Short Finals

The ladies range in age from 21 to 26 and all had some previous flying experience, though as the recruiting brochures point out, this is not necessarily an advantage. Though their training will run through the full curriculum they will not be assigned to front line combat units flying the F-111 or Hornet. Instead they will amass hours on what this writer considers aircraft of true pedigree, the Hercs, Orions and 707s, etc. It is interesting though to note that in recent times both Canada and Norway have reversed this decision and now allow women to pilot their front line fighter aircraft.

One of the perennial complaints from the hierarchy which for so many years fended off the inevitable appearance of the female professional pilot was that you would spend a fortune training them and they would then go off to have babies. Well most ladies do have babies (which is why we will still hopefully have a readership in the year 2087!) and the neatly packaged answer the four had on this one was simply that when they get their first inevitable ground posting, after about six years or so of flying, they will attend to maternal matters then. Fair enough.

Well girls, take note, give it a go and show us what you’re made of. Also don’t forget that the Dux of the first graduation from Adelaide’s Australian Aviation College was also a lass, and you have to be pretty good to win that one.

Airshow Connie

Imagine a fully restored Lockheed 1049H Constellation at your next airshow. Well it isn’t currently scheduled for our own Bicentennial bash, though if all goes to plan the US airshow circuit will be graced next year by just such a grand lady.

Star of America, resplendent in the nostalgic TWA livery of the fifties, is being painstakingly rebuilt by a group of concerned Kansas City enthusiasts. The aircraft itself was ironically neither a TWA flagship nor even a passenger aircraft, having instead served its 24,000hrs as a specially built freighter for Slick Air- ways.

The Star of America, which is due to test fly this January, owes her existence to the Save a Connie Association which acquired her for a mere $4000 earlier this year along with a C-121 which is being used as a source for spares. Ironically the C-121 has less than 1200hrs on the clock and is just one of dozens still available at the Davis Monthan boneyard. The group estimate that to get the Connie fully airworthy and in pristine airshow condition will cost around $250,000.

TWA has come to the aid of the party and will help, along with its employees on a voluntary basis, in getting the giant airliner fully checked out ready for her first test flights. This in itself is a nice touch in an American airline environment that nowadays resembles more of a zoo than a tightly knit fraternity of aviation professionals. Full marks to Trans World and may your 767s one day enjoy a similar fate.

Closer to home there was a long mooted plan to get a Super Connie back into the air in Qantas livery. More recently it was suggested that, as a bicentennial gift, the Indian Government may well donate one of their remaining examples from their Indian Navy stocks that have for several years been surplus to requirement. Nothing has actually transpired though which is a shame as it appears the amount involved to get such an aircraft flying locally is probably still under a quarter million dollars.

While we appreciate that this is not a small investment, the ongoing publicity and free television airtime that such an aircraft would earn for Qantas during 1988 alone would surely warrant serious consideration being given to backing the scheme. Can you imagine a Qantas Connie sweeping in over the Bicentennial airshow next October, fantastic stuff.