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_ _
_ _
l
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The World’s
Greatest
Aircraft
Though it initially suffered from protracted technical problems, the
‘Connie’
became
the best-loved piston-engine airliner
of
all, and, in
it
maker’s
words,
was ‘Queen of the
Skies’.
Finally, while commercial
Connies
were
slowly rotting
away,
military
examples of a dozen
species
were
working
unnoticed
around the clock.
In i t s day
t h e Lockheed
Constellat ion
was
t h e
biggest, most power
-
ful and most expensive of
a ll
airl iners. But i t avoided joining t h e
l i s t of unsuccessful giants, because at f i r s t s capacity was no t so
great as to frighten th e airl ines. The ‘Connie’, as i t was affect ion
-
ately
known, was made possible by t h e development of engines of
great
power,
and t h is power was
used fo r
speed,
and to l i ft f ue l fo r
long
range whilst cruising
in
pressurized
comfort at high
alt itude.
Once th e basic type was established, Lockheed met t h e demand for
greater capacity by introducing
one of t h e
f i r s t and greatest o f al l
‘stretching’ programmes to yield t h e
‘Super
Connie’, seating up to
100 o r more.
But in 1938 this could
not
be foreseen. On 23
June
o f that year the
McCarran Act had transformed
U S
commercial aviation, and the
manufacturing industry had
rationalized
into
t h e same
t h r e e names
that dominate i t today, Boeing, Douglas and Lockheed. T he f i r s t
two
had
already built t h e big four -engine DC
-
4 and pressurized
Model
307 Stratoliner. but Lockheed was overloaded with small
twins and t he military Hudson and P
-
38, and i t s
promising Excali -
bu r remained a succession of
mock
-
ups. This
was tough, because
Lockheed had
a
strong
leaning
towards
powerful,
fast aircraft,
had
pioneered
pressure cabins with th e XC
-
35
f lown
in May 1
N ot hing much cou ld
be
done until suddenly on 9 June 1939
company
was visited by t h e famed Howard Hughes,
who
secretly
bought most of t h e stock
of
TWA,
and
Jack Frye,
whom
had
appointed president.
Hughes had lately given Lockheed
a giant
boost by
flyin
Model 14 air l iner around
t h e
world in record time. TWA wa
severe
trouble with
money and route competition, and Hug
urged
th e
development of
a new
super
-
luxury
t ransport that c
fly nonstop coast -to
-
coast across t h e cont inental USA.
The
spe
cations sounded out
o f
t h i s world (empty weight 52,300 1b/24132
four 2,200-hp/1641 -kW eng ines ,
cruising
speed over 300
m
483 km/h
and
the
ability t o
fly
from
New
York to London
nonst
Known to Lockheed as the
Model 749
-
7938.
the
C
-
121A was a
properly
designed
militarytransport, the C - 69 ~having
mainly
been converted airliners. USAF no. 48
-
6
seen here
in
MATS (Military Air Transport Service) markings,
flying
as a PC-121A
passenger
aircraft.
Engines were 2,500
-
hp 1864-kW)R-3350-75
Duplex
Cyclones.
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The
World’s
Greatest
Aircraft
US
Army
Air
Force no. 42
-
94553
was
Model 049
-
3910. ordered
pre
-
war
b
TWA
but built
as a
C
-
695 .
It is show
it
wa s
struck o f l the
Army strength
sold to
M I A ,
with civ i l registration
N52414. All early models had circula
porthole
-
type
windows.
HI-328,
registered to
Aerolineas Argo SA
of the Dominican
Republic.
An 1-749A.
she
served with several
operators
before
and a ll Lockheed’s r ivals gave Hughes
a
thumbs -down. But Lock -
heed’s Bob Gross called in
h i s
top designers, Hall L. Hibbard and
Clarence L. ‘Kelly’ Johnson, and said
‘Come
up
with
something’.
Long meetings
took place
at
a secret
Hughes
place
on
Romaine
Street, Hollywood, and
before
the end of th e year a formal meeting
took
place
at which
Hughes asked
the
price and was told
$425,000.
H e
r ocked
back
and
forth
l i k e
an Indian at a
pow -wow
and said
‘Hel l ,
TWA can’t pay, the damn air l ine’s broke. Go ahead and build
40,
’ll
have to
pay for
them
myself.’
C-69 for
the US Army
Wartime pressures delayed
t h e
Model 49 Constellation, bu t
eventually Lockheed hired pilot Eddie Allen to take t h e f i r s t one
a lo ft on
9 January 1943.
No
commercial production
was
allowed
after
Pearl
Harbor,
and
TWA’s
idea
of a commerc ia l lead with a
super
dream
ship
evaporated
as PanAm came
in alongside; and
in
t h e event
a l l production went to t h e U S Army.
But
e v e n
in olive
drab th e C -69, as i t was
now
cal led, was qui te something. I t s wing
was a
scaled -up version
of
t h e
wing o f t h e
P-38, with giant
area -
increasing Fowler flaps. The fuselage was curved like t h e
body
of a
f ish
and ended in a triple
tail.
The circular -section cabin seated 64
passengers,
though
Hughes was
bemused that t h e
U S
Army
could
take out
a l l
the
luxury and
s t i l l contr ive
t o make the (2-69 heavier
than
t h e
Model
49.
All
f l ight -control
surfaces
were hydraulical ly
boosted. N o t least, the height of t h e Constellation of f t h e ground
was unprecedented.
In
two
respects,
however, the civi l registered
NX67900,
or Lockheed
ship no.
1961,
was conventional:
i t
had
normal cockp it
windows
instead of t h e
once
-
planned perfectly
streamlined
nose, and
the e n g i n e s
were also fairly
conventional
instead of being in
perfect ly
streamlined nacelles
with
reverse - flow
cooling from i n l e t s
in
th e
leading edges.
During t h e war
t h e USAAF receivcd 22
Constellations. com
-
prising
nine ex
-
TWA
and 13 of a
contract fo r
18 0 signed in 1942.
At VJ -Day t h e military contract was cancelled. Lockheed shut
down th e Burbank
plant
for f i ve days to plan i t s
future. I t almost
decided to s t a r t again
with
an e v e n
newer
Constellation, but finally
elected
to
buy
back
surplus
government
tooling, parts,
materials
and
unfinished C
-
69s. This
r e s u l t e d in
t h e commercial Model p49
having
an
18
-
month
lead
over the
D C
-
6
and
Stratocruiser,
and
even
I
I
This
historic photograph
was
taken at Burbank on
9
January
1943
when
the very
first
Constellation,
painted
in
US
Army ol ive drab, took
o f l
for
the
first
time.
I1
was
to
suffer
its
fair share
of technical
problems,
buta l l concerned recognized that
it opened up
a
new plateau
in
air
transport
range,
speed
and comfort.
fin
n
more
over the Republic Rainbow, and within
nine days 103 C
stellations
valued
at $75.5
million had
b e e n ordered
by
eight
l i nes .
TWA
at last got t h e f i r s t of 27 Model 049s in November 1
CAA cert if icat ion followed
on
11
December.
Commercial serv
followed in early February 1946, TWA flylng
t h e
New York P
and PanAm t h e Ne w York Bermuda routes.
T he
USAAF sold
i t s
surplus
C
-
69s to air l ines in 1946, and
in
-
service record built up
so
fast
t ha t by
July
1946
over
200
mil
passenger
miles
had
been
flown
without
anyone
suffermg inju
This
was despite numerous engine f i res and both engine
propeller
failures,
but on 11
July 1946
a TWA training
fl
crashed
at
Reading,
Pennsylvania,
because t h e
pi lots could no t
from th e smoke -filled cockpit. A si x -week grounding followed
which
95
modifications were made
to
th e
powerplant and
syste
T h e r e was light at the en d o f t h e t u n n e l
(and
t h e
DC
-
6
and
o
rivals were
grounded
too):
on
19
October
1946 the f i r s t defini
post -war
Model
649
took
the
air, so luxurious and
with
s u c h
g
ai r
-
conditioning
and soundproofing it was
called t h e
‘Gold P
Connie’.
Eastern
worked on t h e specification and was f i r s t to u s
one o f s features being a
Speedpak
e x t e r n a l cargo pod
under
belly.
Post-war civil success
Ten
air l ines
t h e n
bought nearly 100 Model
749s
in
which
2,700
(2014
-
kW) engines enabled gross weight
t o
r i se t o 102,000 lb (46
kg), with a long
-
range tank
in
each outer
wing
t o give
an
extens
of range of
1,000
m i l e s (1609 km) without any reduct ion in paylo
Payload/range
was further enhanced
by
the Model 749A at 107
lb (48535
kg), with Curtiss
paddle -blade propellers. The
USAF ag
adopted th e
Constellation,
buying 10 Model
749s as
(2
-
121s
various
sub
-
types, two
of which
w e r e
General MacArthur’s Bat
and General Eisenhower’s Columbine.
Later
another
of
t h i s
ba
(48 -610)
was
u s e d
as Columbine
I Z
when Eisenhower bec
President. The
U S
Navy, which in 1945 had used two R70 -1 tra
ports of f t h e U S Army l i ne ,
purchased two
Model 749s as
i t s
dedicated radar picket (AEW)
aircraft, initially designated PO
and later WV
-
1.
In i t ia l ly flown in June
1949, these were
the
aircraf t
in
t h e world bought from
t h e
s tar t as high -flymg ra
stations,
if
one
discounts
modified
single
-
engine
Grumman
TB
The final variant of
the
Super Constellation
was
the 1-1049H. which featured a m
passengerlcargo configuration
with
rapid role conversion
as
a prime
feature.
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_ I_
Lockheed
Constellat
KLM
Royal
Dutch
Airlines was
one
of the
first operators of the Turbo-Compound
engined
L - lWC, which
was placed
in
use on the North Atlantic in August 1953.
Just a yearlater KLM tookdelivery of this
tip
-
tanked 1-1049G.
PH-ME,
which
could
fl y
the Amsterdam -New York route much
better
with less
frequent stops
for
refuelling.
With a maximum
range
of
4020
mile
(6469
km), uprated Wright
TC -1SDA
Turbo-Compound engines and an
increased cabin length of
56ft
(17.0
the
1-1049C
proved
the most
success
Super Constellation model In sales
terms. Shown
here is
Lufthansa’s
0-ALUB. The airline
flew ~ t s
irst
intercontinental service from Hambu
New
York
on
8 June 1955.
Avengers. Their giant radars were served
by
aerials (antennae)
above andbelow, but despi te th e grotesque appearance
the
addition
of extra height
to
the
f ins
r e s u l t e d in
a
v e r y tractable aircraft,
and
th e success
of
these f i r s t two examples
l e d to
massive orders
of
no
fewer than 27 distinct subsequent versions for various
electronic
purposes.
Th e
unexpected
USAF and
USN sales helped c ar ry t he
com -
mercial
l ine
through
a
bad
patch, and
spurred Lockheed
into t h e
striking ‘stretch’
which
turned
t h e
Constellation
into
t h e
Model
1049 Super
Constellation. By 1950 t h e whole programme,
under
Carl
M.
Haddon,
was poised for
i t s
second
generation,
backed
by
Lockheed Aircraft Service which
had begun at Idlewi ld
in
1949
spurred
by t h e
Berlin Airlift, in which C -121s flew almost 6 million
passenger
miles from Westover AFB
to Rhein -Main. But
t h e
big
news was t h e L-1049, in which
Hibberd
in jected ra t iona l sense with
a straight passenger tube of
constant
section,
i t having
been
realized
that an air l iner in which t h e
hody section
varied con
-
tinuously was
a
mistake.
The
f i r s t
L -1049, t h e
old
no. 1961 rebuilt, flew on 13 October 1950.
There were many minor
changes, but
th e m os t obv ious one apart
from
the
18 ft 4 in (5.59 m)
extra
length was t h e switch from port -
holes to rounded square windows, remov ing what
had become
another outdated feature despite the better fat igue resistance of
rings
to
squares. TWA was
behind
th e
S u p e r Constellation, though
i t was pipped
t o
t h e
post by
Eastern which got t he new transport,
able t o s e a t
99, on
t h e Miami run
on
15 December 1951.
The largely
new engine instal lat ions worked well, as did t h e improved de
-
ic ing
sys tems
and
t h e la rger cockp it windows, integrally sti ffened wing
s k i n s machined in
th e
newly
opened
‘Hal l
of
Giants’
at Burbank,
and
be t t e r
environmental
systems.
The L-1049B was a cargo
model
with integrally s t i f f e n e d f loor and
two large loading doors. Lockheed was r e q u e s t e d by t h e
U S
Navy
to switch
to
t h e complex
ne w Wright Turbo
-
Compound
engine
derived from
the existing R-3360
used
in
all previous
Constellations,
and
t h e
3,250 hp
(2425 kW ) available
from
each engine no t
o
promised
more speed
but also a jump in gross weight to 133,00
(60329
kg), representing a further great advance in payload/ran
Though
th e Turbo -Compound engine
predictably
took
a
long
t
to mature, it
also
total ly removed thc slight sluggishness which
crept i n to t h e
or iginal
Model 1049, which cruised at
barely
mph (483 km/h). In addition to
57
U S
Navy
R7V - ls , of
which
were transferred to
the
USAF as C - l 21Cs , Lockheed sold 33 C -12
to
t h e
USAF.
The
C121C
was
c l e a r e d
to
135,000
l b
(61236
kg),
t h e others introduced th e uprated 3,500 -hp
(2611
-
kW)
R -3350
engine
and could
t ak e o ff
at 145,000
lb
(65772
kg). Subsequently
USAF and
U S
Navy variants
of t h e Model 1049 far
outnumbe
t h e commercial vers ions , as
t h e variants
l i s t shows.
Comfort and capability
Seaboard
&
W e s t e r n bought a commercial
version
of t h e Mo
1049B, but t h e passenger version was
t h e
Model 1049C, f i r s t
into se r v i ce by KLM on t h e
New
York Amsterdam route
in Aug
1953. Increasingly t h e airliner models were
fitted
with weat
radar, which
added 3
ft (0.91 m) to t h e length, as in t h e
milit
variants. This helped improve
passenger
comfort, especially on
coast -to -coast trips, and such was
t h e
capability of
t h e Mo
1049C
that from 19 October 1953 TW A
at
las t
opened a nons
service between
Los
Angeles and
New
York, rivalling
that
ope
by American with t h e similarly powered DC
-
7. This
was
a time w
t h e British de Havil land Comet was blazing t h e t r a i l o f t h e air
j e t .
The
Conste lla tjon ’s Mac h 0.58 was less
impressive,
but hist
was to show
that t h e US
industry, greatly
aided
by t h e
unfortun
One
of the
last
European
airlines to continue
flying
the
Super-G
was Iberia, the
national airline of Spain (though it
withdrew them
long before it s
last cargo
DC4
ECAMP is shown on
test
near Burbank prior to delivery
in
1956. O ne can a lmost
imagine the deep
rumble
of those Turbo-Compound
engines
andmighty propellers
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The World's Greatest
Aircraft
0
Pilot Press Llmtted
Acting
as relay stations
for
signals from
ground
sensors
in
Project
'Igloo White',
30
ex
-
USN
EC
-
121Ks and
EC-121Ps proved
invaluable to
the US Air
Force's
intelligence
operations
during the
Vietnam
war.
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Lockheed Constella
Thls Lockheed 1-1049G sewed
fo r
10
years from 1955 with Air India as VT-DJX
on
th e
airline's
trunk routes. Eioht Suoer-
I
were removed.
Lockheed
L
-
1049C
Super Constellation
cutaway
drawing
75
Alrcondltlonlngsystem
1 17 R ear uncerfloorfrelght
76 Heatlngsystcm overhead
118
Rearcablnemergencyexlr
77 Cablnraofa~rd~strlbution
119 Ladderstowaae
hold
veiheadductlng
ducting window
ey
1 Nosecone
2 Landlng and tax llng lamps
3 Front
pressure bulkhead
4 Hydraulic brake
accumulator
5 Radlo rnas'
8 Nosewheel
legdoor
7 SteerlnS
lacks
8
Twin
nosewheels
9 Nosewheel
leg
stru t
I O Retraction
lhnkages
1 1 Pi to t tubEmaSt
12
Rudderpedals
13
lnstrurrentpanel
14
Inst rumentpanel shroud
15 Wlndscreenwlpers
16 Wlndscreen pane ls
17 Cc
-
p i lo t 's seat
18
Contro
column
19 P~lot
sseat
20
Fllghtdeck
floorlevel
71
Radlo operators Stalloil
7 7 F ll gh t
englneer
s
statlurl
7 1 StarDoard
crewdoor
24 VOR aerial
25 Ena~nee r' s i ns t r um eri t
37 rorwardcablnscarlrg
30
Forward underfloorfrelaht
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6/8
he World’s Greatest
Aircraft
Constellation
P
its da y it
first
flew in
December 1954
the
L
-
lMSG,
or
‘Super G’ was the greatest
in the world. Structural changes enabled
it to
carry large ti p tanks ( tes ted on
original company
-
owned 1-1049
prototype)
which combined with
the
Turbo
-
engines t o give
the
greatest range
of
any Constellation
up
to that time,
capacity
fo r 71 first-class
or95 ‘coach passengers.
One
of the
chief
operators
the 99
examples
bu il t o f
this model was MTA,
which had
sponsored
the
original
before World
War
2. With these fine aircraft the airline pioneered
and
other long-haulservices including its luxury Ambassador class,
chiefly by
businessmen and
using special pr ivate
suites
a t th e
airports. In
plan view the dark apertures above
the trailing
edge between the
engines
are
the
-condit ioning heat exchanger exhausts. Behind the black l ine of the rear spar just
ard of these can be seen the big doors
over the l i fe raft bays.
The black bands on
leading edges are
the pulsating
rubber de
-
icers.
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7/8
Lockheed Constella
Specification
Lockheed
L
-
1049G
Type
:
long -haul passenger airliner
Powerplant
:
four
3,250
-
hp
(2423
-
kW)
Wright R
-
3350
-
DA3
Turbo -Compound
18
-
cylinder
turbine
-
boosted
pistnn eng
Performance: cruising speed 354 mph
(570
km/h)
a t
22,600 ft
(6890 m);
range
with
maximum f u e l
and full reserves 5
miles (8200 km)
Weights:
equipped empty (typical)
79,700 lb (36152 kg);
maximum
take -off
145,000
l b (65772 kg )
Dimensions :
span (over tanks)
12 6
ft
(38.47 m); length 116 ft
2
in
(35.42
m);
height
24
ft 9 in (7.54 m); wing area 1,6
s q
ft
(153.66 m’
Accommodation:
flight crew,
usually
five; variable cabin crew - for maximum
95
passengers
L
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Navy BuNo.
141325
wa s built as one
of
e 124 WV-2 airborne
early
-
warning
picket) platforms, bu t after
in the l iverv shown with
EC-1210. At one time
in the late 1960s
w as an EC
-
121P with submarine
t ion equipment.
I V
il ,
.h I
*f
f irst modern
airborne
early -warning aircraft to
fly,
with rotating rotodome -type
arrays, was
t h is WV
-
2E of
the
US Navy
first
flown in 1956, with
the
new
APS-82 surveillance radar. In 1962 it w a s
redesignated
EC-1211. by
whlch
time
other
rotodome
-
equipped
C-121s
were
flying. They l ed t o
today's
B o ei ng E 3 A
Far
more important in th e
post
-
1960
e r a wa s th e
profusion of
intriguing
mil i tary
v e r s i o n s , packed with
unusual
mainly of an el ectroni c
nature,
which
thundered
faithfully
l l
over t h e globe until
1980
despi te concerted e f f o r t s made from
to
eliminate
everything
calling
fo r 1151145
gasoline. In t h e
Super Constellations of t h e USAF and U S
Navy
flew more
600,000 hours,
though
by t h i s
time
t h e
basic type
ceased to
in books on U S mil i tary
aircraf t .
Tota l production of
a l l
models was 856 (one XC
-
69 , 233 Constel lations, 578
Constellations
and
44
Starliners).
O n 15
April 1969
a
U S Navy 'Connie' piloted
by
Lieutenant
mander James
Overstreet
was attacked by tw o North
Korean
MiG -17
f ighters over t h e Se a of Japan and
shot
down. Th e loss
EC-12134 no . 135749 from electronics squadron VQ -1, and
of
all
3
American
c r e w
m e m b e r s
t h e
only
l oss in
anger
of
a U S militar
Constel lation ~
highlights
t h e
special
role
of
this ai rcraf t
type
i
reconnaissance. intelligence -gathering,
and
airborne ear ly warn
ing (AEW).
This
role
was f i r s t undertaken when the ubiquitous 'old 196
was
converted ~
again
~ by
LockbeediBurbank fo r
t r ia ls
as a
AEW platform. Modif ications to accommodate radar and othe
gear gave t h e Connie
a
tal l , nar row dorsal hump
and
a large unde
f us e l age
bulge.
This configuration
was
f i r s t seen operationally
o
t he U S Navy's PO-1W and
PO
-
2W
( l a te r
designated WV
-
1
an
WV -2) weather -reconnaissance and AEW machines
based respe
t iv el y o n t h e 74 9 and 1049 air l iners.
Later , o ther du t i es were added
to
t h e AEW role, includin
e l e c t r o n i c
eavesdropping
and countermeasures.
The
variety
humps, bumps
and bulges
protruding
from various
'spook' C,onnie
in
the
C
-
121
series
became, i t se l f , an encyclopedia - length subjec
A
one
-
of f
variant,
t h e WV
-
BE,
later
called
EC
-
ElL,
carried
i
antenna in
a
saucer
-
l ik e d isc evocative of today's Boeing
E-3
Sentry.
In
t hes e Co n st e ll a ti o ns . l a r ge crews c ou ld jou rney for up to 3
hours fa r from t h e
Flee t
or
from s ho re , r e l i e f
c r e w s
replacing eac
other
while
searching for a ir or
se a threats.
Initially, with th
purpose of
extending t h e
range
o f ground and sh ip radars,
USA
C,onste l la t ions were used off American
coasts by t h e
Air
D e f e n s
Command.
In Vietnam,
under
t h e 'College
Eye' programme
USAF Constel lations
stood
of f
t h e e n e m y
coas t
and
reported
MiG
activity
to endangered US combat
pilots.
In South Vietnam, t h
USAF 's EC -l21R, camouflaged and devoid of bulges, copied enem
radio
transmissions fo r
Intel l igence.
More
than
a
dozen
designa
t ions
were eventually applied to
'spook'
Connies see Variant
l i s t ) , and today on e of t h e most beaut i fu l of these preserve
machines
i s
th e
U S
Navy's
EC
-
121K
no.
141292,
f rom
squadro
VAQ -33,
on
display
at
t h e Ai r and Space M u s e u m
in F l orence
South Carol ina.
Lockheed Constellation variants
Mode1049 -39-10:
pra -war
T h k P a n A m alrcralt
wlth
four 2.200
-
hp
1641
-
kWi R-3350
35a l te r
belngtakenoberby
U S A A r p r ~ o r t o c o m p l e t ~ o n .
f l r s t a l r C r a f l i L o c k h ~ ~ ~o 1961
completedas
XC
-
691n
ollvedrab. cvt l i e q l s t r a t on NX67900.
la lerNK25600. IaterAAF 43 -1 0309,
rcmali lng
alrcraft AAFC -69-1 43-1
0310/1031 7:
andC
-
69
-
5,42~945491945611,tu;al
22
C
-
69C:
converslon
0
294550 as
VI P
transport.
later ZC
-
69C
XC
-
69E:
converslon
of
i l lst prololypcwith
2
000
-
hp 1492