THE EARLY "SHORT" CONSTELLATIONS Part 1: The L-049, Its Flawed History, and My Bizarre Encounter 

As a kid in Miami, in the early days of "corrosion corner" and having an Eastern Airlines dad who instilled in us kids the distinctly different sounds of each airplane/engine combo. I vividly remember the very distinct sound of the early short Connies with the front-exhaust engines coupled to the original very slender prop blades. The only Connie that made an "obnoxious" sound.

In your opening, you seem to indicate that the Constellation was developed and built during WW2 as the C69 for the US Army Air Force which was then later to because the L049. I have a copy of a book called "Lockheed Constellation" by Stringfellow and Bowers that states that Lockheed was already working at designs that lead to the L049 as early as 1938. The driving force was TWA and it's major player Howard Hughes and Jack Frye, who was President of TWA. It was these people who set up the parameters of the L049. TWA placed a firm order of 9 planes in 1940 increased to 40. It was in early 1941 that the Army started take the commercial planes right off the production line and changed the plane's designation to C69 and C69A. All told, the Army took the planes from both TWA and Pan Am.

I believe I have photos of Star of Geneva taken at FLL in the summer of 1988. It was on the ramp not far from an FBO on the south side of the airport. There was an executive L14 in good condition parked near it. And a pile of RR Conways stacked under one wing. I will try to scan and send them to you.

Thank you, Mr. Reed. Years past had I built Heller's 1:72nd-scale kit of the Lockheed L-49 Constellation Passenger Airliner. I could not determine its accuracy, though to my untrained, myopic eyes, it looked presentable. The reputation of Heller kits was the crudeness of their details. I therefore wanted to avoid the struggle of representing accurately a natural metal finish. Round that time, I also developed an interest in model kits of U.S. military transports. For these two factors together, I decided to build this kit as a model of the Lockheed C-69 Constellation USAAF Transport, in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey. This I expected would camouflage some of the kits inadequacies. This was not my first encounter with this elegant aircraft: years prior, as a small boy whilst shopping with my mother and siblings, I saw the biggest airplane that I had seen! I obviously did not know what it was. For my circumstances, I could recognise, and decades on still could recall, enough of its distinctive profile and features generically to identify it as a Lockheed Constellation; of course, I would not have been able to distinguish a specific variant; this derives both from my inexperience in life, and my inability from perhaps two kilometres' distance even to see the relevant features, let alone to mark them for their significance. I infer from the circumstances that it had been a passenger plane, in its ascent at a modest angle of attack from a local airport. Fond memories . . . .

I remember what those old 3350's sounded like. I have a very keen sense of hearing. As a child I could tell the difference of many old radial engine installations. Also, in the CAP we had to learn the transports of the day by the glow of the exhaust stacks from below. I am not tuned into the modern jets, but could distinguish the differences of the first three generations of jetliners.

Thank you for this great video. I did not know about the duplex double collectlor rings, very interesting.

Well, two guys who remember this aircraft and the engine sound have to correct some of your information. I'll work 816 was flown from FLL to an airport in NJ. Look this up, as someone got the bright idea to fire up one of the engines to run. I few on either 816 or 12H for the certification of the DME. I helped install the harness during the installation of the DME The Edde's were my cousins. It is pronouded Ed E btw. My partner was who moved 816 to NJ. 816 was origonally operated by Air France. It also had the engines changed out by Lockheed after initial operation bt AF. Lots more, PM me if you want more info

Your video states that nobody is left who could actually remember the sounds these aircraft made. Actually I can clearly recall that sound because I'm old enough to remember Connies in full song, living along the departure path south from the airport in Burbank California where they were made. We were treated to sights and sounds of Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing piston liners flying toward LAX, Burbank and in-state routes with feeder airlines that kept these incredible pieces of tech alive and in service into the late 1970's. My first recollection as a small child was aboard a transcontinental L1049 going from La Guardia to Los Angeles, sitting in my mother's lap. From my upstairs bedroom in the Hollywood Hills, I watched them climb out of Burbank. I can recall the faraway deep rumbling buzz Boeing 377s made cruising in the mid 20's nonstop from Denver to Hawaii. They seemed to be moving incredibly slowly, just hanging up there. The old Wrights and Pratts never sounded strained, just working easily with an almost musical cadence, even heavy and low as they passed over our house in a shallow climb. DC-3s would lumber by in a descent into Burbank, issuing a metallic kind of whine--supercharger noise, perhaps--but they came by close to the hills; remember, piston airplanes can't make the kind of dive-bomb descents turbines are capable of--they had to protect those piston radials from overly rapid cooling at reduced power, so the drill is to slowly throttle back and make sure to maintain engine temperature. I fly my own piston powered airplane today and the advice about careful power reductions still stands. Lots of memories, and I am sure there are still a few others around who remember those sounds.

John, Excellent technical explanations of what I had never known about the first generation Connie which I well recall had many engine problems. Living in Rochester N.Y. I saw a few Capital L-49S come through in the later 1950s. I did see the Dominican Constellation at San Juan in 1967. I've always wondered where baggage was stowed as there did not seem to be rear compartments. It seems as if loading was done through the nose wheel assembly as well as the right side crew access door for floor storage which was limited. Certainly the 649/749s were perhaps the best of the lot in terms of simplicity before they got into the turbo compound engines that were a real nightmare.

Fantastic. Shame you didnt record an L-049 with your SVHS camera. As we discussed its sound quality is reel to reel standard and would have provided Historic Sound Recordings of the very highest quality. Damn.

Thanks for a most informative video. But, please, cut down (or even better yet, dispense with) the loud, distracting music. Love the Lodestar and B-26 (On Mark or Monarch?) at KJAC.

14 hour flight...What I would like to know is when airliners got autopilots. Did the Connie have an autopilot? Did the DC-7 (or the DC-6) have an autopilot? =PC=

Thanks for a fascinating history of the C-69/L-049 and, in particular, your description of the early evolution of the R-3350, its cooling woes and the turbocharged B-29 installation - all of which I knew nothing. I presume the single-row radial pictured for comparison purposes at time 13:00 is an R-1820, not an 1830?

Wonderful history of the early Wright R-3350 engine as used in the 049 Constellation. I wasn't aware of the necessary improvements made on that engine for succeeding Constellation models and I'm sure other aircraft such as the Lockheed Neptune. Hey, I wonder if actor Van Heflin was attracted to the Jackson, WY area due to his 1953 major role in the western movie "Shane" which had many of the outdoor scenes filmed in Wyoming with the Grand Teton mountains often seen prominently in the background.

Great show but ... THAT MUSIC MUST GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get rid of the obnoxious "music" !