Profile – Lockheed Constellation

Super Constellations were produced in several models. The L-1049B was a cargo plane with two large loading doors and an integrally strengthened floor and this was followed by a passenger version, the L-1049C, which was first put into service by KLM in August 1953 on the New York/Amsterdam route. ‘C’ models were the first commercial versions to switch to the complex new Wright Turbo-Compound engines derived from the existing R-3350. The change was made due to a request from the US Navy for increased power for their military variants and the 3250hp (2425kW) generated by each engine promised more speed and a hefty increase, in the order of 20%, in payload/range capacity. These engines were designed to recapture much of the energy which would otherwise be lost in exhaust gases through three ‘blow-down’ turbines arranged at 120° intervals around the rear of the crankcase. The turbines in turn were geared to the crankshaft through a fluid coupling to smooth out speed differences in the drive. It is claimed that they were the most advanced aircraft piston engines to ever see widespread service. A total of 49 L-1049Cs were produced and, using them on October 19, 1953, TWA opened a non-stop service between Los Angeles and New York.

The L-1049D was generally similar to the ‘C’ model but featured cargo doors in the port rear fuselage and strengthened flooring for its intended use as a convertible passenger/cargo plane. However, only 4 were produced. Eighteen L-1049Es were built and these were improved passenger planes certified to operate at a higher gross weight than the ‘C’ model.

Probably the most important of all the commercial versions of the Super Constellation was the L-1049G, the first airliner to carry fuel in wingtip tanks as standard. The additional 1,200 (US) gal. (4,5421) brought about a 700 miles (1,127km) increase in range. Northwest Orient was the first to take delivery of the ‘Super G’ on January 22, 1955 and it began service on the Seattle/Manila route the following month. The type’s 3,400hp (2,535kW) Wright R-3350-972TC-18DA3 Turbo-Compound engines gave it an improved rate of climb, enabled its gross weight to reach 137,500Ib (62,370kg) while cruising at 354mph (570km/h) at 22,600ft (6,890m). Altogether 104 were built.

The final version of the Super Constellation, the L-1049H, combined the ‘D’ and ‘G’ configurations in that it was, like the ‘D’, intended to be a convertible passenger/cargo aircraft with strengthened flooring and rear door loading. The very last Constellation was an ‘H’ model delivered in November, 1958.

Although it was not named as such, the ultimate model of the Constellation line was the L-1649 Starliner which was basically an L-1049G with a completely new 150ft (45. 72m) laminar flow wing inside which was housed fuel tankage totalling 9,600 (US) gal. (36,3401) giving it a range considerably in excess of its predecessors of 4,800 miles (7,725km) plus 3 hours reserve, with a payload of 16,060Ib (7,285kg). When it first flew on October 10, 1956, it was regarded by most to represent the zenith of piston-engined aircraft technology. The fuselage was again slightly stretched and the wing box was entirely skinned in gigantic machined planks and had an acute dihedral from the roots. Housed in re-designed nacelles, the powerful 3,400hp (2,535kW) Wright R-3350-988TC-18EA2 Turbo-Compounds drove 16ft 10in (5. 13m) Hamilton Standard 3 blade propellers synchronised by Synchrophasers. Development costs for the new machine were over $60 million but unfortunately for Lockheed it was already an obsolete design before it flew due to the jet age being just around the corner with such designs coming forward as the De Havilland Comet (although at this stage plagued by teething problems) and the Boeing 707. Compared with these the Starliner could only offer greater range and lower fuel consumption although it was using expensive 115/145 octane gasoline. The Starliner was ordered by TWA to combat the Douglas DC-7C and it allowed the airline to fly non-stop across the North Atlantic in both directions commencing with a New York/London and Frankfurt service on July 1, 1957. However, only 43 L-1469As were produced. They marked the end of an era and all were withdrawn from service with the major airlines in the 1960s. After this, these and many other models of the Constellation flew with small cargo airlines, particularly in South and Central America.

Military Service

Although its premier civil role had ended, a large variety of military versions continued flying right up until 1980 in spite of the official policy to reduce and then eliminate, from 1975 onwards, any aircraft in the US military services which required 115/145-grade gasoline.

The USAF had re-adopted the Constellation when it bought ten L-749s and designated them as C-121s for use as passenger transports. Two were immediately redesignated as VC-121As and made into VIP conversions, 48-613 being allocated to General Douglas MacArthur who christened it ‘Bataan’ while 48-614 was called ‘Columbine I’ and became the personal aircraft of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later, a third plane in this batch, 48-610, was altered to the same standard and became ‘Columbine II’ used by Eisenhower when he became US President. The other C-121As were cargo/personnel transports with strengthened floors and port rear fuselage cargo doors. During the Berlin airlift of 1948, C-121s flew nearly 6 million passenger miles between Westover Air Force Base and Rhein-Main.

Meanwhile the US Navy, which had used two R70-1 transports from the US Army’s L-049 production line in 1945, purchased two L-749s (Nos. 124437 and 124438) and had them converted into Airborne Early Warning (AEW) machines. ‘Old 1961’, as it was known, was again the machine used for initial conversion trials and she was modified to accommodate height-finder radar above the fuselage in a tall narrow dorsal hump with surveillance radar housed in a large under fuselage bulge. The two PO-1Ws (later WV-1s) were first flown in June, 1949 and were the first aircraft in the world to be used as multi-engined, high-flying radar stations. Their success led to numerous orders for no less than 27 separate versions for various specialised electronic operations.

The Navy’s WV-2 Warning Star which was based on the L-1049 and powered by 3,400hp (2,535kW) Wright R-3350-34 or -42 Turbo-Compound engines, carried improved radar and data links and a crew of 26. A total of 142 were made and there were several special conversions such as one WV-2E (126512) which in 1956 first carried AN/APS-82 radar using an experimental rotating dish rotodome; at least 16 WV-2Qs with high power ECM warning, D/F and jamming equipment were produced. The WV-3 was a weather reconnaissance version with the same basic airframe as the WV-2 but with completely different equipment and a crew of eight. .

For the USAF, the RC-121C was the first AEW radar version and was the Air Force’s equivalent of the Navy’s WV-2. A total of 1 O were built beginning service in October, 1953. Meanwhile, the RC-1210 Warning Star appeared in May, 1954, featuring improved long-range airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) equipment, and wingtip fuel tanks and it formed the basis for many other specialised versions. Seventy-two of these were built.

In 1962 the ‘RC’ designations were changed to ‘EC’ so that RC-121s became EC-121s. The EC-1210 Warning Star was ultimately sent to Southeast Asia and saw widespread service in the Vietnam War. Under the ‘College Eye’, or ‘Big Eye’ programme, these aircraft patrolled over the Gulf of Tonkin to maintain radar surveillance over North Vietnam, issue warnings of MiG attacks and alert American pilots who were on the verge of straying into Chinese airspace. The EC-121Os were later joined by the improved EC-121Ts and their range of operations widened to include directing USAF fighters into position to intercept MiGs, guiding friendly fighters low on fuel to rendezvous with aerial tankers and locating the positions of downed aircraft. Later they were used as airborne command and control centres for operations over the North.

Other versions were also used over Vietnam. The EC-121RS served as an airborne relay station for Project ‘Igloo White’, covering the electronic surveillance of southern Laos to detect truck movements along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Seismic sensors which were activated by sound or movement had been planted along known routes so their radar signals could be picked up by the Warning Stars and relayed to a surveillance centre at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. Meanwhile, the sole C-121J (140313), previously USAF C-121G No. 54-4079, served as an airborne radio and television transmitter for taped or live broadcasts for the Armed Forces Network in South Vietnam nicknamed the ‘Blue Eagle’, it could also double as a relay station.

It was in southeast Asia that the only loss in action suffered by a Warning Star occurred. On April 15, 1969, EC-121M, No. 135749, of the Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron VQ-1 from the Naval Air Station, Atsugi, in Japan, was attacked by two North Korean MiGs over the Sea of Japan and shot down. The entire crew of 31 was lost.

Although known officially as the Warning Star, this name never supplanted ‘Constellation’ or ‘Connie’ among those who flew her. C-121s equipped the 551st and 552nd AEW and Countermeasures Wing of the USAF’s Aerospace Defense Command, Tactical Air Command, Pacific Air Forces, Military Air Transport Service, Military Airlift Command and Air Force Reserve as well as the US Navy’s Air Transport Service, Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons and Oceanographic Air Survey Unit.

In all, 856 Constellations of all models, civil and military, were produced, including the sole XC-69, 233 Constellations, 578 Super Constellations and 44 Starliners. A number of examples are still preserved including EC-121K No. 141292, formerly of the USN’s electronics squadron VAQ-33, which is housed at the Air and Space Museum, in Florence, South Carolina. Of the last of the line, at the time of writing, only two Starliners exist in an airworthy condition. These are N7316C ‘Star of the Tigris’ and N8083H ‘Star of San Pedro Sula’ both belonging to Maurice Roundy, owner of Maine Coast Airways based at Auburn-Lewiston Airport in Maine, USA. He located and restored N7316C (c/n 1018) at Newburgh, New York in 1983 and in May, 1986, he purchased N8083H (1038) from the Honduran Government. Roundy also owns a third Starliner, N974R (1038), sitting at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which he cannibalizes for spare parts for the other two. Only a few others remain, non-flyable, in odd spots around the world although in South Africa, Starliner ZS-DVJ (1042) is at present being restored at Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg.

For Lockheed, the Connie was the stepping stone to an entire family of transport aircraft that continue to form the backbone of the company through to the present time. For aviation, the Connie was the first of the new generation of large, fast and long-legged airliners that so strongly shaped the airline world of the forties and fifties.