Lockheed Constellation
Lockheed's Constellation family, the "Connie", was a four-engined, pressurized airliner designed for TWA to Howard Hughes's specifications and first flown in 1943 as the military C-69. Put into airline service after the Second World War, its speed, range and distinctive triple-tail, dolphin-curved shape made it the defining piston-engined airliner of the late 1940s and 1950s, in civil and military transport service, until jets overtook it at the end of the 1950s.
Why It Mattered
In June 1938 Lockheed began designing an airliner to meet a TWA requirement: nonstop across the continent, on a 3,500-mile range. Howard Hughes, TWA's largest shareholder, sharpened the demand the next year — a cruising speed of 300 mph and the range to span the United States without landing. The result, once it entered airline service after the Second World War, outran its rivals. The type had already become the first airliner to fly across the country nonstop, eight hours eastbound. Pressurized, fast and long-ranged, the Constellation set the standard that other airliners in its class had to catch up to — and held it until the jets arrived.
Design Notes
The design was led by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and Hall Hibbard, working to specifications laid out by Howard Hughes. Its fuselage was a continuous curve — the dolphin-shaped profile that made the type recognizable at a glance — and it carried a distinctive triple-fin tail. The three fins were practical as well as handsome: they kept the tail low enough for the aircraft to fit into existing hangars. The cabin was pressurized, and the Constellation was the first airliner family in widespread use so equipped, able to cruise above most bad weather. Four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radials drove it; the controls were hydraulically powered, and the propellers could feather and reverse. The later Super Constellation stretched the fuselage and raised tourist-class seating from 69 to 92.
Operational History
War redirected the program before the prototype was finished: all transport production went to military needs, and the prototype first flew on January 9, 1943, as a military aircraft, the C-69. Only 22 C-69s were built, and most were converted into airliners once the war ended. The L-649 was the first Constellation built as a commercial type, followed by the long-range L-749. Three Constellations served as presidential aircraft for Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the family was used during the Berlin and Biafran airlifts. The stretched Super Constellation entered service with Eastern Airlines in December 1951, and 579 were built. On October 19, 1953, TWA began scheduled nonstop transcontinental service with the type, a first for the industry. The final version, the L-1649A Starliner, entered service on June 1, 1957. Production ended in 1958, with 856 Constellations built in all.
Afterlife
Airline careers wound down through the 1960s: the last use of a Super Constellation by a major U.S. domestic airline ended in February 1968, as a backup for Eastern's shuttle service, and by the end of 1980 only four Super Constellations remained in airline service. Military Constellations worked on longer — the National Air and Space Museum's C-121C served the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard units until 1977 — and the type settled into a second life as a museum aircraft. That C-121C is now on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. A few Constellations are reported to remain airworthy, among them one flown by a historical society in Australia.