The Aircraft NOBODY Knew about! Lockheed Constellation

Video from the channel Mentour Now! about Lockheed Constellation, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 21:18. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Documentary about the origin and career of the Lockheed Constellation, the "Connie," focused on two features of its design: the triple tail and the fuselage with its ever-changing cross-section and dolphin-like profile. It also looks at its designer, Kelly Johnson, and Howard Hughes's role in the project.

The story begins in the late 1930s with the Model 44 Excalibur study, a four-engine design that Lockheed first offered to Pan Am, which was more interested in the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, and then to TWA. In 1939 Howard Hughes, TWA's majority shareholder since 1937, gathered TWA and Lockheed staff, including Kelly Johnson, at his home and asked for an aircraft able to cross the United States nonstop with at least 36 passengers and much faster than any other. The redesign, with a wing profile similar to the P-38 Lightning's and larger engines, resulted in the Model 49, or L-049 Constellation.

Hughes imposed total secrecy and ordered 40 aircraft, effectively funding the development almost single-handedly. Ahead of the military inspection of factories before the United States entered the war, Lockheed announced the aircraft and Pan Am ordered another 40. After the first flight, in 1943, production passed to the Army Air Forces as the C-69: 22 were built during the war and 15 were delivered, since the C-54 Skymaster covered the same role and the Wright R-3350 engines were reserved for the B-29. After the war Lockheed bought back almost all the aircraft, converted them to civilian standard, and TWA was the launch customer.

It cruised at more than 270 knots, compared with under 200 for the Stratoliner. In 1940 it cost $450,000. It featured a pressurized cabin, hydraulically boosted controls, de-icing, reversible-pitch propellers and tricycle landing gear. The triple tail kept the aircraft's height around 7.3 m so it would fit in period hangars. From 1951 onward around 600 Super Constellations and Starliners were built; the last rolled off the line in 1958, the year the Boeing 707 entered service. A turboprop version was very fast in testing, but reliability problems stalled the project.