The Aircraft NOBODY Knew about! Lockheed Constellation 

Go to squarespace.com/mentournow to get a free trial and 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain

Probably the most beautiful and graceful passenger aircraft ever built, the likes of which we regrettably will probably never see again. A gem of an aircraft.

First exposure to the Connie mid 1950's at age 7 when my dad took me along on a non-stop from Washington D.C. to LA. Big airplane to my eyes, and a fast flight. I got a lot closer experience while working ramp crew for TWA at Washington National in the last years it flew for TWA. Tough plane. We had one transcontinental flight arrive that had sucked a valve half way through the trip. Flight engineer reported a minor increase in engine temp and minor loss of power. But they flew on just fine. The engine was repaired in our hanger and I got to see the piston of that cylinder - its dome looked like a hand hammered art sculpture from the bouncing bit of valve! When Delta started flying jets, their ramp location was just outboard of us. They would have to interrupt loading passengers for our engine starts due to the clouds of exhaust smoke. One of their agents ran through the cloud one time to stop passengers. When he came out the other side his once white shirt was an oily black. My least favorite things about the Connie were loading the forward luggage compartment (through the nose wheel bay) which was so tight top-to-bottom you sometimes had to lay on your back and pass bags over your chest to the next guy deeper in the compartment, and the honey-bucket toilet in the left rear fuselage which was an open-top 3 ft long bucket you had to lift out and carefully walk out through the cabin, down the steps to the sewage truck, dump, refill with blue antiseptic liquid (think porta-potty fluid) and walk it back into position. All without spilling a drop!

The Constellation was the first plane I ever flew in. I was 7 years old in the 1950's. It was with Eastern Air Lines. Both then as a child and now as an old man, I think the Constellation is the most beautiful thing man has ever put into the skies!

The reason the Connie's shape is so smooth and flowing is the fact that Howard Hughs and Kelly Johnson are aeronautical wizards. My grand mother was a big traveler in her day and loved flying the Connie out of NY. She called it a "Sky Angel". Due to so much travel and knowing the attendants she got me on board to walk around the interior up to the flight deck. I still have the smile plastered on my face. I have seen this wonder fly numerous times while living on the West coast and have the drone of her engines stored in memory. What a beauty she is! Thank you for bringing back great memories.

It was amazing to see one actually flying this year at Oshkosh/Airventure. I have never seen a more graceful, beautiful plane.

I was lucky enough to fly in a Connie in 1962 from Honolulu to San Diego. At the time, my father was a Navy pilot, and he flew a military reconnaissance version of the Super Connie (with a radar dome like AWACS planes today) between Honolulu and Midway Island. It’s tough to choose between the Boeing 314 flying boat and the Connie as the most romantic airliners of all time.

I was born in Burbank and we lived with my grandparents who both worked for Lockheed. The house we lived in was on Rosita Ave, close enough for them to walk to work. My grandfather was a radio and electrical inspector, and my grandmother a production supervisor. They both worked on Connies. I remember visiting the plant multiple times in the early and mid 50’s and seeing the Connies being built. And, we could see them taking off and landing from the backyard. I thought they were the most beautiful planes, nothing else looking nearly so graceful. I have loved the Connie my whole life and last year got to see the own owned by the Smithsonian. I stood, mesmorized, looking it over, as in love with it as I was as a boy.

My dad flew C47s in WWII, and I got a ride on one of the last Connies as a kid, coming home from Minnesota to Texas. Since I was flying alone, I had a stewardess looking after me. I am still madly in love with her. Even as a kid I recognized the breathtaking beauty of that plane!

My father was a flight engineer on the Connie (Seaboard & Western Airlines) for most of his career. Those four engines kept him busy. My first memory of riding on the Connie (at age 6) was a flight from Idlewild Airport (now Kennedy) to Frankfort, Germany. We (my mother, brother, sister) flew in the back with the cargo (you could do that in those days). At times, he would take me to the flight deck to watch how the plane was being flown. I remember falling asleep to the droning of those four engines. My father bought a Volkswagen in Germany and loaded it on the Connie to bring back to the USA. A beautiful plane indeed and one of my earliest and best memories!

In 1957 my dad, who had been flying C-124s out of Travis AFB in central California was transferred to Tachikawa AFB in Japan to continue flying C-124s. In February of 1957 our family flew across the pacific from California to Hawaii to Wake Island to Japan in a Navy R6D - a DC-6. I was 12 years old. For health reasons I had to return to the States in October 1958. It was in a Constellation. Such a beautiful airplane!. In June, 1959, I returned to Japan in a Boeing Stratocruiser. (Before the Korean war my dad was flying C-97s to Germany.) I flew across the Pacific in the three major piston engine airliners in a space of a little under 2 1/2 years. In February 1961 my family returned to the States in a Boeing 707. It was like walking into a barn. Six abreast seating! Crazy! No vibration! So little noise! No refueling stops! The world had changed.

There is a still flying Constellation at an aircraft museum in Wollongong Australia. It flies a few times a year for special occasions.

I've been lucky enough to see a Connie fly a few times at the Avalon Airshow in Australia. Normally she's on late in the day/dusk period, so you get to see the flames from the exhaust stacks on take off. A magical aircraft to watch.

Connie's fuselage shape was actually done in order to get the tail out of the propeller wash caused by the huge engines, and the nose was bent down in order to have ground clearance for the huge propellers without having to make the nose gear taller than it already was. Result? the most beautiful propeller driven airliner ever; that is Scandinavian design I can truly love. I'm sure glad Johnson's parents emigrated here! Also check out the Latécoere 631 flying boat- gorgeous! The most beautiful jet? DeHavilland Comet by far, maybe the Sud Aviation Caravelle too. much better looking and elegant than any 707 or scarebus. military jet? Canberra takes the cake there, and the P-80.

in 1967 I had the honor of riding on a Super G Constellation of KLM from Amsterdam to London (in their last years of service KLM and many other airlines used them on shorter haul regional routes.) It was a great experience-overshadowed only by the fact that we (my family and I) were traveling to London to cross the Atlantic not on an airplane, but on one of the last transatlantic crossings of the RMS "Queen Mary".

The Lockheed Constellation is an iconic airplane. Their Electra was another plane with absolutely superb design lines.

Loved hearing the story behind the Skunk Works name. 40 years a military aviation enthusiast and never knew the origin of the name - or that Kelly Johnson’s parents were Swedish; my wife will be very proud to hear that. Great video - thanks!

I hope all of Sweden is as proud to claim Kelly Johnson as you are, Captain. His designs were not only fast they had a knack for looking fast, too. He made beautiful planes and his crowning achievement was The Sled, if you ask me. The SR-71 Blackbird. Most graceful thing I've ever beheld.

My grandfather was the production control manager for the P-38 in Burbank during the war. He said that the curve of the fuselage produced enough lift to cancel most of the fuselage drag. Also had the opportunity to fly a Lufthansa L-1649 from Frankfurt to Stuttgart. back in 1965. I was 12 at the time and never realized that this intercontinental beauty had been reduced to a regional puddle jumper.

My first exposure to the Connie was the 1049. I was a First Officer at Capitol Air that had a large operation in Berlin. The thing I hated most about the Connie other than walking under one and getting covered in oil was the way the cockpit leaked water when you were flying in precipitation as we actually placed ice buckets under the worst leaks. It was a joy to fly although the Flight Engineers delighted in destroying a good landing by extending the cowl flaps just before touchdown and alternating between the left and right engines on approach to totally foul up the trim. Ultimately I was the Chief Pilot at Capitol prior to its shutdown in 1985. I flew all of the Boeing's thru the 767. I loved the Connie as it was my first large airliner. I have truly enjoyed your video, please make more.

In 1954 I was 8 years old in LA. The east end of the LAX runway began at El Segundo Blvd (which now is a tunnel under midfield). My father and I would pull off the road next to a chain link fence less then 100 ft behind aircraft preparing to take off. Every third one seemed to be a "Connie". A long process, each engine in turn would be run up as the other three idled, as we got blasted by its draft. Great memories.

In 1958 my family flew cross country in a TWA Lockheed Constellation LAX to LGA - was 9 yrs. old and have vivid memories of it, including a visit to the cockpit, getting to sit on the captain's lap and move the yoke (slightly!) and to see the Grand Canyon passing under the nose.

When I was a child, my family took a TWA Constellation from LA to London. This was around 1960 I believe. Every passenger got a little paper certificate congratulating them for having taken the "Polar Route". Of course, it didn't really go very close to the North Pole. If I remember correctly, it refueled midway in Bangor, Maine.

I have a pin of the Connie ❤️ I was a flight attendant back in the 80’s and there was a push to “save a Connie” What a beautiful plane 😊

I flew as radar/atc operator on a super connie in US Navy squadron VW-1. we flew into the eyes of typhoons for fleet weather info - and rotated through Chu Lai Vietnam, where we provided tactical support for the US fleet in the Gulf of Tonkin. This old bird was tough enough to withstand penetrating an ocean borne typhoon with up to 200 mph winds at 1500 ft off the deck Great airplane, spent over 2200 hours on one, great memories

The Connie was my late fathers favorite aircraft. When he was a kid, he saw a model of one in a toy store and wanted to get it but didn't have money at that moment. So he worked hard and saved up enough money to get it and when he went back, it was gone. He always thought it was such a beautiful looking airplane.

I skydived from a Constellation that was brought in as one of the specialty jump ships at World FreeFall Convention in 1990s. This emaculate refurbished aircraft was by Save A Connie. It had all the markings of a TWA but the lettering was SAC. Even the inside had that art deco design though seats removed to accommodate 90 skydivers. It was very interesting on the ride up, it took some time to get to altitude (12,000), SAC people said engines were designed for high octane gas that used to be available back in the days so engines not as powerful. During the 30 minutes or so during climb after takeoff, we were able to walk around the aircraft. Entering the cockpit, I saw the three flight crew were constantly manipulating controls. This aircraft was pure analog, all steam gages and discrete switches. I am sure there were modern avionics but otherwise was like going back in time and see how this thing is flown. Even the flight engineer would make adjustments, write in a ledger. There was a fourth station for navigator (not used) but SAC recreated this former cargo version to be exactly like what was flown by TWA. Speaking of flight decks and I am no pilot but my impression is you have to be a real multi-engine pilot. There are so many controls that it seems one must be an octopus to fly this thing. I also remembered entering a 747 simulator in 1990s (glass cockpit, etc) which my impression is I don't understand all the abbreviations of controls but yet it felt I could fly this thing, the Constellation absolutely not. Many of the Save A Connie were former TWA employees from the 1950s, even some of the pilots and stewardesses. Of course I had to get my pictures with them. Talking with them about the restoration, one lady said it seemed endless hours and days cleaning various parts. They also sold copies of Robert Serling's book "TWA: The Howard Hughes Airline" which has all sorts of insights of those early days. What stood out was how new pilots were coached or not by experienced pilots. Some captains will mentor the co-pilots, others would say "don't bother me, go back and serve coffee to the passengers!" I read Howard Hughes once flew a Connie across the country by himself (insisted but no other aircraft available) which I don't see how that is possible. However, I met a pilot who flew Constellations and he said it is not that difficult to fly the aircraft. Regarding Hughes, amusing scene from the movie "The Aviator" when Hughes agreed to buy Connies from Lockheed, calls his accountant at 2 am to provide the money. Which Noel says "Howard, I don't have 14 million dollars in petty cash laying around!" But Howard insisted, "mortgage Toolco!" and hung up.

In 1949, as a five-year old, I went with my [military] father to Hawaii; we flew from San Francisco to Honolulu on a MATS (Military Air Transport Service) Constellation. The majestic beauty of that airplane, the first one I'd ever seen (let alone been so close to) completely captivated me. Standing on the tarmac staring up at this massive metal beast in front of my very young eyes, I was immediately captivated by the tail structure, huge engines, and overwhelming presence of that majestic airliner.

I had the great fortune to be a flight engineer on the Connie! I joined the Wyoming Air National Guard and after training and working as an aircraft mechanic I was able to transition to a flight engineer. I eventually logged over 1000 hours before the unit transitioned to C130's. The Connie was the most beautiful airliner ever even today. It was a joy to be a crew member. I had a real job on the plane and was very sad when I had to ferry one to Davis Monthan. Thanks for the memories!

Kelly Johnson was the greatest aerodynamicist ever! All of his designs looked like they were going 200 mph while parked on the ramp. In 1963 I was in the USMC. I was transferred to Kodiak, Alaska. We were flown from Seattle, WA to Kodiak, AK on a Super Constellation...all of those hours completely over water. The "jet age" had been in high gear since 1956 so by then, the Connie was considered "old hat". She was a truly graceful old bird even then.

I flew in a Super Constellation with my parents in 1961 from Buenos Aires to New York. I was 5yo at the time so I don't have any memories of it, just the stories told by my parents in family reunions, and B&W pictures with the plane in the background. We flew from Buenos Aires, to Rio de Janeiro, then La Guaira, Miami and finally NYC. We might have switched planes at some point, I guess. Those stops weren't brief, we had to disembark the plane while it was being serviced so each stop took at least 2 hours. On the way back, a year later, we flew on a B707, I assume, with fewer stops. Being so far south in the continent, stopovers would be a regular feature for years. Flying to Europe in 1966 from Buenos Aires required stopovers in Rio de Janeiro and Dakar and finally Madrid. As the years passed, Dakar was dropped and now there are plenty of direct flights from everywhere to anywhere else.

While I was in the Navy I was a crew member on an EC-121K, the Navy version of the "Connie", from 1967-1970. Almost 900 hours. Most beautiful airplane ever built

In 1958 I was 5 years old and my dad worked as an aircraft mechanic for Flying Tigers in Burbank CA. My family had migrated to LA from New Jersey so twice a year we would deadhead on the Connie freighters to Newark or Idlewild airports to visit our grandparents. On one flight when I was about 10, the captain asked me to sit in his seat and then had me fly the aircraft around a arching thunder cloud. I asked him why we could not fly through the open center of the could and he said "Because we cannot see if someone is coming through from the other side". I will always remember Flying Tigers and the Connie.

The Super Constellation actually plays an important role in the novel “Homo Faber“ by the famous Swiss author Max Frisch (the plane has engine issues and the pilots perform an emergency landing in the Mexican desert). So, many literature lovers and so many former/current students of swiss, german and maybe austrian schools have read about this plane. I actually never realized that Max Frisch didn’t just make up an aircraft type there technobabble style but that the Super Constellation really existed. When I found out not long ago after your channel (among others) got me interested in aviation, it made me instantly appreciate the novel for that orientation towards detail. I obviously shouldn’t have been surprised, but that is the thing with realistic literature, after a few decades we just lose parts of the context.

My dad was a pilot on the L049 Super Constellation in his younger days, flying for Air India. He also flew the Sud Aviation Caravelle, an aircraft I hope you cover in a video someday.

In 1960 when I was 12 my family took our first trip to Europe. We sailed from NYC to England but I was already a huge av-geek. 1960 was the beginning of the jet age and I was so excited that we were to fly an Air France Boeing 707 London to Paris. The plane was parked at a remote stand at Heathrow. When we got off the coach from the terminal I was very upset to find my first jet flt was an old AF Constellation. I am still quoted as saying, "That's not a jet, it's a gyp."

Now this brought about a great memory. As an A1C I was traveling with a Lt and three other airmen to visit all 12th AF bases to provide safety seat belt training. Our little team all had auto accidents which seatbelts helped keep us from being injured, so we were volunteered to tell our stories to troops to help build awareness for the safety team. We travelled mostly via the fleets of older aircraft kept aloft and used to keep older pilots a way to keep their flight status and keep a shuttle service available for hops. For one leg of our journeys we found ourselves catching a hop on a VC-121A Connie. This had been a personal staff aircraft until just before she was moved to the shuttle routs. This craft was in extraordinary condition, configured with seats set facing each other with large tables between them. Lots of space for layout papers while in flight. There were only two other passengers aboard for this flight. Quite a difference from our normal canvas side seats or rear facing layout of other craft we flew. I believe we traveled to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, was 1974 I think. Smooth flight and the awesome sound of the old recips.

I wonder if Petter and the team realize that they are producing real documentaries? It'll be no surprise for me if one day we could watch a full-length movie directed by Mentour Now! And it's also inspiring to see how Petter develops in different directions (talking now about 737 online-course) building on his love for aviation! Way to go! 👏

Have had the pleasure in being inside one the last remaining flying examples of one of the GLORIOUS birds. 'Connie' a fine example beautifully preserved and maintained at HARS Aviation Museum in NSW, Australia.

As a kid, I flew on Connies many times crossing the Atlantic at night. Loved to see the exhaust flames and the glowing red exhaust pipes. What a magnificent sound at take off power! I fell asleep with my face lying against the window. Woke up with a numb cheek. Worth it!

I toured the MATS Connie at an airshow a few years before 9/11. It was so impressive. Then a few days later I heard a racket at the airport, 2 miles away. It was the Connie taking off. The single most impressive, memorable sound I have ever heard!

I've flown on a number of commercial airliners over the years but two I've always wanted to fly but never had the chance are the Constellation and the L-1011 both of which were ahead of their time in various ways. Thanks for explaining the history of this beautiful airliner.

In the fifties I got to see the airliners quite frequently, on the ramp at Salt Lake City Airport (my Dad worked there, first for United Airlines, then for ARINC). The Constellations seemed like some sort of sleek, long-legged bird, always ready to leap into flight.

Love the Lockheed Constellation painted in TWA colors -- the Super Constellation (with tip-tanks) being the best for Mid-Century flying art.

I was six years old when my mother, sister, and I flew to England on a Constellation in 1952. Even at that age, I fell in love with the airplane. I have models of what I consider to be the most beautiful aircraft designs and the Connie is one of them. (The Electra, 104, SR71, P38, and U2 are also in the collection.)

Was F/E on L749A for WAL . Flew about 700 hours mostly in Alaska flying PNA routes as they had merged with WAL in 1967. I had just been furloughed from BNF and was smashing baggage for them at Love Field when I got telegram offering immediate,permanent ,employment at WAL. We had six Connies two with Curtis Electric Props and four with the Hamilton Standard props. We often had a speed pack winched onto the belly which carried 8000# of cargo often King crab from Kodiak Island to Seattle.That only knocked five knots off our cruising speed.We carried about 55 passengers and had two stews.We had stewardesses as flight attendants had not yet been invented.

As a child who was born in Hawthorne and lived in Lawndale in the 1950's until age 10, then Torrance until 18, I remember late at night when I could feel the rumbling of those big radial engines as they did their run up's and take offs and then climbing out eastward on their downwind leg not too far overhead. I always wondered where they were going to. Once the B-707 and DC-8s replaced the piston airliners, the sounds changed and was not as noticeable (Edit: They were quite smokey though! ). Also, my dad worked at a company based at LA International all that time, and I remember when I went with my Mom the times when she picked Dad up from work, the airliners taxiing on the bridge over the main road which was shown in your video was an incredible sight and inspired me to become a pilot later in life. Thanks for posting this excellent video of my favorite piston airliner that I saw in person many times as a child. Never got to fly on the Connie, but did fly on the Electra in my teens to the San Francisco Bay area every summer to visit cousins. Great memories!

As a youngster in the late 1950’s Dad used to take us to Heathrow on a Sunday morning when we were visiting London. The road he parked on was parallel to the main runway and about 400 yds away! I only remember the Constellations. Tall, elegant, massive nose wheel assembly. They were distinctive and beautiful. We had a superb view of them. How life has changed.

When the Constellation entered service just after World War II, it essentially marked the beginning of the end of most passenger railroads in the USA. I believe the Model 049 could fly from Los Angeles to New York City eastbound non-stop and New York City to Los Angeles west with only one fuel stop, which meant under nine hours flight time, a sharp contrast to the three days it took by train to travel between the same two cities.

I recently visited the TWA hotel at JFK airport, where there is a stationary connie converted into a cocktail bar. Seeing that airplane brought back memories from my early childhood - My parents would drive to the recently built county airport, park at the tarmac fence (no charge) and then we would climb outdoor steel stairs to the roof of the terminal building. There was seating up there, along with coin operated binoculars. I distinctly remember seeing a large four-engined airplane with three tail fins on several occasions. This was the late 1960s, so it would have been at the end of the constellation's service life. I was too young to remember specifics, and I have no idea what livery was on the airplane, but it clearly left an impression on me.

In January of 1960, my military father and my mom, sister and I returned to the US from our 3 year tour near Tokyo, Japan. We flew out of Tachikawa AFB to Wake Island, then Hickam AFB in Honolulu and finally on to Travis AFB near San Francisco. I was 12 years old at the time and remember the awesome beauty of the Constellation as we boarded her that morning. I recall that this military version had a wing spar crossing the cabin floor that required one to step over it passing from one end of the aircraftto the other. My dad was an instructor pilot so I had quite a bit of interest in airplanes...still do. I love your videos and the clarity of your explanations...thanks for all of them!

There was a story about Orville Wright being onboard a Connie on his 82nd birthday. The pilots found out he was onboard and did the only thing you could do in such a situation, invited him up front. They even let him take control, well, you would, he was the father of aviation. I always think, what was going through Orville's mind, he went from lying on his stomach risking his life in 1903, to flying a fully pressurized airliner sipping coffee. What a life.

the movie the Aviator really did a good job of capturing both hughes' struggles with mental illness, and his love of building new aircraft. it's sad that so many people in management now think the only purpose for innovation is to increase profit.

I had one trip in a Connie from Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines to San Francisco, with fuel stops at Wake and Honolulu. The only interesting incident was when we were over the mid Pacific and it started hailing, or that's what it sounded like. But it was bright sunlight out side and not a thunderstorm in sight. Next thing we knew was the flaps and landing gear started down. That increased the heartbeat. Then we looked up the aisle into the cockpit (you could do that in those days), and saw the engineer open an overhead hatch and stick his head out into the slipstream, with another crewman gripping him about the waist. A few moments later the "hail" stopped. Turns out one of the antennas had broken off at one of the vertical fins. Then the engineer closed the hatch, the pilot rolled up the flaps and gear, and we continued out way to Honolulu.

I came to America on a KLM Constellation in 1950, departing from Hamburg. Somewhere over the water, one engine quit. I remember looking at the the propeller blades of the one nearest the window, while the other three spun as a blur. We turned around and spent a day in Amsterdam. That night we took the same seats, in the same machine and went on to Shannon, Gander, and New York. Even as a child, I thought the Constellation was the most beautiful thing in the world.

I have been lucky enough to see both a Constellation and a Super Connie at local airshows when I was growing up. They are absolutely beautiful aircraft

I had the Constellation addon for FSX; the most beautiful plane I ever virtually flew. The sounds, the charm, the design; everything about it stole my heart.

I never rode Constellation, but i remember seeing them along with Comet, 707, Vanguard, Viscount etc flying over the Great south West road into Heathrow. Wow what an aeroplane. I also had one drip oil on me at Farnborough in the 80s.

I was a child I would lay on my back wacth the Connie come and go beautiful classic air craft ! Kelly's been my idol all my life

I was a "war baby", meaning that I entered a Japanese concentration camp as an 18-months-old toddler and survived to leave the camps as a five-year-old, although I then spent six months in hospital. I was evacuated to Holland on a Dutch troop ship in 1946, but brought back to what was then still the Dutch East Indies in 1947. Eventually, when I was 12 or so, I was sent to boarding school in Holland in 1952, but since that didn't work out for various reasons, my parents brought me back to Indonesia once again in 1953, this time by air. Flying on a KLM Lockheed Constellation that I vividly remember to this day because it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen!

Connie is one of the most beautiful aircrafts ever built.

As a lowly private pilot I appreciate so much what you do. I don’t know how you have time for this. The amount of work that you do and your knowledge base few people know m. You do such a great job explaining things to folks that have no knowledge of airplane subjects. thank you very much always informative, educational and entertaining

My first ever airplane ride was in a Connie in January, 1960. Being transferred from Great Lakes Naval Base to MCRD San Diego to attend electronics school, the Marine Corps sent me by TWA non stop from Chicago to LAX. I remember being exited and then looking forward to my first airplane ride but the main thing I remember about the actual flight was the incredible amount of noise generated by the engines! Holding a conversation at a normal level was not possible, so conversations were kept to a minimum. Beautiful airplane though. I don't trust my memory, but it seems like the flight time was 8 hours?

The contributions to aviation Kelly Johnson made are staggering! So amazing to think he worked in aviation from before the jet age and had his hands in the F-117 which is still pretty amazing even today!

I had to opportunity to fly aboard TWA Connie in the middle 1960s, 1965 to be exact. Within a couple of years, TWA phased them out in favor of an all-jet fleet. I found lots of leg room, even in coach. The first class was very roomy, with food, snack and drink. I had the "Fun" of flying through some pretty rough air in one. Over Ohio on a night flight from Pittsburgh to Louisville, the captain announced, "There's weather ahead, and it's too big to go around, and too high to fly over, so we'll be going through it. Keep seat belts on." I was drinking some coffee, and drained the cup in a couple of gulps. A guy sitting across the isle from me didn't. When we hit the rough air, he went down, his cup went down, but the coffee stayed up, then landed all over him. It was probably the roughest air I'd flown through. Looking out the window, I swear I could see the engine cowlings were swaying from side to side when lighted by lightning, and I noticed a flight attendant (then called "stews") had her hand above her head, holding herself from the ceiling of the cabin. After we passed through the squall line, the rest of the trip was very smooth.

Awesome Video. In 1957 I remember my mother boarding a Connie in Dallas, TX. I was only 4 years old but I remember and smoke and fire of the engines - and it was very loud. I have always had a special place in my hear for the Connie.

In the late 1980s or early 90s I saw a restored “Connie” at an air show. It was an amazing sight!

I flew several flights in an RC-121 out of Reykjavik, Iceland in the AF. A magnificent aircraft for its time.

Had a 41+ year career in the airline industry... from 1959-2000 with National, Pan Am and then retiring with Delta. My first flight was in 1957 on a night flight (yeah most of the airlines had those back then) on Eastern from Philadelphia to Miami. As a 16 YO, I never knew that there was a career in the airline industry as part of my future. And what a career it was with 22 years in reservations then the remaining years in customer service at Washington National Airport.... this was long before DCA ever had jet service... National had two Super Connie's that had been converted to all cargo by the time I started. Many fascinating stories over those years of the greatness of the industry. just this past week I chatted with two airline friends that were there in the very beginning and one said that we were part of the industry in it's golden years. We enjoy telling of the stories of those days long gone.

My mother was a flight attendant (Stewardess) for Eastern Airlines in the 1950's, and she expressed her love for the Constellation (Connie) when Eastern was using them as well as DC-3's, and DC-4'S. Her favorite was the Constellation by far. She would regale me with stories of her travels, including one instance in which a young Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy boarder her Constellation, along with is beautiful wife Jaclyn.

Our group(a USN band)flew from Japan to the Philippines in the Admiral's Connie in 1967. As smooth a flight as I've ever experienced.

My first flights as a passenger were in the Super Connie in 1958. I was 3 years old and flew from Singapore to Nairobi via many stops in India, the Middle East and Africa, this was with Air India.

Excellent video and commentary! I was born in 1956 when my Dad was starting his career with TWA as a Flight Engineer. He started on the Connie right out of training in Kansa City, MO. I have traveled on these birds as a very small child so don't remember any trips that I was taken on but have a couple pictures with my Dad and Mom and me on a Connie that were taken back then. Pretty cool. The Connies were eventually replaced by the Boeing 707 and Dad then went to those Beautiful Birds. He retired in 1989 from flying the 747's on TWA's International route as IRO. He loved his job so very much He remains my Hero always. Thanks for the step back into time. I really enjoyed your presentation. John C.

I flew First Class in a Connie in '59 at age 7; island-hopping across the Pacific from Indonesia to Chicago, stopping at Guam, Hawaii and SFO along the way. My parents had five children, so we had two sets of four seats facing each other with a table for meals with tablecloths, silverware and real china, or playing games. We spent the nights in fold-down overhead bunk beds. We were allowed to sit in the navigator's chair behind the pilot for lengthy periods from SFO to ORD. It was a multi-day adventure!

I had the pleasure of viewing the Connie (Super Constellation) at the HARS aviation museum in Wollongong, Australia. She still flies too! A beautiful aircraft

First, I loved the Connie. It was a beautiful plane and flying in it was, for the most part, a great experience. HOWEVER...... I was on a TWA flight from Chicago to Indianapolis to Pittsburgh. Takeoff and landing were a bit rough! Both takeoffs were terrible. We taxied into place, the the pilot locked brakes and opened the engines wide. The thing I remember most was the airframe screaming in protest. It felt like every rivet was going to pop out! The brakes were then released and it felt like a catapult shot off a carrier, and I have had them. Landing in Indianapolis was horrid. First the left gear hit, bounced, then the right and bounced, 3 TIMES, before we settled down. Pittsburgh was no better, but this time it was ALL 3 GEAR, bounce, bounce, bounce. Loved the plane, only ride I ever had on one, not overly thrilled with the pilot!

I enjoyed watching this video. It certainly brought back a lot of memories. I was assigned to VQ-2 at NS Rota, Spain in the early 1970's, I flew as an electronic warfare evaluator on the EC-121 Super Connie. Yes, it was still a beautiful aircraft even with its radome and radar antenna. It was a rugged aircraft, I remember one flight when we were flying back from Key West to Rota when the long wire antenna broke off and was entangled on the aircraft's elevator and then shredded the elevator. We thought for sure we were going to put it into the water, but we got back to Rota on a wing and a prayer. Later, I transitioned to the EP-3Es, a version of the Lockheed Electra. In the reserves at NAS South Weymouth, MA, I was assigned as a Navigator on P-3 Orions and flew in them until my retirement. Thank you for airing this video.

My experience with the connie was in the military flying from Midway Island to the Aleutian Islands and back non-stop. I was not part of the normal aircrew which were home based in Hawaii but part of the Midway detachment, the flight engineer and the electronic tech Midet. were attached to an aircraft and when it flew so did we. We worked 8 hours in the maintenance shop and worked off the gripes on return to midway, then, flew when your plane flew. Your birthday being the only holiday of the year I loved that airplane and still remember the sound of those four 3350's. A beautiful airplane and one of my favorite. Thanks for the history lesson.

I have always thought the Constellation was one of the most beautiful airliners. It even looked good in the Southeast Asia Camouflage applied by the USAF when it served in Vietnam. Thanks for sharing the story about this airliner, I learned a lot.

I was at Ft Rucker when the Museum received McArther's Connie. It had to be landed on a short Runway. It was a very impressive AC. I don't know if it is still there.

My father was an engineer in the 1948-1950's and frequently travel on a Connie. My sister and would be out on the wooden flight deck of what is now LAX, seeing him off and watching the graceful plan return some weeks later with Dad aboard. My latter interaction with the Connie were military as it had a radar pancake added above for its tours over the Pacific, I loved to watch them. They mostly gone by the time I was commissioned in the Navy. Mike Chouinard

I have a particular warm spot in my heart for the military version of the Super Connie, specifically known as the EC-121R. As a young airman during the Vietnam war we were part of forming a reconnaissance squadron that utilized retired Navy, formerly ray dome equipped, Connies for the mission of tracking Viet Cong traffic along the Ho Chi Min Trail. The ray domes were removed, the aircraft were given jungle camouflage paint, and the interiors were fitted with our electronic surveillance gear. My tour ended with 101 combat missions, and happily we had no loses in the 13 months that passed. Later, the squadron lost a couple aircraft and, sadly, nearly all crew members on board. During my time the reliability rate was good, though it was not uncommon to return to base with one engine out, and a couple times two (thank God for highly skilled AC). None of our birds have survived time, but those versions that have, and have been lovingly maintained/restored are still an inspiration. A most beautiful bird.

Wonderful video! The Connie at HARS is a remarkable aircraft. Feel very lucky to have visited it three times and written about it for Airliner World ✈️

In the mid eighties, I remember seeing the super constellation as a child, my father was flying the canberra bombers and we were posted in a place called Pune, India. These aircrafts belonged to the Indian airforce, we used to see them whenever we entered the airfiled area with my Dad. Although I don't remember seeing them fly, they were probably grounded by then. I even have photographs of them.

Back in the 1950's we lived about 12 miles Northeast Lockheed Burbank. Any time relatives flew in from Cleveland, they always came and left in Constellations. I saw them close up and we always stayed at the gate to watch them start, taxi from the gate, then takeoff. The public could go outside the gate in good weather while passengers were boarding. The smoke and the sound of the engines coming to life was very impressive to me. Seeing Connies in the sky was pretty common for us back then. So were sonic booms from Edwards AFB. Every time we heard one while playing outside, my brother and I would say ''There goes Chuck Yeager''. After reading his book, I realized that he was in Europe at the time and other test pilots made those booms. In the 4th grade, I met my best friend whose dad worked for Lockheed and built wings for the Electra. They used strange 1/4 inch stepped drills with a built in 3/16'' pilot drill. He used to give some of these drills to my dad and we used them in all of our garage projects. I still have a few but only use them for plastics and wood, since they have such a long history in my family and I would hate to snap that nose off one again. My first airplane flight was on an Electra from Burbank to San Francisco with gramma one Christmas.

Great video about my favorite airliner of all times. My very first flight was on a KLM Connie, Idlewild (now JFK) to Amsterdam in August 1955. Overnight to Shannon where we deplaned for an Irish breakfast and then on to Amsterdam. The Irish pub where we ate is still there and is decorated with photos of 1950s movie stars that no doubt also stopped for breakfast on the way to Continental Europe. Only 5-years-old at the time, I vividly recall the #3 engine exhaust stack glowing red hot in the night sky as I crossed the North Atlantic sitting next to my mom. Perhaps a seed was planted at the time. I grew up and had a 52-year career in aviation. The R-3350 had a large prop, which required a long nose gear for ground clearance. The mean camber line of the fuselage was lowered in the front section and curved downward in the aft section. The forward lowering allowed for the long nose gear while the aft curvature decreased drag over the aft section. The design requirements to facilitate the R-3350 gave the Connie its graceful lines.

I remember a Super Connie flying into München Riem in the late 60ies. Just a beautiful sight with a fascinating rumble from its 4 engines.

I never had the opportunity to fly on a Connie, but every time I saw one I was impressed by the sight and sound of it soaring overhead. My first airline experience in 1964 was on the Boeing 707, another awesome aircraft.

The Constellation was my first airplane ride ever! It was a Navy MATS C121(?) I was 13 and we (my mom & 3 younger siblings) flew to Guam to be with my dad. He was to be a flight Eng. on a C121j(?) flying an early warning radar net, West Pacific. It was Nov 1958, we left from Travis AFB (Calif) refueled in Hawaii, refueled on Kwajalein then on to Guam. Dad got sideways with his chief and ended up as assistant pro at the Armed Forces Golf Course. Now closed. After 2 years he made chief and retired at 20 years. We came home on a MATS ship in Feb 1961. Best 2 years of my young life!

When I was a preteen in the 50s I flew on an Eastern Connie from Miami to New York I distinctly remember the Captain telling the passengers that the engine sound would change so the superchargers could be engaged at altitude As an airline pilot now I recognize they didn’t want to overboost the 3350

I flew on a super connie in 1965 from Toronto to Gatwick. Still my favorite aircraft. Love your vids...

Mention of the L1011 really got me wanting to see a deep dive into this amazing plane. Can you please put it on your list to do? I remember being simply amazed (as a passenger) by this tremendous flying machine.

One of my all time favorites.

When I was in high school in Memphis, TN I took a class in aviation maintenance at the airport. This was late 1979. There were two very distinct aircraft parked on the tarp outside the building. One was a Connie, the other was none other than the Memphis Bell. The Connie stood proud and tall. It had finesse like no other aircraft I had see up to that time nor afterwards. It was clean looking and looked like it could cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. I will never forget it, nor the Memphis Bell that I had the pleasure to work on. Great stuff to remember you senior year in high school.

Your reviews of the Classic aircraft are magnificent, comprehensive, passionate and factual. Wow!! Keep on your marvelous work!!

I’m not quite old enough-nor was my family wealthy enough!-to even see a Connie while in service, but I did get to see one at an air show in the early 80s. I liked the long landing gear struts, but to see it parked alongside the other vintage planes, even the bombers, was something. It was so tall by comparison. It looked decades more modern than the B-17 or B-24.

My father was a flight engineer on the Constellation flying for TCA (Trans Canada Airlines before they became Air Canada). I've had many trips on the Connie and often spent time in the cockpit. My last walk-around of the Connie was a couple of decades ago when one was put into service as a "crop duster" spraying to control the spruce budworm in an area around La Macaza in Quebec, Canada. Unlike today's jets who fly by brute force, the Lockheed Constellation always looked like it belonged in the air. Don't know if any are still flying, hope so!

The Lockheed Constellation inspired me so much that few years ago I built a wooden model of this marvelous piece of art. It looks so graceful and amazing. There is a delicious taste in its lines and its unique body. I display it for my pleasure at home dreaming its engines firing up and getting ready to take off at the beginning of the runway. The triple tail fin configuration had decorated my childhood dreams because the model of this plane was displayed at the showcases of the travel agencies in Ankara/ Turkiye. Now I am 73 and very happy to watch and learn more about it whenever I find any publication on this aircraft. Thank you for this very informative video.

My first flight in January 1951 was in a "Connie". My folks had adopted me and Mom was returning Kansas with me from Phoenix Az where I was born and had been in foster care for 7 months after being born. The flight was Phoenix to Wichita Kansas on TWA. I obviously do not remember the flight, but my Mother recalled that I was somewhat fussy until the plane took off. Then I was quiet for the flight and slept a lot. She thought the vibration, and there were some in the L-749. Later growing up I got to be a passenger in a Piper Cub and Stearman C3 as a kid. When I was 11 I flew to my aunt & uncle from Wichita to Phoenix to work with my cousin that summer on a sheep ranch in east central mountains of Arizona on land leased from Apache Reservation it was in a Super Constellation in 1961. My return trip was in a clunky DC-6, Phoenix to Wichita with stop in Albuquerque New Mexico and Amarillo Texas. I called it a big puddle jumper after being in Super Connie nonstop flight. It shook and vibrated and was noisier than the Super Constellation. The smoothest flights I ever had were in the Lockheed L1011. It was the quietest aircraft I have ever been on and the most comfortable. It was significantly quieter than the Boeing 737-800, mostly due to engine placement I would assume.

I love this plane!, I have been in one on a joy flight at an airshow! one of my favourite childhood memories (Australia) , was not a long flight but i got to appreciate the roar of the engines, totally different experience compared to jets, Thanks for making this video! it bought back one of my best aviation experiences