Eastern Air Lines  McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51  N404EA       (c/n   47665)

                                    

                                        The DC-9 Series 50, of which Eastern operated a total of some 35,  was a slightly longer version
                                        (by 8 ft) of the Series 30, seating a maximum of 139 passengers.  It had not reached the over-
                                        stretched appearance of the later MD-80 series and, as such, looked well proportioned.  N404EA,
                                        seen in the above image by Bob Garrard departing Washington National Airport in 1985 was actually
                                        an ex-Allegheny machine (N923VJ),  having been sold by that airline to EAL in 1978.  It was sold
                                        to AVENSA, the Venezuelan carrier upon the demise of Eastern, where it  became YV-90C.  It
                                        was leased by AVENSA to Ghana Airways as 9G-ADT in the late 1990s and withdrawn from use
                                        sometime in the new millennium.   Eastern used them on their high density routes on the eastern seaboard.