The Lockheed Constellation was Lockheed’s most successful passenger airliner. When the “Connie” as it was nicknamed, was introduced, it was among the largest aircraft of its time.
It was also one of Lockheed’s most successful aircraft, being the most successful commercial aircraft. Due to this, the original Constellation inspired an entire family, some of whom are still flying today!
Pre-Constellation
Before the Lockheed Constellation was introduced, most airliners were incredibly slow and could only transport around 10 people at a time. The leading airliners at the time were the Boeing 247 and Lockheed Model 10 Electra.
Due to this, airlines found it incredibly difficult to stay profitable, without government air mail contracts and subsidies. This wasn’t a problem with the airline’s management, but the aircraft that they flew.
Most long range airliners of the era were quite large. But, they weren’t entirely like the airliners we are used to, today. Instead, they were something called flying boats, with the most famous being the Boeing 314 Clipper.
Essentially, these aircraft would takeoff like a normal aircraft, and travel over the Atlantic, avoiding the rough Atlantic tides. As the aircraft got to Ireland, it would land, and travel the rest of the way like a boat!
Airlines understood that one day, technology would have advanced far enough in order for long haul aircraft to resemble short haul ones like the Electra or 247.
Many of these airlines requested airliners that were superior to the flying boats, both in terms of operating costs and in terms of size. The only way to do that was to abandon the flying boat principles.
Development
Since 1937, Lockheed had been working on a medium to long range, 32 seat airliner, designated as the Lockheed Model 44 Excalibur. This airliner would be the first pressurized airliner and would have four engines.
In 1939, at the request of Howard Hughes, the company’s largest shareholder, TWA requested aircraft manufacturers to design a 40 seat airliner with an unprecedented 3,500 mi (5,600 km) range.
Whilst this was out of the specifications of the Excalibur, Lockheed soon placed its two best engineers on the project- Kelly Johnson and Hall Hibbard. Together, they altered the design of the Excalibur to fit the specifications.
Both Johnson and Hibbard borrowed a lot of the aircraft’s design from their previous projects. For instance, the wing was inspired by the wing on the P-38 Lightning, which both Johnson and Hibbard had helped design.
The largest problem with the airliner’s design was control. Because the airliner was so unprecedentedly large, it was theorized that pilots would have a hard time controlling the aircraft during flight.
As such, Hibbard and Johnson designed the Constellation to have three vertical stabilizers, instead of one or two. After much back and forth, TWA president Jack Frye and Hughes were happy with the design, which later entered production.
Service
The Constellation has had a long and detailed service life, spanning over 75 years, and still going strong!
WWII
TWA had been the launch customer of the Constellation, with their first aircraft supposed to be delivered in early January 1943. In late 1941, the US joined WWII, helping their British allies against the Germans and Japanese.
Instead of delivering these aircraft to TWA as passenger aircraft, the US Army Air Corps requisitioned all of TWA’s undelivered Lockheed Constellations. These aircraft entered service as the C-69 Constellation.
Throughout the war, these aircraft would serve as military transport aircraft. These aircraft commonly transported people to and from the US and their bases in Europe, mostly in Britain and France.
Lockheed proposed several different variants to the US Army Air Corps. Most often, these aircraft were longer variants of the standard Constellation. However, some of these aircraft were bombers or VIP transport.
These aircraft commonly wore Military Air Transport Service (MATS) liveries rather than standard USAAC liveries. This was to prevent German and Japanese fighters from mistaking them for American bombers.
During the Pacific Theater, USAAC aircrews were transported the various Pacific air bases via C-69s as well as other aircraft. These aircraft also transported many high ranking US Pacific Theater commanders.
Post-WWII
After the war, most of the C-69 were returned to TWA service, after being redesigned for passenger service. The first of these Constellations were flown in October 1945, mostly on transatlantic routes.
Several C-69s remained in military service, mostly as long range transport aircraft, serving in both Korea and Vietnam. Lockheed also produced several other military variants of the Constellation, for both transportation and cargo flights.
During the 1950’s, the newly established US Air Force converted several of the Constellations into early airborne warning aircraft. These aircraft would later be replaced by the 707-based Boeing E-3 Sentry.
Due to their service in the war, many European airlines became interested in the Constellation. Over time, some of the oldest and largest airlines in the world (at the time) operated fleets of Constellations.
Several early cargo airlines also operated the Constellation. It was one of the largest, fastest and most economical airliners of its time. Due to this, is made cargo transportation by air commercially viable, birthing an industry.
By 1947, Pan Am had dominated the US airline industry. Using their most famous Constellation- The Clipper America, Pan Am started the world’s first around the world service, commonly known as Pan Am 1, operating until 1982.
Air Force One
In 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower became president. His predecessors, FDR and Harry Truman, had used a converted Douglas C-54 Skymaster to travel to the Yalta Conference before his death in 1945.
Instead of using his predecessors’ aircraft, he chose to use a brand new aircraft. After much deliberation, President Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower decided on a fleet of four aircraft for different uses.
Of these aircraft, three of them were converted Air Force C-121s, designated as VC-121. Mamie Eisenhower nicknamed these aircraft Columbine, Columbine II and Columbine III, after the official state flower of Colorado, her home state.
These aircraft were delivered to the USAF in November 1948. After Eisenhower became president, these aircraft were sent to Lockheed to be converted into the VC-121.
Columbine II was the first aircraft to have the now world famous call sign Air Force One. Columbine II and Columbine III would serve in this capacity from 1953 until 1959.
Many of the features on the Columbine II and Columbine III have become standard on subsequent Air Force Ones. Including the current VC-25A that is used as of the time of writing.
Obsolescence
In 1952, British aircraft manufacturer, de Havilland, released the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner. This aircraft took technology pioneered on the Constellation, and improved it drastically.
Although it carried less people, the Comet flew both higher and faster than the Constellation. It also required less crew members to fly. This reduce operating costs, which made it cheaper for airlines to operate.
Over the course of the 1950’s, several other aircraft manufacturers released their own jet aircraft, including Douglas and Boeing. These aircraft were similarly cheaper to operate, and therefore more attractive to airlines.
This essentially made the Constellation obsolete. Almost all major airlines placed orders for at least one of these new jet airliners. Long haul and transatlantic routes were the first to be replaced by jets.
Soon after jets had entered widespread service, Constellations were almost entirely retired. Even on shorter haul, high volume routes that some airlines had placed Constellations on, were retired.
Many Constellations became cargo aircraft, but once the first generation of jet aircraft had been withdrawn from commercial service, they again replaced the Constellation. But this time, as freighters.
Specifications
Due to the Constellation’s success, several variants were developed. Many of these variants were lengthened, shortened and re-engineered variants of the original Constellation.
The most common variant of the Constellation was the L-1049G Super Constellation.
| Specifications | L-1049G Super Constellation |
|---|---|
| Length | 116 ft 2 in (35.41 m) |
| Wingspan | 126 ft 2 in (38.46 m) |
| Height | 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m) |
| Crew | 5 |
| Seats | 62-109 |
| Cruise Speed | 340 mph (550 km/h, 300 kn) |
| Range | 5,400 mi (8,700 km, 4,700 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 24,000 ft (7,300 m) |
| MTOW | 137,500 lb (62,369 kg) |
How Safe Was The Lockheed Constellation?
Despite the fact that there are only a handful of Connies still flying. Of those still flying, they are mostly relegated to heritage flights of varying degrees. With that being said, it is still important to look at how safe the Connie was.
Throughout its mainline service, both Lockheed and the airlines who operated it, prided it on being one of the safest aircraft you could’ve flown on. Of those crashes that did happen, many went unnoticed by the public.
However, when you go deeper, you’ll realize that by modern standards, the Constellation was actually one of the most dangerous aircraft ever! Throughout its entire service life, the Connie had 162 crashes!
Of those crashes, the vast majority of them were due to pilot error in varying capacities. Despite that, in the beginning, the Connie had several issues with its landing gear, resulting in several crashes.
Both the landing gear and the flap controls in the cockpit were very close and were almost identical to one another. This caused pilots to accidentally deploy one, when they intended for the other.
In the beginning as well, the landing gear was very sticky, with it often not deploying, resulting in a wheels up landing. Both times, the issue was fixed by Lockheed engineers.
Why Was The Lockheed Constellation so Successful?
By most measurements, the Lockheed Constellation was one of the most successful aircraft of its era. Compared with aircraft of a comparable size and specifications, such as the Boeing 377, it was incredibly successful!
Including all of its variants, both military and commercial, Lockheed sold 856 Constellations. This makes it not only one of the most successful aircraft ever, but also one of the most successful Lockheed aircraft, only beaten by the C-130.
There were several reasons why so many airlines chose Lockheed Constellation over larger aircraft like the Boeing 377. Primarily, this was due to the Constellation’s low operating costs for the time.
Beyond just that, the Constellation was also faster than many other piston-powered aircraft of its time. The Constellation also had a longer range than the other aircraft of its era, which similarly made it more favorable.
Where Boeing tried to make an aircraft that had the price tag to make you go “Wow”, Lockheed had an aircraft that it could sell in great numbers, for relatively cheap.
Boeing also designed an aircraft that only one airline had really shown much interest in. For the Constellation, several airlines had shown interest during the aircraft’s development.
Legacy
The Lockheed Constellation left an impact not only on Lockheed, but also the future aircraft that Lockheed, and other manufacturers, would produce!
Lockheed
Today, Lockheed is well known for producing large cargo aircraft, in part due to the Constellation’s success. When the military needs new cargo aircraft, Lockheed is often the one who wins!
Following the Constellation, and the L-188 Electra becoming outdated, Lockheed chose to focus solely on military aircraft. This resulted in the Skunk Works division being established for Lockheed.
Since then, Lockheed has only produced one commercial airliner: the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. This, unlike the L-188 and Constellation, was a massive failure. Since then, Lockheed has designed a handful of airliners, but has never produced them.
The success of the Constellation allowed Lockheed to invest in its Skunk Works division. This would later yield some of the fastest aircraft of its time, not to mention stealth and high altitude aircraft as well!
Lockheed Constellation
The last Constellations were produced in 1958. The US Air Force retired their last Constellations in 1978. By the late 1990’s, most major airlines had retired their Lockheed Constellation fleets.
However, this was not the end of the flying days. Whilst some were stored, and others were put on display at museums, others had a very different fate…
At a time when so many Constellations were being stored, scrapped or put on display, many cargo airlines were buying up a fleet’s worth of Constellations. Many of these Constellations were flying well into the 2010’s.
Today, there are only two airworthy Constellations in the world. Both of these aircraft offer heritage flights from the aviation museums they are based at. There are also 32 Constellations on display around the world.
Future Aircraft
Despite the Connie’s incredible success, Lockheed only made one other passenger aircraft, the Lockheed L-188 Electra. Instead of designing more passenger aircraft, Lockheed decided to focus on producing military aircraft.
In terms of the aforementioned L-188 Electra, much of the technology pioneered on the Constellation was used on the Electra. However, this technology was tailored to the Electra’s short haul role.
Many of the systems that Lockheed invented for the Constellation have been perfected for almost all of Lockheed’s subsequent aircraft. You may know some of these aircraft as the P-3 Orion and C-130 Hercules.
Today, pressurization is common on almost all aircraft, regardless of whether it’s a cargo aircraft, private jet or a commercial airliner! The only aircraft that aren’t pressurized are general aviation aircraft.
Did you ever fly on the Lockheed Constellation? What was it like? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Airman Magazine.