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For educational purposes
Born of the need for a four-engine propeller bomber, the Constellation soon became the backbone of long range civil aviation.
The Lockheed Constellation is celebrated today as one of the finest flying machines ever built, design of the Constellation began just before World War Two in 1939, when Pan American Airways and Transcontinental & Western Air (later TWA) issued a design requirement for a 40-passenger airliner for their domestic routes.
Production of the resulting L-49 by Lockheed began, but was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
The US Army Air Corps commandeered at least 22 of the aircraft off the assembly line, designated them C-69s, and used them as transports.
After the war, when civil production resumed under several designations, the military ordered a new, longer-range version called the C-121.
In the years that followed, no fewer than 20 variants were developed for military use. The last of the "Connies" was the L-1649A Starliner, with a completely new wing and greater fuel capacity and range.
As a civilian aircraft, Constellation has been the first airliner able to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop, it also has had a respectable military career, thanks to its brilliant characteristics which allowed it to fulfill missions of electronic warfare and AWACS.
Production of all Constellations ended in the late 1950s, but the type lived on for decades as an airliner and freighter in many smaller countries.
The Constellation contributed to its national defense in so many ways that it is difficult to fully account the impact it had.
The few remaining airworthy examples are increasingly appreciated for their looks, performance and versatility.
Born of the need for a four-engine propeller bomber, the Constellation soon became the backbone of long range civil aviation.
The Lockheed Constellation is celebrated today as one of the finest flying machines ever built, design of the Constellation began just before World War Two in 1939, when Pan American Airways and Transcontinental & Western Air (later TWA) issued a design requirement for a 40-passenger airliner for their domestic routes.
Production of the resulting L-49 by Lockheed began, but was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
The US Army Air Corps commandeered at least 22 of the aircraft off the assembly line, designated them C-69s, and used them as transports.
After the war, when civil production resumed under several designations, the military ordered a new, longer-range version called the C-121.
In the years that followed, no fewer than 20 variants were developed for military use. The last of the "Connies" was the L-1649A Starliner, with a completely new wing and greater fuel capacity and range.
As a civilian aircraft, Constellation has been the first airliner able to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop, it also has had a respectable military career, thanks to its brilliant characteristics which allowed it to fulfill missions of electronic warfare and AWACS.
Production of all Constellations ended in the late 1950s, but the type lived on for decades as an airliner and freighter in many smaller countries.
The Constellation contributed to its national defense in so many ways that it is difficult to fully account the impact it had.
The few remaining airworthy examples are increasingly appreciated for their looks, performance and versatility.
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00:00The
00:30The
00:40The
00:43The
00:49The
00:55The Lockheed Constellation was one of the most important aircraft in the rebuilding
01:13of the airline industry after the war.
01:16Often described as the queen of the skies, it was the most powerful and advanced airliner
01:21of its time.
01:23A combination of many technical innovations came together in a true success story.
01:29In addition, the distinctive curves of the fuselage and the perfect balance of the design
01:34made the plane a thing of beauty and grace.
01:38Large four-engine transports are not always aesthetic, but the Connie's lines demand admiration.
01:53The Constellation was the pinnacle of piston engine transport design and broke new ground
02:04in both its civil and military variants.
02:07However, its career overlapped into the jet age and the appearance of the new technology
02:12brought down a premature curtain on its lifespan.
02:15The Lockheed Company, with a heritage stretching back to 1913, had painstakingly built up a reputation
02:28for constructing excellent and trustworthy passenger aircraft.
02:32Dancing with the Vega and following up with the Orion, Lockheed's reputation blossomed.
02:38They became associated with the famous names of aviation between the world wars.
02:43Charlie Post and Amelia Earhart both flew Lockheed aircraft.
02:47The list of records set in Lockheed planes grew rapidly.
02:51The company products were not simply a successful reworking of the day's technology.
02:57They were innovative and influential.
03:00Lockheed had a succession of talented designers.
03:03Jack Northrup was followed by Gerald Volte.
03:07When both of these men had gone off to found their own companies, Lockheed retained the services
03:11of a team led by the greatest engineering double act in aircraft history, Paul Hibbard and Kelly Johnson.
03:21Lockheed developed an excellent family of fast twin-engine transports in the Electras and the Lodestar,
03:37carrying between 10 and 14 passengers in what was, comparatively, only moderate discomfort.
03:43In 1938, Howard Hughes piloted a Super Electra around the Northern Hemisphere
03:49in just over three days and 19 hours.
03:52Hughes' respect for Lockheed was cemented and later he turned to the company
03:57in trying to fulfil his aviation ambitions.
04:00The flight of over 14,700 miles confirmed a view held by many, including Hughes,
04:07that civil airliners would be the mass transit method of the future.
04:12And to do this, the individual plane would need to carry many more people over much longer range.
04:22Lockheed had already been working towards this with their Model 44 Excalibur, designed to carry 36 passengers.
04:30They were more than receptive when Hughes approached them on behalf of his airline, TWA.
04:35He had a clear idea of what sort of plane he wanted and what it would be able to do.
04:41His basic specification was an aircraft that would fly a payload of 6,000 pounds from New York to Los Angeles nonstop in eight to nine hours.
04:52It would be a four-engined pressurized luxury airliner cruising around 300 miles per hour.
05:00TWA had set the parameters for capacity and performance, but it was the Lockheed team which designed and built the plane.
05:08It drew on many successful elements of their earlier studies.
05:12The wing was expanded from that of the P-38 Lightning fighter.
05:17The triple tail, originally designed by the Douglas company, had been tested in the Model 44 project.
05:24Kelly Johnson was intimately concerned with the new project.
05:27Here, the wind tunnel camera catches him changing the shot board in one of the long series of model developments.
05:35Because the plane drew so much on the work done for the Model 44, it was initially referred to as the Excalibur.
05:42However, it acquired a new number, the Model 49, and soon was given a new name as well, the Constellation.
05:52Lockheed's main rivals had been leapfrogging each other in airline development,
05:57with Douglas reaping the majority of the rewards in America along the way.
06:01However, they did not have a client with the determination and checkbook of Howard Hughes to support them,
06:07and their designs were transitional rather than attempting one giant step.
06:12Lockheed had conducted a lot of relevant research and development during the 30s,
06:21and this had equipped it well to approach the new design.
06:24The company had been involved in pressurization experiments with the Army.
06:28An Electra had been modified for the tests, and given the Army designation of XC-35.
06:35The plane first flew on the 7th of May, 1937.
06:39With the information derived from these tests, Lockheed were able to devise the Constellation system.
06:53This maintained cabin pressure at ground level up to 9,000 feet,
06:57and restricted pressure to that of 8,000 feet when the plane was at 20.
07:11The XC-35 was, in effect, a practical advantage that Lockheed held over their rivals.
07:17In a similar way, a lot of the expensive development of the wing shape
07:21had already been born in the design of the Lightning.
07:25Even with these advantages, the cost per constellation quoted to Howard Hughes
07:29was, for the day, astronomical.
07:42Hughes' determination funded the development from his first meetings with the company in June 1939.
07:48However, progress was slow.
07:51Many design problems needed to be overcome in reaching the stage where production could commence.
08:05Perhaps because the company had not built such a big aircraft before,
08:09Lockheed's team were very flexible about their approach.
08:12The series of decisions that set the Connie's shape serves as an example.
08:18Large engines working at low revs were less likely to feel stressed and break down.
08:24So, a combination of such engines with large propellers was suggested.
08:30The large propellers demanded absurd ground clearance and a very long forward undercarriage.
08:36To shorten that wheel strut, the nose is bent down.
08:42The large area of disturbance from the propellers suggests the triple tail will not work in flight.
08:48However, a more efficient single tail will not fit into a hangar.
08:54The solution? Curve the fuselage upwards and take the triple tail out of the propeller turbulence.
09:00The plane that results has a straightened S for a centre line in the side view of the fuselage.
09:08And it works. As a bonus, it's also beautiful.
09:24The first Constellation went not to Howard Hughes Airline, but to the United States Army Air Force.
09:30War had swept up the US and civil aircraft production had become another arm of the war effort.
09:37War time pressures delayed the Constellation further.
09:47But eventually, on January the 9th, 1943, Project 49 took to the air for the first time.
10:01The first plane was the production prototype.
10:04There was no transitional model.
10:06Existing commercial orders had been drafted even before the US entry into the war.
10:11And by 1942, the Army added orders for 300 of the type.
10:16Most with a more powerful engine.
10:19Now, being military aircraft, the first Constellations were given a military number.
10:32They became C-69s.
10:34The test series was delayed due to trouble with the engines.
10:48And the first plane was not handed over to the US Army Air Force until July the 29th, 1943.
10:55In the time the plane was grounded, Lockheed and TWA took the opportunity to repaint it and do some publicity shots.
11:06Some of the testing was also conducted in TWA livery and used for publicity.
11:12This was nothing compared to the publicity coup pulled off by Howard Hughes with the second machine.
11:17The plane had been delayed in production and made its first flight only in 1944.
11:23It was accepted by TWA on behalf of the military on April the 16th.
11:28Painted in TWA's colours, though showing its military serial number.
11:33The following day, the plane took off with Hughes himself at the controls.
11:37It flew non-stop from Burbank to Washington, a distance of 2,300 miles, in the record time of 6 hours 57 minutes.
11:47This was an average speed of 330 miles an hour, a respectable speed for a fighter of that era.
11:54In addition to the successful publicity for Hughes and TWA, the event spotlighted the Constellation
12:00to the mutual delight of Lockheed and the Army.
12:07After the record flight, the plane was kept in Washington for a week of displays and inspections
12:23before being delivered to the Army.
12:25Over the next 18 months, the C-69s were to make a number of significant long-distant flights
12:31and set a series of records.
12:34These included successive transatlantic records, reducing flight time to Paris to under 10 hours.
12:41It was evident that the Army had found in the Constellation a valuable personnel transport.
12:47The C-69 could carry up to 64 fully armed troops or, alternatively,
12:57was capable of transporting a light tank or other medium vehicles.
13:01The underworked big engines returned excellent fuel consumption figures
13:05and combined with the plane's range, speed and capacity to put the Constellation far ahead of its competitors.
13:12While this was not that relevant in 1945, it would be a telling advantage for Lockheed at war's end.
13:27Even though there was a clear need for cargo planes, the Army never placed a high priority on Constellation construction.
13:34Under Army direction, Lockheed concentrated on production of other war planes.
13:39In addition to its own Hudson and Lightning designs, the company was heavily involved in construction of Boeing's B-17.
13:46Most of Lockheed's experience with four-engine planes during the war was with the fortresses rather than the non-belligerent Connies.
13:55Lockheed produced many thousands of aircraft during the war, but only 22 of them would be C-69s.
14:01Army orders for hundreds of C-69s were never fulfilled.
14:13Only 15 had been delivered when the war ended, with another seven planes almost completed.
14:19In addition to Lockheed's production being directed to other types,
14:23the Constellation used the same engines as the B-29 Superfortress, and few of the power plants were allocated to the program.
14:31The engines had teething problems, and a shortage curtailed production.
14:36Testing was disrupted, with frequent groundings of all types using them.
14:41At war's end, 12 of the 15 planes delivered to the Army were declared redundant.
14:58All military orders were cancelled, and Lockheed paused to consider their options.
15:03The decision was made to go ahead with the Constellation as the company's primary product
15:08in the anticipated post-war expansion of commercial travel.
15:12While their competitors tried to rebuild bombers into airliners, or upgrade their pre-war designs,
15:18Lockheed were ideally positioned with a tested and proven aircraft
15:22that was very advanced in comparison to any other type available.
15:27By buying back C-69s from the Air Force, including those partially built at the factory,
15:43Lockheed were able to offer customer airlines new aircraft almost at war's end.
15:48Pan Am were the first to receive these refurbished Army planes,
15:52and the Connie made its first commercial flight on the 3rd of February 1946.
15:58Three days later, TWA introduced its Constellation service,
16:02first on the transatlantic route, and then a month later commencing transcontinental flights in the US.
16:08Competing carriers were mostly relying on DC-4s,
16:12and the Connie had no problems outperforming the older Douglas plane.
16:17The efficiency of the Constellation was undeniable,
16:20and within two years, TWA's rivals on the transatlantic route
16:24had been forced to change to the Lockheed plane themselves.
16:29In effect, the Lockheed decision gave them an 18-month lead
16:33over their competitors at Boeing, Douglas, and Republic.
16:37This was clear to the airline operators as well.
16:40Within a week of the war's end, the company had orders from eight airlines
16:45for over a hundred Constellations.
16:47The contracts totaled over $75 million,
16:51and allowed Lockheed to retain its skilled workforce
16:54as production of the Connies was stepped up.
16:57The original batch of ex-military planes was soon used up,
17:01and new examples started to roll from the factory.
17:04Though intended for civil use, they were still the basic C-69,
17:09as ordered for the Army.
17:16The plane had reverted from its military designation
17:19to the Lockheed project number.
17:21Thus, the basic aircraft was referred to as the Model 49.
17:25During the war, Lockheed had advanced five further studies
17:29for improved Constellation variants, and these were given an extra numeral,
17:34the first being Model 149, the second 249, and so on.
17:40One of these projects had been for a long-range bomber variant of the plane,
17:44but the other four were all transport versions,
17:47three being improved civilian airliners.
17:50There were 73 civil Model 49s, including the recycled C-69s.
17:56Their immediate availability after the war gave Lockheed the time to refine the Connie further
18:02before releasing the first truly civilianized version.
18:11For some carriers, the purchase of Constellations propelled them into the big league.
18:16KLM was one.
18:18As early as November 1946, they had transferred their transatlantic route
18:23to Lockheed Model 49s, and the Connies served the airline well
18:28from then into the mid-50s.
18:30By that time, KLM was a major world airline,
18:34with a massively expanded network of routes.
18:37Work on what was to be the first civilian production model had begun in May 1945.
18:50This was the Model 649, developed in conjunction with Eastern Airlines.
18:55Among the many developments introduced with this model
18:58was the Speedpack external cargo bay.
19:01This was another example of the Lockheed team's lateral thinking.
19:05The Connie offered little cargo space when laid out for maximum passenger carriage,
19:10but had power to spare.
19:12To avoid cutting back on the number of passengers,
19:15additional cargo space was bolted to the outside of the plane.
19:19This increased goods carriage by 8,000 pounds,
19:23at a penalty of only 10 miles an hour in speed.
19:26The Model also introduced a new and more powerful version of the engine,
19:32rated up to 2,500 horsepower.
19:35The 649 first flew on October the 18th, 1946.
19:40It was a notable advance on the Model 49 in many aspects.
19:44Major improvements had been made to soundproofing and cabin air conditioning,
19:49giving a far more pleasant ride than any other airliner at that time.
19:53Easton began to advertise their planes as the Gold Plate Connies.
19:58They began operating services in May 1947.
20:04Overlapping with the deliveries of Easton's 649s,
20:07came another new version, the 749.
20:10This had been developed as a long-range model for overseas operation,
20:14based closely on the Easton aircraft.
20:17The outer wings contained additional fuel tanks,
20:19which added a further 1,000 miles to the range of the plane.
20:23With this version, the New York to Paris route could be flown non-stop.
20:36Further improvements to the 749 were recognised with the sub-designation 749A.
20:42Air India was the first to employ these, bringing them into service beside earlier connies then purchased.
20:49The improvements made to this version were directed to obtaining a higher gross take-off weight,
20:54bringing an addition of nearly 5,000 pounds to the payload.
20:58The weight of the Connie had grown markedly during her career to that time.
21:02The initial C-69 had a maximum weight of 72,000 pounds,
21:07but this had been expanded to 107,000 with the 749A.
21:12At the same time, the range had increased from 2,400 miles to well over 3,000.
21:19Many of the improvements made to these planes were later built into earlier models,
21:24blurring the distinctions between the early versions.
21:27The Constellation stood at what was to be the pinnacle of propeller-driven airliners.
21:41The technology of the propellers themselves was very highly advanced.
21:46With its fully reversing blades,
21:48the Connie could pull itself up on landing in a very short time,
21:51or could back itself into a parking bay.
21:54The props could also be fully feathered to reduce drag if an engine cut out.
22:07Extreme use of the reversing props on landing produced this sort of spectacle,
22:11with the Constellation not only coming to a halt in a very short strip,
22:15but promptly backing up.
22:17The Connie's props had been carefully matched to the huge engines chosen for the plane.
22:33The big blades caused some problems with undercarriage in hoisting the plane clear of the ground,
22:38but these problems were offset by the advantages gained in flight.
22:43The big engines were run at very low revs, with no stress and minimum fuel consumption.
22:49They were quite capable of keeping the big plane aloft, even if two were to cut out,
22:54and even if both of the engines on one side had to be shut down.
22:58By setting the plane to demand so little of its power plants in normal operation,
23:03Lockheed built in an enormous reserve.
23:05The 749A specification had originally derived from renewed military interest.
23:19The original C-69s had been a problem aircraft for the Army,
23:23due in no small part to the experimental nature of the design.
23:27The Army was well served by its large fleet of Douglas DC-4 derived C-54s,
23:33and abandoned the Lockheed plane.
23:35But when, in 1948, the new US Air Force turned its attention to the Connie,
23:41it was no longer a new design that pushed the state of the art under wartime handicaps.
23:46This time, the Air Force bought a minor variant of a well-proven airliner, as the C-121A.
23:54Two were immediately re-designated as VIP aircraft,
23:58and allocated to General MacArthur, who transferred the name of his old C-54, Bataan,
24:04and General Eisenhower, whose plane was known as Columbine.
24:08Later, VIP Connie's were assigned to Eisenhower after he became president,
24:12and were named Columbine II and Columbine III.
24:16The non-VIP C-121As were used as cargo and personnel transports,
24:34and had strengthened floors and large rear fuselage cargo doors.
24:40Over the next few years, the original Air Force order of ten aircraft
24:44were all reconfigured as VIP planes.
24:47The first was delivered in December 1948, and the last in March 1949.
24:53They soldiered on for nearly 20 years of service, and were not retired until the late 1960s.
25:03The return of the Constellation to Air Force service was followed by interest from the Navy,
25:08and a new military role dawned for the plane.
25:12The C-121's career was to be very long and very influential,
25:16and redefined the military use of large transport aircraft.
25:27By the time of Columbine III, President Eisenhower's plane was a much different proposition from his first Constellation.
25:34In the development of this new type, the story of the Constellation returned to its beginning,
25:40to the first C-69 built.
25:43This had displayed its military number, 310309.
25:48However, its company number had been 1961,
25:52and it was as old 1961 that it was to gain its individual fame.
25:57During the war, the first Constellation had served its share of Army duty.
26:07During this period, it was re-engined with Pratt & Whitney radials,
26:11as an emergency-driven response to the chronic problems with the Wright double cyclone engines.
26:16After this refurbishing, the Army took to calling it the XC-69E,
26:22though it was otherwise unchanged at the end of hostilities.
26:26It was then put up for sale, and bought by none other than Howard Hughes.
26:31In 1949, he sold it back to Lockheed,
26:35and a transformation began as it was turned into the prototype for model 1049.
26:41The most obvious change was that the plane was stretched.
26:45Two new sections of fuselage were built into it.
26:48One section, before the wing, added 10 feet 9 inches,
26:52and the second, behind the wing, 7 feet 8 inches.
26:56The alteration was so radical that the company marketed the plane under a new name,
27:01the Super Constellation.
27:03TWA had again been involved in the development of the plane,
27:10but Eastern Airlines had lodged its actual order first,
27:14and so they received the first Super Connies.
27:17In addition to the obvious lengthening, there were many other improvements.
27:22A better de-icing system for the wings, stiffened wing surfaces, increased fuel capacity,
27:28and more powerful engines were all incorporated.
27:31The gross take-off weight of the plane increased by only 12%,
27:35but such was the efficiency of the design, but payload increased by 40%.
27:49Seating was available to cater for between 69 and 109 passengers,
27:53as Lockheed devised a variety of layouts.
27:56Some were designed for long-range carriers, and others for commuter airlines.
28:01Other plans, with fewer seats, catered for routes with a higher proportion of freight,
28:06or allowed the removal of the fittings to use the aircraft as a part-time cargo plane,
28:11when passenger traffic was light.
28:13The company's intent was clear.
28:15The Constellation had given them a captive market they did not want to lose.
28:31The new planes were assembled in Lockheed's appropriately named Hall of Giants.
28:42The first version had only a limited lifetime.
28:45It had been intended to give it a new and revolutionary turbo-compounded engine,
28:50but teething problems with the new power plant had led to the use of standard, though uprated, radials.
28:56The 2,700 horsepower delivered by these engines left the Constellation slower than its rival,
29:02the Douglas DC-6, and only 24 were built.
29:06Lockheed were forced to persist with introduction of the more powerful but underdeveloped new engines.
29:12Though problems persisted, the strategy paid off and sales picked up.
29:17With the introduction of the new engines, the plane received a further 20% boost in its weight-to-range ratio.
29:33All comparisons with the opposition were addressed,
29:36and orders resumed their earlier, hearteningly busy frequency.
29:40This beneficial change was in part forced on the company.
29:43They had had enough of unproven engines earlier in the Constellation's career.
29:48However, the military were very interested in an uprated Super Connie,
29:52and much less so in the underpowered original model.
29:55Not only did the re-engineering rekindle civilian sales,
29:59but the new Super Constellation were to be the testbed for a revolution in military aviation.
30:05Today, the concept of aerial command posts, electronic surveillance centers, and radar stations is commonplace.
30:23They've proved their worth time and again during their short career.
30:27Most of the experimentation that proved their effectiveness was conducted in Constellations,
30:33as was most of their early service.
30:35Again, old 1961 was involved in making aviation history.
30:40As with domes above and below, the original plane was used to trial the installations.
30:46The first connies constructed as airborne radar pickets were built for the Navy.
30:51They replaced earlier rudimentary installations aboard converted World War II bombers.
30:57Aboard the planes, a crew of 22 were involved, with aircrew, radar operators, and engineers.
31:09With their long range coupled to the search range of their extensive load of equipment,
31:13these Navy WV-1s proved the worth of the concept,
31:17and installed it as an accepted part of naval practice.
31:20Soon, the idea spread to the Air Force.
31:24The Air Force had placed orders for super connies for use as conventional transports,
31:35but C-121s would not be delivered as such until 1956.
31:40Before any transports could be built,
31:43the Air Force acknowledged their better use as airborne early warning aircraft,
31:47and changed the order for the first 10 to its own flying radar pickets as RC-121Cs.
31:54These planes, loaded with 15,000 pounds of radar equipment,
31:59would cruise at 335 miles per hour for up to 24 hours on patrol.
32:05The RC-121C was similar to early Navy super connies,
32:10with their height-finding radar housed in the eight-foot tall hump,
32:14and the bearing scanner located in the ventral dome.
32:17The RC-121Cs entered service in 1953,
32:22and were mostly employed in patrolling the western seaboard of the USA.
32:26They were followed in 1954 by the first of an order for 72 RC-121D warning star aircraft.
32:35In addition to the passive role of detection,
32:37these incorporated offensive activity as control centres for the guidance of fighter interceptors.
32:50From the basis of the warning star, a number of options presented themselves.
32:55Once the idea of putting equipment into aircraft was digested,
32:59there was a rush of ideas about which equipment might be suited to the treatment.
33:03Advanced electronics and surveillance types multiplied.
33:07As the transport planes appeared,
33:09they were often pulled back to the factory for refit,
33:12as one or another of the electronics versions.
33:15The appetite of the services for these valuable aircraft was insatiable.
33:19Over 220 of the main types alone were built,
33:23disregarding the one-offs and the small runs.
33:26Most of these planes were also completely re-equipped,
33:29at least once in their lifetime.
33:31Between the Air Force and the Navy,
33:43over 25 different designations were used to identify versions of the radar-equipped Connies,
33:49and their control centre brethren.
33:51In addition to proving the concept and paving the way for their successors,
33:56these constellations also performed very real service
34:00in an era when there was no other practical solution.
34:03At the height of the Cold War,
34:05when hostility and distrust often combined in equal degree to form policy,
34:10a calmer picture of reality was maintained by these electronic eyes in the sky.
34:25In 1962, the RC designation was changed to EC,
34:29and the electronics Connies were to earn their later Vietnam fame under that designation.
34:35They were a pivotal factor in US defensive strategy,
34:38and had become as important as the cargo-carrying versions were dispensable.
34:43Despite using non-standard fuel,
34:46and requiring piston engine maintenance that was an almost dead art form,
34:50the Connies were nursed along.
34:52Old age and technological redundancy could not undermine their essential functions,
34:58and some were to remain in service until the early 1980s.
35:03Their longevity was helped not only by their expert care,
35:06but by the excellence of their original design and construction.
35:13The jet age was, however, drawing in on the Constellation's career.
35:22It was obvious that the introduction of jet airliners would change the whole market expectation,
35:27and Lockheed were determined not to be left behind.
35:31Aware of the limitations of early jet technology,
35:34they set about refining a system of compound engines, or jet props,
35:39using jet engines to drive propellers.
35:42They'd already extended the piston engine by the use of turbines driven by the exhausts.
35:47These had added 20% more power to the engines, and with a peak of piston engine development.
35:53Employing a jet and prop combination was designed to extract maximum economical efficiency from both technologies.
36:01Once again, the test bed for an aviation milestone was old 1961.
36:10In its last major notable achievement, the venerable airframe was fitted with an Allison turboprop in the outboard starboard position.
36:18This engine couldn't save the Connie, but it was part of the foundation of one of Lockheed's most successful aircraft, the C-130 Hercules.
36:27It was also at the heart of the successful Lockheed Electra, which kept the company alive in the civilian market.
36:34However, for the Constellation, its success as the pinnacle of piston engine airliners somehow acted against anyone taking a jet powered version seriously.
36:45Even though the finest development, the Starliner, was yet to come.
36:49With a new wing shape and other major revisions, the Starliner carried Lockheed's hopes of continued dominance of the long range airliner market.
36:59However, though orders for Super Connie's didn't dry up immediately, there was no flood of orders for the new plane.
37:06Only 44 of this vastly improved version were built, and most were phased out of service relatively quickly, being replaced by jets.
37:15The improvements made to the Starliner were numerous, and it was undoubtedly the finest piston-engined airliner of all time, but it was too late.
37:28Lockheed's enterprise, imagination and innovation continued to work around the Constellation,
37:34and several refinements, including the now familiar revolving antenna, were developed and tested with Connie's.
37:44The new development of the Starliner gave Lockheed a new proposal to put to the Air Force, and the company invested considerable time and money sorting out the best package it could develop around the plane.
37:58The revolving dish was only one of the systems developed for the submission.
38:03With turboprops, extended range, specialised layouts, and a large number of new features and improvements, the Starliner was being prepared for what would be the next sales opportunity.
38:14By then, the success of the airborne radar and control planes demanded that a fleet of such aircraft be maintained.
38:21The ageing C-121s would need replacement.
38:25By the time the competition was announced, Lockheed knew that no matter how excellent their proposal was, they didn't really stand a chance.
38:39Hard on the heels of the formal call for tenders came the specifications, and these confirmed Lockheed's fears.
38:47Time had stolen a march on the military Starliner, as well as the civilian version.
38:52The Air Force was not just in the market for a replacement for their Constellations.
38:57To be more precise, they were in the market for a jet-powered plane.
39:01The Boeing Company had the world's best such aircraft on its catalogue, developed for the Air Force as a jet tanker, the KC-135.
39:10The result was a foregone conclusion.
39:22However, the appearance of their replacement did not signal the end of the Connie's military career.
39:27Whereas the arrival of Boeing's jet had seen the quick demise of civilian Constellations,
39:32the Air Force and Navy were content with the capabilities of the plane, and coincidentally, they had need of them.
39:45The first USAF C-121s to be based in the Asian theatre arrived in Thailand in April 1965.
39:52Although Navy planes had been the first Connie's involved, starting with missions in August 1964, at the time of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
40:01The Constellations flew throughout the war, and their service was invaluable.
40:06They performed in a number of functions, some of which were developed and tested
40:11as a response to the armed combat raging below and in the air around them.
40:16The big plane's commodious fuselages saw many refits.
40:22The variety of constellations deployed to Vietnam illustrates the way the big planes had taken on so many roles for the services.
40:30Their main work was as airborne early warning aircraft, but they were also used for a number of other missions.
40:37A few cargo versions were used, primarily for aeromedical evacuation and as passenger planes.
40:44However, beyond that, the specialist electronics planes filled a number of roles.
40:49One of these was the relay of data from sensors scattered along the North Vietnamese supply routes,
40:55as part of Operation Igloo White.
40:58To have diverted the jets to these tasks when they were needed as refuelling tankers would have been highly impractical,
41:04and the Connie's, available and reliable, soldiered on.
41:08The constellation's original deployment to Vietnam was essentially defensive.
41:21They were to be used to provide a radar picket to guard against North Vietnamese bombers attacking targets in the south.
41:28However, this proved to be a short-lived need, and the duties that kept them in the theatre were over a broad spectrum.
41:35One of the most unusual roles the Connie was called on to perform fell to this plane,
41:40an NC-121J of the Navy's development squadron, VX-8.
41:46The designation was given to a group of planes that were variously modified to secret specifications.
41:52There was no conformity within the designation.
41:55It was, effectively, a grab bag for various one-off Connie versions.
42:00This plane, for example, had its own special fit and its own special mission.
42:17The equipment fitted to this plane was definitely non-standard in military terms.
42:22These two-inch tape players were the ultimate in professional television formats at the time.
42:27The duty of the aircraft was to serve as a television and radio broadcaster for the armed services networks.
42:34By hauling the transmission aloft, the service was taken out of range of Viet Cong interference.
42:40Ground-based transmission would have required infrastructure which, as a tempting target, would have needed constant guard.
42:47The quietly plotting constellation transmitting from on high made the maintenance of service broadcasts practical.
43:01Of course, most of the constellation activity in Vietnam was far more actively involved in the conflict,
43:07with the most important work being performed in monitoring the North Vietnamese.
43:12As soon as operations over the North began, the constellations became essential factors in the struggle.
43:18As the war went on, their role gradually evolved from passive to active involvement.
43:24Operating over their own ground, the North Vietnamese MiGs were given very accurate information
43:29about the whereabouts of US aircraft in their airspace.
43:33This advantage was at first simply countered by the operations of the US radar planes,
43:38which were able to relay similar information about MiG activity to the American strike aircraft.
43:44As the war went on, the Connies increasingly assumed a more active role,
43:49making direct contact with American fighters and guiding them in attack on any North Vietnamese activity.
43:56When the North became better equipped with missiles,
43:59the Connies were able to fix the location of any SAM site radars that were operating.
44:04This served two purposes.
44:06It warned aircraft in the area to expect trouble,
44:09and it led the Iron Hand Weasels to attack the sites.
44:13The last constellation operations in the theatre were flown in May 1974.
44:19Well after the last operational strikes by US forces,
44:23the big observers continued their monitoring.
44:26By then, it was 25 years after the first electronics refitted Connies had so impressed the Navy.
44:33It was also 31 years after the first constellation flight.
44:38When the constellation was at its peak, the axe fell.
45:01They were forcibly retired from service long before they wore out.
45:05The major airlines were forced, partially for reasons of prestige, to abandon props.
45:11The Connies had been the key to the establishment of long-distance civil traffic after the war.
45:16But business has no place for soft sentiment, and they were abandoned quickly.
45:21By the early 60s, the civil career of the constellation had moved to small airlines and lesser routes.
45:28There, they continued to work for many years.
45:31Gradually, they became relegated to cargo, and then lingered further as isolated crop dusters and fire tankers.
45:41The military career lasted much longer, with the last Navy constellation being retired in June 1982.
45:48The last constellation built had been delivered in 1958.
45:53856 Connies were made in 16 years of production.
45:58Their career stretches from World War II to the space shuttle.
46:03They were, throughout their career, used as test beds for a multitude of developments.
46:08The results of this service are still seen in use in both military and civil aviation today.
46:14One of the most beautiful aircraft ever produced.
46:17Time reduced their worth to their weight in metal.
46:20Very few escaped the scrap merchants.
46:23And now, their treasured museum pieces.
46:26Here we are, our pc.
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