THE EARLY "SHORT" CONSTELLATIONS Part 2: The L-749/C-121A - FINALLY, a Sustainable Constellation 

Sounds like you and I had parallel experiences with the Super Constellation and other propliners. Thanks for sharing your recollections--a key reason we built this channel. Like you I really felt I missed the opportunity of a lifetime not taking up that MATS Connie type-rating opportunity. I had not flown for 10 years as well! I didn't have a multi-engine rating but they said they could take care of that for me. Best regards, JA Reed.

Thanks for the info.! I vaguely remember seeing a photo of that somewhere but forgot all about it--something for me to research. J.A. Reed.

Lets hope! Thanks a million for watching and Happy New Year!

@ I'm always glad to hear from original Regulus Productions customers from so long ago! Hope you were able to convert them to DVD or MP4, otherwise glad you are still able enjoy them as well as our newer videos we put out on RU-vid. I have seen several RU-vid videos of the Yanks EC121T and thought they were impressive. I had no idea you were able to get the plane to so many airshows 1995-2000. Sorry she doesn't fly anymore--a repeating theme for restored big 4-engine heavy-recips.

@ AHM "Star of America" N6937C is in the same boat as 548, but I'm not sure of the status of its airworthiness certificate. She has been a static queen for 15 years--I doubt she will ever fly again as well. Glad to see you have the old Regulus VHS tapes still operational! I still have a few of the VHS copies (and all the 3/4" masters) but cannot play them--I digitized them all in 2013. Also, you are one of the very few I'm in contact with that actually worked on the old Connies. I have a friend who worked on Navy EC-121's in the late 1960's at Rota, Spain, but he's the only other one I know.

@ You bring up a lot of interesting stuff. Do you remember the last passenger TWA Constellation flight on April 6, 1967 from NY to St. Louis? It was an L-749A. My dad took that flight many times on his business trips back and forth, and my mom drove me to the Lambert Field to meet him when he got home on Friday evenings--we were almost right on the ramp and the fire-breathing machine pulled right up to us! This impressed me to no end as a 6 year old kid (and it still would now). I think TWA's very last Constellation flight was a freight operation the very next month with an L-1649A. There are three L-1649 airframes that exist now that I know of, all from the former Maurice Roundy collection. The one you mention, the stillborn Lufthansa Tecknik project, is probably better off dead. As you alluded it was going to be "over-restored". It looked like they were turning it into a glass cockpit high-tech "crash-proof" spaceship with four piston engines, spending almost $180 million !?!? on it before they quit. There is also static one at JFK that was just completed as part of an "interactive museum" at the old TWA terminal. The only other one is with Kermit Weeks at Polk City FL. It made the very last flight of an L-1649A in late 2001. Kermit Weeks is the owner, and his museum is closed down, the L-1649A is a total mess as he let Lufthansa Tecknik pilfer it for parts but did not receive his agreed upon compensation. Weeks' out-of-control vintage aviation investments really spreads him thin, and it's clear that his L-1649 will eventually be wacked to pieces--he long ago lost interest in it. Also, I heard they will remove (or have removed) the engines and wings of the Breitling Constellation for ground transport to somewhere else. These days, when you remove the wings of a 4-engine heavy receip, that's it--end of conversation! Drop me an email at j.reed3930@sbcglobal.net so I can contact you in the future. I am working on a book project with a former St. Louis DC-6 airline operator that now lives in Scottsdale, and if I get down there this year I will see if you are available for me to drop by.

@@AeroDinosaur I worked for TWA from September 1964 to April of 1980 and you are correct, the last scheduled flight of a TWA Connie was a 1649 freighter. I started with TWA at JFK but transferred to LAX in June of 1965 so I didn't get to witness firsthand, the last 749A passenger flight. There is another 1649 in South Africa that last flew around 1972 and has been part of a museum collection since that time. It is a shame that the three 1649's that Maurice Roundy owned that could have been saved were destroyed by Lufthansa's stillborn restoration project which is a loss to the antique aviation community as they are absolutely spectacular to see in flight. They are to me the prettiest of the Connie series. I remember the Breitling Connie at the Camarillo, CA airport in the late 80's sitting derelict at the end of the runway. It was in such bad shape I thought that the Ventura County fire department would use it for training. I give Benny Younesi and his crew credit for spending the time and money to bring the airplane back to airworthy condition only to have it cut to pieces because of bureaucratic red tape and will most likely never to take to the air again.

Man, you've experienced a lot of stuff that I've only seen in pictures! Thanks a million for your sharing of your great experiences! Please continue to do so.

And Bob has teased me about 816 forever since. Pacific Air Transport got its operating certificate through efforts of my father as well.

Wow! Small world as they say--glad we could reach you. I'd be very interested in seeing your video if you are able to find it. Also, in the future, if you prefer you can contact me via my email listed in the descriptive material on this channel. It is still hard for me to believe that -816 survived for so long, especially in its Edde Airlines basic paint job. Also, if you want I can send you a nice clean photo of -816 (never published) just after its arrival at Ft. Lauderdale. A viewer in Dublin, Ireland- the photographer- sent it to me. By the way, were you the pilot who brought in -816's leased sister ship N9412H into Greenwood Lake NJ around 1976 -'77?

Please ignore the "strike through" line. I don't know how it got there.

Good to hear from a Bataan rescue crewman! I am really looking forward to seeing Bataan fly again, as well as Columbine in VA. No display Connies flying now, hope that changes soon!

@@AeroDinosaur I would also like to see the TWA Connie in Kansas fly again. I suspect they are running into the same corrosion issues we had on Bataan. I saw the MATS Connie at a airshow in California once. Since it used to be a “large acreage sprayer” you could still smell the malathion in it and could see where the manifold went through the fuselage out to the wing. That malathion smell stayed with Bob Ponds TBM too as it was used as a bud worm sprayer in Canada. Thanks for the video.

@@AeroDinosaur I have a picture and story about Bataan in a photo. Let me know how I can get it to you.

@@flyerbob124 I was a charter member of Save A Connie / Airline History Museum back in 1987 and helped restore the Super Connie, and flew on it to airshows. I last visited them last year--the Super Connie N6937C will probably never fly again--they are really strapped for cash, and the new FBO at KC Downtown Airport is trying to kick them off the premises, which would mean scrapping the plane as well as their Martin 404. Also, I never smelled malathion before, sounds like not too pleasant. Thanks again for viewing the video!

@@flyerbob124 Sure, thanks for offering. I'm at j.reed3930@sbcglobal.net

To the best of my knowledge, the "short" C-121As were retired by the USAF in 1968. I do not know exactly when the last USAF/USN C-121 Super Connie transport was retired. I do know the Navy retired its last Super Connie, an EC-121K electronics ship, in June 1982. It was then put on display at a Florence NC air museum for many years but has since been scrapped.

Yeah, I thought the Speed Pack on TWA was different--just thought it was a good photo so I included it for illustration. Speed Pack was almost a trademark of C&S.

I knew it was just one trip to Europe but I couldn't remember when! Thanks for the info.

I'm with you on that one! Still kicking myself to no end. Thanks for tuning in!

Yep, that was a HELLER. Built it in 1984.