and avoiding me :-(. Hopefully she’s joined by a fellow state flag Max soon.
The newest and shiniest SWA special; she commemorates the USA’s 250th anniversary. It’s not my favorite livery, but it’s definitely the best among the America 250 liveries. Thankfully, N1776R came to SNA on Thursday; she’s been at SNA a few times (including on the 4th of July), but I wasn’t able to get out there those times.
Liberty One, or “the big American flag plane” according to ATC, is also an America 250 special. Identical to the ‘Freedom One’ livery on N500WR, it is, in fact, a big American flag. I don’t mind the repeat, though, like with Alaska’s HTWS liveries, a good livery is worth putting on multiple hulls.This is personally my favorite photo of the ones in this topic.
Anyways, hope y’all enjoyed this little spotting journey with me, thanks for taking a look (and sticking around to the end ig). Looking forward to seeing Florida One back out again soon.
- Normal Heart Livery
- Imua One
- Desert Gold Retro
- Canyon Blue Retro
- Louisiana One
- Independence One
- Liberty One