Lockheed Constellation. The Many Lives Of "Connie" | Kelly Johnson's Early Involvement
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. Among the first aircraft that involved Kelly Johnson, the genius behind Skunk Works.
The first four-engine aircraft was produced by Lockheed. Upon its first flight, the chief test pilot remarked, "This machine works so well that you don't need me anymore!"
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The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use. Its pressurized cabin enabled commercial passengers to fly well above the worst weather for the first time, thus significantly improving the general safety and ease of air travel.
Several different models of the Constellation series were produced, although they all featured the distinctive triple-tail and dolphin-shaped fuselage. Most were powered by four 18-cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclones. In total, 856 were produced between 1943 and 1958 at Lockheed's plant in Burbank, California, and used as both a civil airliner and as a military and civilian cargo transport. Among their famous uses was during the Berlin and the Biafran airlifts. Three served as the presidential aircraft for Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of which is featured at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
With the onset of World War II, the TWA aircraft entering production was converted to an order for C-69 Constellation military transport aircraft, with 202 aircraft intended for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The first prototype (civil registration NX25600) flew on January 9, 1943, a short ferry hop from Burbank to Muroc Field for testing. Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen, on loan from Boeing, flew the left seat, with Lockheed's own Milo Burcham as the copilot. Rudy Thoren and Kelly Johnson were also aboard.
Lockheed proposed the model L-249 as a long-range bomber. It received the military designation XB-30, but the aircraft was not developed. A plan for a very long-range troop transport, the C-69B (L-349, ordered by Pan Am in 1940 as the L-149), was canceled. A single C-69C (L-549), a 43-seat VIP transport, was built in 1945 at the Lockheed-Burbank plant.
The C-69 was mostly used as a high-speed, long-distance troop transport during the war. In total, 22 C-69s were built before the end of hostilities, but seven of these never entered military service, as they were converted to civilian L-049s on the assembly line. The USAAF canceled the remainder of the order in 1945. Some aircraft remained in USAF service into the 1960s, serving as passenger ferries for the airline that relocated military personnel, wearing the livery of the Military Air Transport Service. At least one of these airplanes had rear-facing passenger seats.
General characteristics
Crew: 5 flight crew, varying cabin crew
Capacity: typically 62-95 passengers (109 in high-density configuration) / 18,300 lb (8,301 kg) payload
Length: 116 ft 2 in (35.41 m)
Wingspan: 126 ft 2 in (38.46 m)
Height: 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m)
Wing area: 1,654 sq ft (153.7 m2)
Aspect ratio: 9.17
Airfoil: root: NACA 23018; tip: NACA 4412
Empty weight: 79,700 lb (36,151 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 137,500 lb (62,369 kg)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: CD,0 = 0.0211
Drag area: 34.82 sq ft (3.235 m2)
Powerplant: 4 × Wright R-3350-DA3 Duplex-Cyclone 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 3,250 hp (2,420 kW) each
Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed propellers
Performance
Maximum speed: 377 mph (607 km/h, 328 kn)
Cruise speed: 340 mph (550 km/h, 300 kn) at 22,600 ft (6,888 m)
Stall speed: 100 mph (160 km/h, 87 kn)
Range: 5,400 mi (8,700 km, 4,700 nmi)
Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,300 m)
Rate of climb: 1,620 ft/min (8.2 m/s)
Lift-to-drag: 16
Wing loading: 87.7 lb/sq ft (428 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.094 hp/lb (0.155 kW/kg)
#constellation #skunkworks #aircraft
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I'm not old enough to have flown the Connie, but I did fly Eastern back in the early 70's from Gainesville Fl to Charlotte NC... Not sure if it was a DC-9, or a 727, but I remember that it had WhisperJet emblazoned on the engine nacelle. That was a VERY big deal to a 7 year old boy ;-) My father said he was behind the a/c about 50' away when it spun around to taxi and he said he was covered in kerosene and stunk all the way home, (it was about an hour drive). What great memories!!! I sure do miss my dad!!! If you still have yours, give him a hug, & tell him you love him!!! One day, he won't be there, so do it NOW 🙂
In australia is one still flying
Interesting fact: A Constellation was the LAST airplane that Orville Wright ever flew in 1946 before his death in 1947. He was picked up in Dayton and the captain let him into the cockpit and take the controls for a few minutes. Wright remarked, concerning the auto pilot. "I always thought a plane should fly itself". ---- Amazing progress! just over 40 years from the first flight ever.
It's amazing to think that withing 40 years planes had autopilot. What engineering and technical innovation in such a short time. He had to be amazed. Thanks for sharing this information.
they had autopilots before WWII-- What blows MY mind was planes didn't even have a cockpit forty years before, Orvile laid on his belly on top of a wing to fly his pane a few hundred feet.@@dp92492
Do remember that in those 40 years we had two of the greatest drivers for progress, War.
@@randybentley2633and Here we are again...war...
Wakanda forever!
I'm an old WV2 crewmember. This is best Connie coverage that I've seen.
This is my story about the Constellation! I Was in the Army in Germany 62 -65 we were on a train to Bremerhaven to take a troop ship back to the states. But half way to Bremerhaven they stopped us with new orders, troop ship had to go back to the states immediately! To bring the Big Red One to Vietnam, so all of us on the train went back to Frankfurt, To Rhein-main Air Force Base ! So there were Hundreds of Us! So they were putting us on any Plane that could fly across the Atlantic Ocean! There were about 50 or so not sure. They said That’s your plane!! Looking at props we all said that could fly across the Atlantic Ocean?? Of course we were gullible about Planes! But they assured us the Constellation was a great Plane!!
I am extremely happy about flying on that wonderful Plane!!! Great Memories! Bob. R
My father was a navigator on the ec121. They flew training missions at Harrisburg airport and flew over our neighborhood for hours at a time. I will always have a place in my heart for Connie. Such a beautiful aircraft
Respect 🫡
TERRIFIC AND MAGNIFICENT
My father was in the Air Force during the early to late fifties, height of the cold war. He installed early warning radar stations around the world, and flew in just about every type transport of the day. He even worked on the EC121 models..and stuff he could not talk about. He did indeed love the Connie the best though. When we lived down range in the Caribbean we would have to take the old prop jobs in, scared my mom to death! Great video, have to say, this is back when men were men, no namby-pamby's allowed! 🤣
I served with several men that flew as crew in Navy Super Connie "Willy Victors". They told great "sea stories" of their experiences. Military Connies are unsung hero of avaition history. Thanks for bringing this info to the attention of aviation history enthusiast.
Wow!
I flew as Navy crew in one in Japan in the mid-sixties.
@@rickwendling5735 I can only imagine the sea stories 😎
Wow the best part of this video is the old clip from the early 1950s with Eddie Rickenbacker he was around 62 at the time it was filmed, he was 82 years of age when he passed away on July 23, 1973.
I was taking flying lessons in Clovis New Mexico around 1972. One day I saw the military version with a radome on top, fly by me fairly close.
Very cool, I remember watching Arthur Godfrey on TV when I was a kid in the 60s. I never knew he was a pilot. I also remember seeing the Constellation as a very young boy, beautiful airplane.
That the triple-tail is placed high in order to be above propeller down-wash as being the reason for the graceful s-curve of the connies fuselage reinforces the airplane design saying that; "if it looks right it usually is". Form is function and function beauty. Kelly Johnson could 'really see air'.
There’s a joke about the Constellation on a trans continental flight.
“This is your captain, he have lost one engine but no problem, we’ll just be an hr late”.
A little later:
“This is your captain, he have lost a second engine but no problem, we’ll just be 2 hrs late”
A little later:
“This is your captain, we have lost a third engine but no problem, we’ll just be 4 hrs late”
One passenger to another:
“If we lose that 4th engine we’ll be up here all night!”
heh 😁
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I rode on one while a cadet. By that time, they were pretty long in the tooth. But it did have a visual elegance, and served good international roles between the 54s, and early jet transports. Well suited for Templehof, which I had the privilege to fly in to, several times. Flying between the apartment buildings, surreal.
This is a compilation of three sections, the second being the classic Arthur Godfrey/Eastern Airlines film, the third a Lockheed film about the manufacture of the Super Constellation. Good to see these historical records available on one channel.
Only complaint is that he reuses a couple of movies in multiple videos, but I understand that there are only a few movies he can show...
I had the good fortune of experiencing this beautiful aircraft when I came to the USA in the 1960s. We used to live at 49 Saint Nicholas Terrace, NYC, and every day this beautiful plane, Constellation, used to fly overhead our apartment building on route to land at La Guardia airport in New York City. A graceful aircraft.
carlitos
My Dad flew in the "Willie Victor's" out of Newfoundland in the late 50"s and again in the early 60"s...flying the "barrier" to Scotland via Greenland/Iceland...
She sure is a classic beauty! Thanks for sharing, appreciate it 👍
Greets from the Netherlands, T.
my uncle flew for UAL DC4s, DC6s and 7s, 727s, and DC 10s. One airplane he loved was the Connie, never got to fly it. simply the most beautiful transport ever manufactured.
From 1971-75 I was in a Navy squadron, VAQ-33, electronics countermeasures. We were permanent land based at N.A.S., Norfolk, Va. Among our several kinds of jets, we also had an EC-121 Super Connie. It had the radome on top and the round radome underneath. Hearing the turbo props fire off and run was great. I was enlisted and a Plane Captain for our ERA-3B Skywarriors. Once, I got to go along on a flight down to Florida...forget where...( Old Age..lol..!! ). I spent a lot of time in the cockpit and really enjoyed the ride.
Yes, the undisputed Queen Of The Sky...and still is after all these years.
Certainly NOT a turboprop. All EC-121s had Powerplants of: 4 × Wright R-3350-34 turbo compound 18-cylinder supercharged radial engines, 3,400 hp (2,536 kW) each
@@jimstevens2981 ....Ooops....sorry about that...thanks for the proper information.
In 1953 Mom & Dad took my two older brothers, toddler sister and my seven-year-old self from our Detroit home for a three-day visit to Chicago. From Willow Run to Midway we rode a DC7. Back to home we were in a DC3.
Both of these American Airliners had lots of engine and prop vibration, but since every seat had a built-in ashtray in its armrest, the noise from all those rattlers was almost as obnoxious as all that smoke.
Never flew in a Connie, but I remember the "What I Want to Be" featurette on Mickey Mouse Club. Duncan and Pat trained to be Pilot/Stewardess for a Connie Flight. Pretty neat stuff for a ten-yeat-old!
My friends grandfather was one of the chief designers of this plane. Kelly Johnson came to his funeral to deliver the eulogy
My first airplane trip in the 50s was in a Connie. Alas, I was too young to remember anything of it. From Charleston, SC to Kindley Field in Bermuda when my dad was stationed there, and the reverse trip a couple of years later. My next airplane flight - except for the Grumman American AA-1A in which I learned to fly - was in 1976 and was again at the behest of the Air Force when I flew from Lackland AFB to Lowry AFB for tech school after basic training.
The Connie was such a beautiful aircraft, a perfectly melded work of art and science.
My first trans Atlantic crossing BOAC 749 Constellation flown by my father Dorval to Heathrow, too young to remember sadly, later middle 50's Rome to London do have memories, beautiful aeroplane.
The Sofia Loren of passenger airliners, the best looking ship that ever flew..
My favorite of the old prop driven aircraft. I had the opportunity to tour and sit in the cockpit of one at an air show over 20 years ago. Hopefully I'll be able to see another one and take my kids to see one someday. Great video.
There is one at the air museum at the downtown airport in Kansas City.
Ione old one on display at JFK airpirt. NY.
I spent a year flying in the EC-121R version in operation Igloo White. We flew over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam and Laos. The trail was loaded with sensors (mostly seismic) that detected truck traffic. We picked up the sensor signals, looked at the traffic onboard and relayed the data to a big computer center at NKP where they would call in air strikes. Really great airplane.
I remember taking an Air France Constellation as a small child in 1950 from Paris to NYC.
I would have liked to have heard a bit about the US Navy's Connies used on submarine patrol. A friend of mine flew on one of these in the late 1950's and spoke of the time his plane ended up ditching out of fuel. The pilot put it down very gently and it just floated with those big empty tanks. The crew evacuated the aircraft and one crewman slipped when stepping off the wing flap into the life boat and got his shoe wet. Everyone else was dry through the whole adventure and they were picked up after a short time on the water. The aircraft was still floating the next day and a Coast Guard cutter was ordered to sink it. In addition to looking for Soviet subs they flew hurricane patrol and the day they splashed in they were answering a mayday SOS and that was why the pilot cut his fuel too close.
Sink it? Why not tow in into port?
Still floating the next day I love it 😂
The C-69 was a beautiful airplane, derived from the "Super Constellation". It had the long range and capacity during it's day as a passenger aircraft. TWA used them just before the 707s came to the fleet. The C-69 had a range for a RECON airplane in the military. A wonderful airplane it was in both versions.
My dad was a flight engineer on Connie's in the navy. Did 2 tours in Nam with vx(n)-8. Taking off from sigon during tet they took over 1,000 rounds. Safely landed. No one hurt.
To all the crew of the 552nd AEW group of Mcclellan AFB from 64 to 68, I salute you and those who served in the "Big Eye" operation. Reach out to me you old retired USAF guys.
It's funny how airplanes had such grace before we were worried about stealth.
The Connie, Blackbird, Concord and Tomcat being four very beautiful planes.
Interesting film. I flew on a Super H to Europe in 1964, a charter through Flying Tiger Lines. The Super H could be configured for passenger or freight. The seating was basic, tubular frame, what you might expect on military aircraft. There was some kind of mechanical problem, and we had to wait several hours in Gander, Newfoundland for repairs. The flight originated in Boston, then Gander, then Keflavik, and finally the destination in Helsinki.
Why didn't they have double bladed contra-rotating propellers added to extend the life of these aircrafts. They have been found to be between 6% and 16% more efficient than normal propellers. These are one of the most beautiful aircrafts ever made.
1. Much heavier (props+gearbox). 2. Noisy as hell (e.g. Tu-114). Turboprops were the way to go, but the early ones were not that efficient. Nowadays, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 family would do very well on the Connie, but curiously kerosene needs bigger tanks, so range would suffer.
@@awuma- it may be the most beautiful commercial jet liner ever built. If you had the money to have a new one build you could change the source of propellent!
I had the pleasure of seeing one of these at an airshow. Such a beautiful airplane.
lucky you!
Whenever I see a Connie lift off (in person at airshows or on video) It changes from spindly legged to beautiful... I dont think the other comments about art are wrong !! Great video... Thank you...
My dad was Roy E Wimmer he was the flight engineer on the connie he worked with kelly johnson and skunk works but ny dad started it all with kelly johnson.he also had part in the Electrica ,C130, and the connie
When I was 8 years old we use to go down town and watch these land back in McGrath 😊😊😊😊 use to have to charge The batteries to jump start them. To turn over the engine .
Looks a very stable aircraft. Steady as a rock.
Such a beautiful and elegant aircraft.
The Constellation should have gotten the turboprop variant by 1954. Its top speed of 415 mph would have kept the Constellation relevant until at least the middle 1960's.
1) Why was the DC-6 faster with the standard engines than the Connie? -forcing Lockheed to aim for a bigger engine- was it the fuselage? 2) What impact did the British Comet and Vickers Viscount turboprop have on the Connie 3) What strategy did Lockheed adopt when it became obvious that the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 were arriving on the scene?
When I was serving at Pax River, the Navy still had two, both making occasional appearances. Even though one seemed always to have a smoking engine (oil leak), they were still beautiful.
I remember seeing some Navy’s WVs on the ramp at Rota, Spain the times I went there the years of 1972-1974. VQ Squadrons flew these for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering then. Somewhere I have a picture of one parked next to a C-5 and C-141.
Beautiful Beautiful airplane.
Wonderful documentary for us, lovers of aviation . Thanks
"now that we finished the climb-check...time for a chesterfield!" lol wow! @1:05:58
The flight reanactment is FANTASTIC! WISH I WERE A PASSENGER THEN!
A Classic and beautiful airframe!! Bucket list for me to fly on!
The most……., beautiful plane I know of. Giant radial pistons- flame belching gems of gorgeous engineering.
Jets do not, have the same soul.
In 1964 I was a passenger on a charter flight of a Super Connie from the University of Illinois to Los Angeles and return for the Rose Bowl. Old plane and old crew, but we made it.
The last version of the Connie was the most beautiful airliner ever built!
It's always funny where you see something that brings back good memories. I remember my sister's boyfriends hitting the side of the ships with stones not snowballs 😅when they were going through the Welland canal when I was a kid. 🙂🍁
My parents flown from Germany to Sydney on a milk run, where I was born 3 month later. I remember seeing that aircraft on airports in the 60s.
Great profile. The photographs at the depict a machine of awe.
I just found this documentary it looks very good and I intend to watch because the Lockheed Connie is one amazing machine with it's four complex Wright R-3350 power plants. I actually just watched an excellent 2.5 hr documentary about flying the amazing advanced 787 Dreamliner by a knowledgeable proud Norwegian Airline pilot explaining all of it's crazy hightech computerized controls right here on TH-cam and it was awe inspiring. When the Connie came out people were just as as much awestruck and rightfully so! Just sayin, we've sure come far in aviation! 👍✈️❤️😊
My father worked as a machinist at Lockheed and machined the first prototype of the wing section described at 1:37:26 . He talked about how all the executives and engineers were hovering around him and how he told them they all needed to bug off and leave him alone if they wanted him to get on with it. I like to fantasize my dad telling Kelly Johnson to beat it, though he never mentioned anyone’s name in his stories. That would have been just like him 😂
A truly epic aircraft and one of the best looking as well.
Anyone who bets against Lockheed should have his or her head examined.
I have always loved the form of the Constellation, and my dream of dreams is to own one and be able to fly my entire family out to any location we might wish to visit, and because they were economical, it's an easy way to transport all of my kin out to a location, say Hawaii, or Florida or Cuba or anywhere in the world for that matter. How much money could an entire clan save if the only expense to visiting a place is the price of fuel, food and accommodations. Oh well, since they are all gone now except for the ones in museums, my dream in nothing more than a pipe dream.
There are two or three Connies in different variants still flying.
AMAZING AIRCRAFT. BEAUTIFUL DESIGN. STUPENDOUS . CLASSIC. I'd fly this over a 737 anyday
The bit with Arthur Godfrey was very nice!
The last time i saw a Connie AE was a USAF one at a RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland in mid 1975.
My dad tried to get get me a flight on one but TWA retired the last last Connie just before i flew out to St. Louis from NY that year. Bummer!
Howard Hughes designed this. And HIS was GENIUS
If you don't use closed captions on these videos (all videos) you miss some humorous dialogue. When the connie was landing in Miami the pilot "calls for full flaps" and close captions would have you thinking there was an accident. My phone said "oh snap they fell off the map" but it changes just about everytime I repeatedly watch a video and I never know what captions will say. But it's normally humorous. My favorite part of TH-cam
The biggest treat of this video is seeing Eddie Rickenbacker
Such a beautiful bird!
I Saw at the anual airshow right next to where live. I must admid, i wept looking at that Beautifull Girl .
Will forever remind me of "Howard Hughes" and "TWA" ......
Flew in a Connie in 1957 leaving Paris where I was born in 1956. Too bad that I don’t remember the experience. ☹️
You NEVER want to back up a tricycle gear airplane. Which means, I only did it a couple of times. Once, live on BOS tv.
love this video
QUEEN OF THE SKY SHE WAS!
It was the star of the movies in the 50's.
I flew on one in 1955 to Manila from San Franscisco
14:22 as a thumbnail woulg bring in a million views
This one was was known as an EC-121......Warning Star.............Both the US Navy and the US Air Force used them.....
To už všecko odnes čas !!!!
HOW DID YOU FIND ALL THIS INCREDIBLE FILM FOOTAGE?
The Connie is a thing of beauty. She must be part Italian,
I miss Connie
I haven't been buy in a couple of years but there used to be a Connie rigged up just like the thumbnail picture except it was in Air force markings.
One pretty airplane
I never flew on a Connie,but I have a C-47. Its noisy but cool.
I've been aboard one. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in a tornado.
I don’t know why the Connie comes to mind. Everytime I think of Skynyrd and that damned Convair 240 (DC-3 wannabe) the first thing that pops up is how great a Constellation would be as a tour hauler in the 60s and 70s. But their management had plundered their earnings so badly that the only affordable alternative to the 240 was birdman suits launched off skyscrapers.
They don't talk like that for real in commercial airplanes, ever. I worked in aviation for many years, and talked to pilots in the cockpit all the time I worked in and around aircraft. I never (never) heard anyone talk that way ever.
About 2050 lives from 1946 I counted year by year not exact but close.
Amazing, using slide rule!
Does anyone know when this was originally released?
COMPARE THIS TO FLIGHT TRAVEL TODAY. THEN WAS LUXURY. NOW IS A BUS RIDE
Flew on one but the only problem i wasn't born yet. My mother was 6 months pregnant coming from the 1956 Hungarian revolution.
Did any UK airlines have them ?
She is a beautie
There was a dead one at Belize International Airport in '78
The incredible coincidence for me is that my name is also Martin. Well actually it's really Morten but nonetheless it's eerily similar. Unsettlingly so. No wonder l drink.
💪
Well a very lot of them just come down.
FOUR ENGINE AIRCRAFT. TODAY ONLY TWO
The best 3-engined aircraft ever built, how many pilots called it 😂