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Southern Preservation photographed aloft for the first time in her new livery on a training flight north of Tucson over the Arizona desert during October last year. (Graham Robson, Aerophotos)
HARS Constellation Ferry Flight
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The Connie Has Landed
The perseverance, enthusiasm and skill, expended by the dedicated band of supporters of the restored Super Constellation VH-EAG, came to fruition at 11.45am on February 3 1996, when the personification of aeronautical elegance arrived in Australia.
The project which commenced in 1991, involved a substantial input of both manpower and expenditure to bring the L-1049 to a standard capable of carrying out the lengthy Pacific crossing. Not that Connies are strangers to long overwater flights! The successful and trouble-free flight is the culmination of one of the most ambitious, methodical and energetic restorations of a piston engine airliner ever undertaken. It has enabled an example of one of the most revered transport aircraft ever built to have a new lease of life in Australia. As is well known, a variety of L-1049 versions served with Qantas as their long range transport aircraft before the arrival of the Boeing 707s. Introduced into Qantas service in 1954, the Super Constellation was in use with the airline until 1963, when the last example was sold overseas.
In the late 1980s, both the National Air and Space Museum (NASMA) and the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) were investigating the feasibility of obtaining a Super Constellation to be flown to Australia. Because of the magnitude of the prospective task, both organisations decided to pool their resources.
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