74 FLYPAST April 2018
FROM THE WORKSHOP SUPER CONSTELLATION
To date, the repairs and
refurbishments have taken 11,000
hours, and the bill comes to
about £2 million. The SCFA has
been vigorously fund-raising to
meet these costs. Without the
co-operation of many organisations,
skilled engineers volunteering their
time, and the ever-loyal support
of the members, this project could
never have happened.
Elite survivors
The Connie was designed to a
specification inspired by the owner
of Trans World Airlines, Howard
Hughes, and became the first
commercially successful airliner
with a pressurised cabin. The
prototype first flew at Burbank,
California, on January 9, 1943. It
was the first of 856 examples with
production ending in mid-1958.
Civil variants ranged from the
initial L-049 variant to the stretched
L-1049 Super Constellation
introduced in 1951. The final version
was the much redesigned L-1649A
Starliner of 1956.
The US military also used
Connies, with the L-049 taking on
the designation C-69 for use by
the USAAF. Super Constellations
were utilised for long-range
transport as C-121s, VC-121s moved
the President and VIPs around,and EC-121 Warning Stars acted as
pioneering airborne early warning
and control platforms for the
USAF and the US Navy.
There are currently only two
Constellations maintained in
airworthy condition. As well as
Star of Switzerland, the Historical
Aircraft Restoration Society keeps
former USAF C-121C VH-EAD
flying from Illawara in New South
Wales, Australia. This machine was
restored in the US between 1992
and 1995 and was flown around
the world to its new home.
At Auburn, Maine, in the US,
Lufthansa Super Star Gesellschaft,
working in association withLufthansa Technik, is restoring
L-1649A Starliner N7316C to what
is described as better-than-new-
condition, with modern avionics.
This should fly again at the end of
this year or the spring of 2019.Bug-bomber
The Swiss Connie, which was built
at Burbank, was handed over
on November 1, 1955 as C-121C
54-0156 to the USAF’s Military Air
Transport Service. It was phased
out of active USAF service in 1962
and transferred to the Mississippi
Air National Guard’s (ANG) 183rd
Air Transport Squadron and later
served with the 167th Aeromedical“The Connie was designed to a specifi cation inspired by the owner of Trans
World Airlines, Howard Hughes, and became the fi rst commercially successful
airliner with a pressurised cabin”