my dad was a senior Flight Engineer on the EC-121 at Otis then in Korat...I remember as a kid watching the run ups before they headed off on missions covering the DEW line....WAY TO GO DAD !!!!
The GREATEST piston airliner ever. I got to fly in on when I was 8 yrs. old (1958) from Panama to Miami as my father had been based in Honduras at the Embassy and we were returning to the US. I will NEVER forget it. Thanks for this upload.
Thanks for a great memory. When I was a little boy around 10, my parents and I went to the Birmingham, AL airport. A friendly Eastern Airlines crew gave us a tour of the pilot's cabin. Security was not an issue. I wish I could thank them again. It was an out of this world treat for a kid from the country!
I remember being the ground guy with the fire bottle. The Navy started them in a 3-2-1-4 order, they could dump lots of fuel when they flooded. Quite an aircraft.
My father flew EC-121's out of Argentia, Newfoundland (VW-11, 54-60). He loved those birds, something about that long, elegant nose gear and drooping nose. Mind you, he was an old Corsair pilot but the Super Connie always held a dear and special place in his heart. I think he racked up something like 9000 hours in them.
Beautiful bird, no doubt about it. There's a great video made by Eastern Airlines starring the late Author Godfrey. I always thought of him as just a b actor from the 40s, but he was also quite the aviation enthusiast. In fact, there was a little field just outside of Leesburg, VA (not far from my home) that was named after him. Back in the day, he used to fly his private DC-3 out of it (it was a cow pasture back then). Anyway, in the Eastern Airlines video, Godfrey is actual at the controls demonstrating the aircraft's capabilities (he was an accomplished Naval aviator, by the way). Check out the video, I'm sure you'll enjoy it..
On the observation deck at CVG in the late '60's watching my USN Uncle Norbert boarding to go home and my Dad (Army '44)and my Uncle giving a snap salute to each other before he boarded,one of my favorite memories of all time.My Uncle was and is my all time best buddy,they don't make them like him anymore.RIP,Dad and Uncle Norbert.
When I was a little kid, I used to watch the old DC-7's, Constillations, and Boeing StratoCruisers starting up. The smell of the smoke was something I'll always remember. As crazy as it sounds, that smell was delicious! Nothing like the kerosene exhaust smell of the jets that replaced them.
The 3-4-2-1- sequence in starting engines originated back during WWII when there were no onboard fire bottles so a ground crewman had to stand beside each engine with an extinguisher. By starting inboards first, on both wings, the crewman with the extinguisher did not have a screw turning behind him which would have been risky. As the years passed the 3-4-2-1- starting sequence just stuck, even though the days of the ground crewman with the extinguisher had long since pasted.
Great to see the old gal starting, I flew them from Midway Is. back in the early '60's.. They were comfortable for an 18 hour flight to Kodiak Alaska and back. Navy work..
I flew on the EC-121 for 5 years and have 2500 hours on her (552nd & 79th, USAF). She may have landed with 3 turning, on a couple of occasions she did the job with 2. But she always brought us home. And I STILL talk to the ratechs, and the FE's, and navs and pilots I flew with back in the 70's, and there's no finer group of men and women to wear a uniform. BTW, the FIRST "non-medical" (meaning who weren't nurses) combat crew qualified FEMALE aircrew members flew on the Connie with the 79th AEW Sq, Homestead, AFB, 76-78. And women sure looked better in a flight suit than I did. 😍
Dad was an engine mechanic on the 552nd birds at MacClellan. That was 1958 to 1961. He left service in September '61, one week later a buddy of his was supposed to separate, but was mandatory extended one year, Vietnam.
I was in the Air Force in 1969 and was stationed at Otis AFB on Cape Cod..we had a fleet of Connie's that were used as early radar detection..they had a bubble on top..used to watch in awe as the took off and landed less than 200 feet away..they had a certain sound when they flew..no other aircraft made the same sound..truly a great airplane in it's day..
My father used to be a flight engineer on RCAF Lancaster bombers back in the early 50's. His job must have been pretty similar to what we see in this video, except that the engines where V12 Rolls-Royce, if memory serves.
The radials make music... I grew up in the LaGuardia Runway 4 final approach pattern. EVERY day, these incredible aircraft, and many other radial engined greats like the Douglas DC-3,4,6,and 7's flew over my house on final. I'm a musician by trade, and the sound of Prat and Whitney, and Wright turbo-compound radial engines is as musical as anything I've ever played. For those that didn't get to hear these every day like i did, all I can say is you really missed a rich experience.
When I was a kid my dad would take me down to the flight line in Burbank and let me "Help" him start the engines when they were doing run-ups. thanks for the video
I saw these in operation (Eastern Airlines?) at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, WV in the early 60's. I think I even went into the cockpit of one, as a Cub Scout. A beautiful plane.
Loved all of those "steam gauges", especially on the engineer's panel (could see them "fluxing" a little bit - might have been fuel flow). Only worked on one Connie (tach gen shaft sheared). Worked on the C-118A's , R-2800's for 4 years, out of the Instrument Shop. Great planes, those Connies and C-118's. N-6395T
I was allowed to fly a DC6 for two hours left seat. I felt honored. The plane feels like a small plane really. A Connie likely feels near the same when trimmed and comfortably rumbling on. I understood the engines were designed for 130 octane fuel which hasn't been available for about 5 decades now. Noted that they started engine number 3 first.
There are tons of video on YT but only a few are really worth watching; this is a fine example of what I mean. Beautiful machine properly filmed. Thanks
I recall reading the pilot would count 8 "blade tips" at start up to clear any oil pooling the cylinder heads. The second engine on the far right (facing out) he rotated over 30 tips. Guess he cleared out the oil.
....radial engines had a lot looser tolerances than liquid-cooled engines since they were harder to keep at a constant temperature when running. Also, some of the 18 cylinders on a radial engine are "upside-down" & oil had a habit of leaking into the cylinder after they shut down & needed to be burned off after start-up. Check out the TH-cam clip of the Super G Constellation fly-by to hear this thing in action. Now THAT'S music to my ears...!
I may have flown on one of the last of these beauties in domestic commercial service as a youngster. Eastern Air Lines was still running these as extra sections for the DCA-NYC-BOS Shuttle. Flew from DCA to Newark, as close to the deck as a piper cub. A real joy to see one so clean and unneglected, and operational!
Oh, how nice is that TriStar in the background. Such a cute turned up nose. Pretty as a picture. The Connie is just gorgeous too, they both are. Well they're both Lockheed, so they should be.Runs in the family.
Had the privilege of making 5 jumps from this Connie back at the World FreeFall Convention in Quincy, Illinois in the late 90's. Getting to fly in this amazing aircraft was a treat indeed. I was allowed into the cockpit and the pilot was gracious enough to let me rest my hand on the throttles for a few seconds. Lots of prop blast on the exit and quite the view. Fun jumps.
The Connie was an excellent ship. In '85 while at San-Val (Van Nuys, CA) with my A&P, one was parked there allowing me an extensive close-up walk around. A beautiful aircraft...
The longer roll time before hitting the mags-on is to allow oil circulation as well as allowing the lower cylinders of the radial config to clear sediment oil. The flight engineer waits for the guages to show stats before lighting to run. The oil burn off is why the smoke at start up also.
She proudly held the 👑 crown of the 👸 queen of the skies, built to challenge the tyranny of distance and cross 🌊 oceans. ❤️ love the smokey fiery engine starts. Her London to Sydney flight time was around 96 hours.
And to think that airplane was absolutely state of the art in 1952. . . There couldn't be a more perfect visual definition of the work "cantankerous" than a video of those engines starting up!
To answer eldrade's question about start order. The electrical design is part of the choice. Usually you want to start the engine first that is closest to the battery bank that supplies the starting power. On some large aircraft it may be the left inboard and others the right inboard. Once you have the first engine turning then you can rely on generator power to start the others. There will still be a defined starting order for all multi-engine aircraft partly because of safety and always operating identically.
This is sooo amazing...you can see and feel that they really want that Lady in the Air!!! That moment the 4 engines are nearly running synchrone...a big fat wow!!! Let her go!!!
My sister and I left Havana, Cuba on an Iberia Airlines Super Connie on January 27, 1962......I was 8 years old, and remember it till this day.....We made a stop in Bermuda for the refueling to Madrid, Spain.....All told the trip took 18 hours.....People nowadays are spoiled rotten.....They want everything fast.....We have not returned to Cuba since that day....Sierra Cuban, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
The smoke comes mostly from burning lubrication oil (SAE100): on radial engines, if stopped, the oil trickle in the lover cylinders , infiltrate in the combustion chambers, this is why the engine is drive a long time to evacuate the most oil and avoid a hydraulic lock, the ignition is only make "on" after the cylindrer drain rotation delay...
Most beautiful airplane that ever flew. I used to fantasize about winning the lottery, buying a Connie, then hanging 4 turboprop engines on it. Then I discovered the YC-121!!!!
This is just like in the Movie The lost boys, when grandpa and Sam are in the old car and grandpa starts it and says “Let’s go to town!” And then shuts the fucking car off.
Very similar. The engines appear to turn very slowly during start up. But 3350's have a gear reduction unit on the front of the engine case that causes the prop to turn slower than the engine.
Oh yeah, the scene where the expend the next to the last cartridge in the Kaufman starter just to clean the plugs! Great scene. Too bad that move cost Paul Mantz his life.
MrFrontenginedragste i think he said I'm going to fire one cartridge with the ignition off, to clear the cylinders. but its amazing they were able to rebuild their damaged aircraft with the tools they had and were able to fly to where ever
I remember an incident as a kid these flew I. and out of the original Chicago O Hare. My grandmother was on one the engines started up and my aunt cried out vey the engine is on fire.
Darn thing belched smoke and flame and leaked oil like a seive. They didn't call it the oily bird for nothing, but it flew like a dream..,perfectly smooth at a speed of 300 mph.
the "power recovery turbines" on those engines added 30% more horsepower to the base engines output...............very sophisticated. Gorgeous plane..........
One of the most beautiful aircraft ever built!
my dad was a senior Flight Engineer on the EC-121 at Otis then in Korat...I remember as a kid watching the run ups before they headed off on missions covering the DEW line....WAY TO GO DAD !!!!
Picket Line .
The GREATEST piston airliner ever. I got to fly in on when I was 8 yrs. old (1958) from Panama to Miami as my father had been based in Honduras at the Embassy and we were returning to the US. I will NEVER forget it. Thanks for this upload.
Thanks for a great memory. When I was a little boy around 10, my parents and I went to the Birmingham, AL airport. A friendly Eastern Airlines crew gave us a tour of the pilot's cabin. Security was not an issue. I wish I could thank them again. It was an out of this world treat for a kid from the country!
One of the most beautiful planes ever built.
The music coming from those big radials. The best.
+SuperSaltydog77 Amen to that !!
Flew on one of these in Sept of 1959 NY to Paris making a stop in Shannon Ireland to re-fuel.
I remember being the ground guy with the fire bottle. The Navy started them in a 3-2-1-4 order, they could dump lots of fuel when they flooded. Quite an aircraft.
This aircraft was so beautiful!! Great to see her so old and still working😍
My father flew EC-121's out of Argentia, Newfoundland (VW-11, 54-60). He loved those birds, something about that long, elegant nose gear and drooping nose. Mind you, he was an old Corsair pilot but the Super Connie always held a dear and special place in his heart. I think he racked up something like 9000 hours in them.
Beautiful bird, no doubt about it. There's a great video made by Eastern Airlines starring the late Author Godfrey. I always thought of him as just a b actor from the 40s, but he was also quite the aviation enthusiast. In fact, there was a little field just outside of Leesburg, VA (not far from my home) that was named after him. Back in the day, he used to fly his private DC-3 out of it (it was a cow pasture back then). Anyway, in the Eastern Airlines video, Godfrey is actual at the controls demonstrating the aircraft's capabilities (he was an accomplished Naval aviator, by the way). Check out the video, I'm sure you'll enjoy it..
I remember these flying over as a child 50+ years ago. The tail is unmistakeable-
On the observation deck at CVG in the late '60's watching my USN Uncle Norbert boarding to go home and my Dad (Army '44)and my Uncle giving a snap salute to each other before he boarded,one of my favorite memories of all time.My Uncle was and is my all time best buddy,they don't make them like him anymore.RIP,Dad and Uncle Norbert.
When I was a little kid, I used to watch the old DC-7's, Constillations, and Boeing StratoCruisers starting up. The smell of the smoke was something I'll always remember. As crazy as it sounds, that smell was delicious! Nothing like the kerosene exhaust smell of the jets that replaced them.
The 3-4-2-1- sequence in starting engines originated back during WWII when there were no onboard fire bottles so a ground crewman had to stand beside each engine with an extinguisher. By starting inboards first, on both wings, the crewman with the extinguisher did not have a screw turning behind him which would have been risky. As the years passed the 3-4-2-1- starting sequence just stuck, even though the days of the ground crewman with the extinguisher had long since pasted.
Great to see the old gal starting, I flew them from Midway Is. back in the early '60's.. They were comfortable for an 18 hour flight to Kodiak Alaska and back. Navy work..
Years ago it was the everydayroutine. Now we look at it as an flying museum
I flew on the EC-121 for 5 years and have 2500 hours on her (552nd & 79th, USAF). She may have landed with 3 turning, on a couple of occasions she did the job with 2. But she always brought us home. And I STILL talk to the ratechs, and the FE's, and navs and pilots I flew with back in the 70's, and there's no finer group of men and women to wear a uniform. BTW, the FIRST "non-medical" (meaning who weren't nurses) combat crew qualified FEMALE aircrew members flew on the Connie with the 79th AEW Sq, Homestead, AFB, 76-78. And women sure looked better in a flight suit than I did. 😍
Dad was an engine mechanic on the 552nd birds at MacClellan. That was 1958 to 1961. He left service in September '61, one week later a buddy of his was supposed to separate, but was mandatory extended one year, Vietnam.
My great uncle also told me this tidbit of wisdom youve posted. it is much appreciated.
Beautiful bird! Love the 1011 in the background also!
I was in the Air Force in 1969 and was stationed at Otis AFB on Cape Cod..we had a fleet of Connie's that were used as early radar detection..they had a bubble on top..used to watch in awe as the took off and landed less than 200 feet away..they had a certain sound when they flew..no other aircraft made the same sound..truly a great airplane in it's day..
All grand old dragons should roar and shoot flame when they start.
Howard Hughes was a pretty smart dude! Went around the world on some of these magnificent planes !
I love old Lockheed airplanes, My father flew on the P2V-7 Neptune ASW patrol/bomber with VP-56 in the Navy at NAS in Iceland.
My father used to be a flight engineer on RCAF Lancaster bombers back in the early 50's. His job must have been pretty similar to what we see in this video, except that the engines where V12 Rolls-Royce, if memory serves.
Beautiful!
The radials make music... I grew up in the LaGuardia Runway 4 final approach pattern. EVERY day, these incredible aircraft, and many other radial engined greats like the Douglas DC-3,4,6,and 7's flew over my house on final. I'm a musician by trade, and the sound of Prat and Whitney, and Wright turbo-compound radial engines is as musical as anything I've ever played. For those that didn't get to hear these every day like i did, all I can say is you really missed a rich experience.
I grew up in NYC and I tmember the sound of these passing overhead . So different than the rumble of the jets that came later
When I was a kid my dad would take me down to the flight line in Burbank and let me "Help" him start the engines when they were doing run-ups. thanks for the video
Big old radial engines. All that oil down in the bottom cylinders. Makes for a great startup.
It sure is good to see that tri-star in the background. I hope that's being considered for preservation as well.
I saw these in operation (Eastern Airlines?) at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, WV in the early 60's. I think I even went into the cockpit of one, as a Cub Scout. A beautiful plane.
Once flew from Boston to Newark on a Lockheed Electra. It was an incredible plane. Imagine the Connie is as well.
Loved all of those "steam gauges", especially on the engineer's panel (could see them "fluxing" a little bit - might have been fuel flow). Only worked on one Connie (tach gen shaft sheared). Worked on the C-118A's , R-2800's for 4 years, out of the Instrument Shop. Great planes, those Connies and C-118's. N-6395T
I was allowed to fly a DC6 for two hours left seat. I felt honored. The plane feels like a small plane really. A Connie likely feels near the same when trimmed and comfortably rumbling on. I understood the engines were designed for 130 octane fuel which hasn't been available for about 5 decades now. Noted that they started engine number 3 first.
Standard fuel was 115/145 octane AVGAS, but you could only get 100/130 in mainland Europe during the 70's.
When starting up an aircraft was an occasion
As complicated to run as an old steam locomotive , and every bit as cool
Thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thanks for the upload-keep it up!
Great job, for a minute there I thought engine 4 was not going to start, 1 & 2 started very quickly in comparison.
There are tons of video on YT but only a few are really worth watching; this is a fine example of what I mean. Beautiful machine properly filmed. Thanks
Outstanding information! Thank you Ron!
I recall reading the pilot would count 8 "blade tips" at start up to clear any oil pooling the cylinder heads. The second engine on the far right (facing out) he rotated over 30 tips. Guess he cleared out the oil.
I crewed on these as a radar operator ‘77-‘78 until deactivation.
....radial engines had a lot looser tolerances than liquid-cooled engines since they were harder to keep at a constant temperature when running. Also, some of the 18 cylinders on a radial engine are "upside-down" & oil had a habit of leaking into the cylinder after they shut down & needed to be burned off after start-up. Check out the TH-cam clip of the Super G Constellation fly-by to hear this thing in action. Now THAT'S music to my ears...!
I may have flown on one of the last of these beauties in domestic commercial service as a youngster. Eastern Air Lines was still running these as extra sections for the DCA-NYC-BOS Shuttle. Flew from DCA to Newark, as close to the deck as a piper cub. A real joy to see one so clean and unneglected, and operational!
Oh, how nice is that TriStar in the background. Such a cute turned up nose. Pretty as a picture. The Connie is just gorgeous too, they both are.
Well they're both Lockheed, so they should be.Runs in the family.
I'm proud to have been a member of the crew of 'Camarillo Connie' N73544/54-156. Sure brings back some fine memories.
Sounds awesome
Hey! I got to visit this beautiful bird! Even got to tour the inside...
She's so majestic.
Had the privilege of making 5 jumps from this Connie back at the World FreeFall Convention in Quincy, Illinois in the late 90's. Getting to fly in this amazing aircraft was a treat indeed. I was allowed into the cockpit and the pilot was gracious enough to let me rest my hand on the throttles for a few seconds. Lots of prop blast on the exit and quite the view. Fun jumps.
The Connie was an excellent ship. In '85 while at San-Val (Van Nuys, CA) with my A&P, one was parked there allowing me an extensive close-up walk around.
A beautiful aircraft...
Great video. Thanks for sharing. :)
Never has a more beautiful airplane graced the skies.......
very nice video - I love connie
yes!
The longer roll time before hitting the mags-on is to allow oil circulation as well as allowing the lower cylinders of the radial config to clear sediment oil. The flight engineer waits for the guages to show stats before lighting to run. The oil burn off is why the smoke at start up also.
I LOVE the sound and smell of an R-3350 engine. I used to stand behind an engine, on a P2V Neptune, and suck that exhaust in. I was in heaven.
what a great sound - that really rocks !!
She proudly held the 👑 crown of the 👸 queen of the skies, built to challenge the tyranny of distance and cross 🌊 oceans. ❤️ love the smokey fiery engine starts. Her London to Sydney flight time was around 96 hours.
A stunning aircraft she is, I wish I had a chance to fly it.
Got a tour of this plane in Kansas City.. Pretty Sweet.
that's cool sound!
what an awesome sound..
And to think that airplane was absolutely state of the art in 1952. . .
There couldn't be a more perfect visual definition of the work "cantankerous" than a video of those engines starting up!
To answer eldrade's question about start order. The electrical design is part of the choice. Usually you want to start the engine first that is closest to the battery bank that supplies the starting power. On some large aircraft it may be the left inboard and others the right inboard. Once you have the first engine turning then you can rely on generator power to start the others. There will still be a defined starting order for all multi-engine aircraft partly because of safety and always operating identically.
Impresionante motores y el rudio impresiona. Gracias por compartir amigo.
Beautiful video
.....finest engine sounds ever................
Great video. Thanks.
This is sooo amazing...you can see and feel that they really want that Lady in the Air!!!
That moment the 4 engines are nearly running synchrone...a big fat wow!!!
Let her go!!!
I live in KC hopefully we can see her fly again.
those things not just did what they where made for - they where made to look great, too!
alot of times oil pools in the bottom cylins. hence some extra smoke
came back from Japan in one as an AF brat. coming back again years later was on a 707. 67 or so.
Been there done that!
I remember watching a Connie start at Logan Airport in Boston back in the 50s, can't remember the airline, but it was loud and smoky.
A wonderful reminder of an era when men were men and flight attendants were stewardesses!
My sister and I left Havana, Cuba on an Iberia Airlines Super Connie on January 27, 1962......I was 8 years old, and remember it till this day.....We made a stop in Bermuda for the refueling to Madrid, Spain.....All told the trip took 18 hours.....People nowadays are spoiled rotten.....They want everything fast.....We have not returned to Cuba since that day....Sierra Cuban, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
The smoke comes mostly from burning lubrication oil (SAE100): on radial engines, if stopped, the oil trickle in the lover cylinders , infiltrate in the combustion chambers, this is why the engine is drive a long time to evacuate the most oil and avoid a hydraulic lock, the ignition is only make "on" after the cylindrer drain rotation delay...
thank you sooo much for NOT using a fast shutter speed :D
I motori a pistoni sono su un altro pianeta!
Most beautiful airplane that ever flew. I used to fantasize about winning the lottery, buying a Connie, then hanging 4 turboprop engines on it. Then I discovered the YC-121!!!!
Great aircraft.First plane I flew on down toi Miami. Eastern air
Lines
Great! Now if they could only get it flying again, that'd be wonderful.
Oh my what a beautiful gal !!
And Howard Hughes solo started this thing up from a cold dark cockpit and flew it. Any questions?
Howard had some mad skills. Lol
things have improved somewhat in aviation lol
This is just like in the Movie The lost boys, when grandpa and Sam are in the old car and grandpa starts it and says “Let’s go to town!” And then shuts the fucking car off.
At First I Thought It Was A Turbo Prop Plane.
That Was...
Until The First Engine Started,!.
The Connie had 3350 engines. I was a Flight Engineer/mechanic on them.
WOuld love to hear any stories you might have to share...
That many? I only counted 4.
Interesting and beautiful.
Great sound from those Pratt and Whitney s
The Lockheed Constellation series all used the Wright 3350, radial engine.
man starting the engines in one of those is like trying to start an old car with half dead battery in winter weather
Very similar. The engines appear to turn very slowly during start up. But 3350's have a gear reduction unit on the front of the engine case that causes the prop to turn slower than the engine.
MrFrontenginedragste have you seen the film flight of the phoenix? remember how he starts the engines with shotgun shells?
Oh yeah, the scene where the expend the next to the last cartridge in the Kaufman starter just to clean the plugs! Great scene. Too bad that move cost Paul Mantz his life.
MrFrontenginedragste i think he said I'm going to fire one cartridge with the ignition off, to clear the cylinders. but its amazing they were able to rebuild their damaged aircraft with the tools they had and were able to fly to where ever
MrFrontenginedragste the plane used in that film was a C-119 flying boxcar I believe
awsome! bird's with soul's and the only plane I've been on. Piedmont used to be the flight of choice here.
Imagine having one of those in the backyard when the boys come around for a drinking session!!
I remember an incident as a kid these flew I. and out of the original Chicago O Hare. My grandmother was on one the engines started up and my aunt cried out vey the engine is on fire.
Love that old technology
And to think Howard Hughes read the manual for a brief period, and did this all by himself...and flew it.
Darn thing belched smoke and flame and leaked oil like a seive. They didn't call it the oily bird for nothing, but it flew like a dream..,perfectly smooth at a speed of 300 mph.
super Connie!
the "power recovery turbines" on those engines added 30% more horsepower to the base engines output...............very sophisticated. Gorgeous plane..........
They sure come to a stop quickly when they're shut down.
What beaut!!
AWESOME! I have actually been on this Connie at the National Airline History Museum. (Static Display not in the Air). Beautiful plane!!