Lockheed EC-121T Super Constellation (Warning Star)

In 1939, competitors TWA and Pan Am encouraged Lockheed to design and build the 1.049 a 40-passenger airliner. However, the attack on Pear] Harbor drew the U.S. into WWII, halting the production of commercial aircraft.

Consequently, all “Connie’s” on the assembly line were re-designated C-69’s and accepted by the USAAF.

The Connie had a long and glorious career, during an era of affordable, elegant air travel. Her unique features included a dolphin like fuselage, her huge size (a larger wingspan than a 737) and a triple tail design that allowed her to fit into existing hangers. She is more powerful than 8 diesel locomotives and holds the 1957 record for a non-stop pass flight 23 hours 19 minutes. The fuel burned on this flight would supply the average family car for ten years.

On April 17, 1944 Howard Hughes and TWA President Jack Frye, flew from Burbank, California to Washington, D.C. in 6 hours and 57 min. On the return trip, they stopped at Wright Field to give Orville Wright his last flight.

Pan Am continued the first regularly scheduled round-the-world air service “Flight #101” for the next fifty years (1947-1997).

Before satellites, we relied on the Connie’s on-board radar and surveillance systems to detect hostile aircraft, monitor telemetry for satellites, missile and space shots, and gather weather, communications and radar signals. She carried a crew of 31 men, the largest crew the Navy ever flew aboard an aircraft.