Fat Albert can dance

Chasing the setting sun
London, ON
June 2011

About this photo: We're winding down our Thematic pairs week. This plane has a pair of engines (sorry, I know I'm stretching it.) Feel free to share your own pair-themed vision here. New theme, vegetative, launches tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Say hello to the Boeing 737, specifically a 737-700 flown by WestJet. Although our city's sole airport is called London International Airport, most of the traffic in and out of here is pretty forgettable: turboprops, regional jets and private aircraft. Nothing remotely approaching long haul or intercontinental. This is about as big as it gets, and even then it's a fairly rare sight.

So when this one flew overhead as I was watching the munchkins play soccer, I was almost predestined to point my lens skyward and shoot it. Because taking pictures of planes never gets old for me, and the late evening light seemed to make an otherwise routine shot look a little less so.

Oh yes, the caption. When the 737 first took to the skies in 1967, it was affectionately dubbed "Fat Albert" because it had the same narrow-body cross section as a 707 and 727 in a much shorter design. The net effect made it look kinda stubby. Fat Albert it was, and in multiple generations it's since become the world's most produced jet transport.

It's nice to know ugly ducklings grow into lovely swans even in the commercial aviation industry.

Your turn: Why are we so obsessed with looks? (Nothing like a loaded question to start the week!)