They don't come much bigger than a Lockheed Constellation.
There's not one flying here. The Save-a-Connie hasn't flown in recent memory. There was a EC-121 that was flying, but as far as I know, it hasn't flown in many years. Breitling had one, but I don't know it's status.
Cat Pawtector!
2 hours ago
6 comments:
I flew on them as a kid, some 60+ years ago, all by myself....Standiford to Pittsburgh (then a DC-3 Agony Air puddle-jumper to McKean Regional for summer with my aunt and grandmother in Bradford). Saw one at the Tucson Pima air museum next to a 737....was astonished to see it was smaller. Things were bigger when one was a kid....
And my mother grew up with the Piper kids.
Had the pleasure of seeing the Save A Connie a few times. It actually came into an airport near me (KRAC) along with its stable mate a Martin 404. Lot of problems going on at the Airline History Museum in Kansas City, from Covid to the fact they might be evicted from their hangar. Such a cool airplane. The flight engineer was an awfully busy guy back in the day. If you google Robert (Bob) Buck, he was a TWA pilot during the golden age. Has a few books out about flying the line. Flying the Connie from Los Angeles to Paris NONSTOP 25 hours was quite a story. Thanks for thIs video.
When I lived in Taiwan in the early 80's there was a Connie that flew out of Taipei Airport. I wonder what happened to it.
Had a couple of hundred hours on them as crew in the Navy. As an AMS, my job was third mech, helping fuel and oil them. 227 gallons of oil, pretty much after EVERY long mission. 40 gal/engine with 3-5gal/hr 'used' (either burned or thrown out)... Definitely the best riding military airplane I ever flew on! Also, typical TO gear step, as the hydraulics weren't strong enough to bring both mains up simultaneously. Thanks for the memories!
Looks like the Aussies have one:
https://hars.org.au/lockheed-c-121c-super-constellation/
The last WV in the Navy was assigned to VAQ-33 in Norfolk through the early 1980s. It was very modified to a very odd electric configuration. As I recall when it was stricken from the inventory it was donated to a air museum operation in the SE USA and a few years later was consumed in a fire while tied down outside in a field.
Another (nonflying) one is at the Smithsonian Udvar Hazy Center.
Post a Comment