Lockheed Constellation. The Many Lives Of "Connie" | Kelly Johnson's Early Involvement

[@Dronescapes]

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[@n7565j]

I'm not old enough to have flown the Connie, but I did fly Eastern back in the early 70's from Gainesville Fl to Charlotte NC... Not sure if it was a DC-9, or a 727, but I remember that it had WhisperJet emblazoned on the engine nacelle. That was a VERY big deal to a 7 year old boy ;-) My father said he was behind the a/c about 50' away when it spun around to taxi and he said he was covered in kerosene and stunk all the way home, (it was about an hour drive). What great memories!!! I sure do miss my dad!!! If you still have yours, give him a hug, & tell him you love him!!! One day, he won't be there, so do it NOW 🙂

[@daanvos194]

In australia is one still flying

[@bxbz]

This is my story about the Constellation! I Was in the Army in Germany 62 -65 we were on a train to Bremerhaven to take a troop ship back to the states. But half way to Bremerhaven they stopped us with new orders, troop ship had to go back to the states immediately! To bring the Big Red One to Vietnam, so all of us on the train went back to Frankfurt, To Rhein-main Air Force Base ! So there were Hundreds of Us! So they were putting us on any Plane that could fly across the Atlantic Ocean! There were about 50 or so not sure. They said That’s your plane!! Looking at props we all said that could fly across the Atlantic Ocean?? Of course we were gullible about Planes! But they assured us the Constellation was a great Plane!! I am extremely happy about flying on that wonderful Plane!!! Great Memories! Bob. R

[@donb8148]

I'm an old WV2 crewmember. This is best Connie coverage that I've seen.

[@barryklinedinst6233]

My father was a navigator on the ec121. They flew training missions at Harrisburg airport and flew over our neighborhood for hours at a time. I will always have a place in my heart for Connie. Such a beautiful aircraft

[@DBEdwards]

TERRIFIC AND MAGNIFICENT

[@1950Bonanza]

My father was in the Air Force during the early to late fifties, height of the cold war. He installed early warning radar stations around the world, and flew in just about every type transport of the day. He even worked on the EC121 models..and stuff he could not talk about. He did indeed love the Connie the best though. When we lived down range in the Caribbean we would have to take the old prop jobs in, scared my mom to death! Great video, have to say, this is back when men were men, no namby-pamby's allowed! 🤣

[@scottnj2503]

I served with several men that flew as crew in Navy Super Connie "Willy Victors". They told great "sea stories" of their experiences. Military Connies are unsung hero of avaition history. Thanks for bringing this info to the attention of aviation history enthusiast.

[@Kevv554]

Wow!

[@rickwendling5735]

I flew as Navy crew in one in Japan in the mid-sixties.

[@scottnj2503]

​@@rickwendling5735 I can only imagine the sea stories 😎

[@tomray8765]

Interesting fact: A Constellation was the LAST airplane that Orville Wright ever flew in 1946 before his death in 1947. He was picked up in Dayton and the captain let him into the cockpit and take the controls for a few minutes. Wright remarked, concerning the auto pilot. "I always thought a plane should fly itself". ---- Amazing progress! just over 40 years from the first flight ever.

[@dp92492]

It's amazing to think that withing 40 years planes had autopilot. What engineering and technical innovation in such a short time. He had to be amazed. Thanks for sharing this information.

[@tomray8765]

they had autopilots before WWII-- What blows MY mind was planes didn't even have a cockpit forty years before, Orvile laid on his belly on top of a wing to fly his pane a few hundred feet.@@dp92492

[@randybentley2633]

Do remember that in those 40 years we had two of the greatest drivers for progress, War.

[@redneckswitwheels]

​​@@randybentley2633and Here we are again...war...

[@Tipman2OOO]

Wakanda forever!

[@marclemire1414]

I remember taking an Air France Constellation as a small child in 1950 from Paris to NYC.

[@bruce92106]

I just found this documentary it looks very good and I intend to watch because the Lockheed Connie is one amazing machine with it's four complex Wright R-3350 power plants. I actually just watched an excellent 2.5 hr documentary about flying the amazing advanced 787 Dreamliner by a knowledgeable proud Norwegian Airline pilot explaining all of it's crazy hightech computerized controls right here on KZbin and it was awe inspiring. When the Connie came out people were just as as much awestruck and rightfully so! Just sayin, we've sure come far in aviation! 👍✈️❤️😊

[@corm7538]

Wow the best part of this video is the old clip from the early 1950s with Eddie Rickenbacker he was around 62 at the time it was filmed, he was 82 years of age when he passed away on July 23, 1973.

[@wesinman2312]

Very cool, I remember watching Arthur Godfrey on TV when I was a kid in the 60s. I never knew he was a pilot. I also remember seeing the Constellation as a very young boy, beautiful airplane.

[@tonnywildweasel8138]

She sure is a classic beauty! Thanks for sharing, appreciate it 👍 Greets from the Netherlands, T.

[@Buckoux]

That the triple-tail is placed high in order to be above propeller down-wash as being the reason for the graceful s-curve of the connies fuselage reinforces the airplane design saying that; "if it looks right it usually is". Form is function and function beauty. Kelly Johnson could 'really see air'.

[@jnbfrancisco]

I was taking flying lessons in Clovis New Mexico around 1972. One day I saw the military version with a radome on top, fly by me fairly close.

[@studuerson2548]

I rode on one while a cadet. By that time, they were pretty long in the tooth. But it did have a visual elegance, and served good international roles between the 54s, and early jet transports. Well suited for Templehof, which I had the privilege to fly in to, several times. Flying between the apartment buildings, surreal.

[@carlosvramirez6988]

I had the good fortune of experiencing this beautiful aircraft when I came to the USA in the 1960s. We used to live at 49 Saint Nicholas Terrace, NYC, and every day this beautiful plane, Constellation, used to fly overhead our apartment building on route to land at La Guardia airport in New York City. A graceful aircraft. carlitos

[@j.d.schultzsr.9215]

In 1953 Mom & Dad took my two older brothers, toddler sister and my seven-year-old self from our Detroit home for a three-day visit to Chicago. From Willow Run to Midway we rode a DC7. Back to home we were in a DC3. Both of these American Airliners had lots of engine and prop vibration, but since every seat had a built-in ashtray in its armrest, the noise from all those rattlers was almost as obnoxious as all that smoke. Never flew in a Connie, but I remember the "What I Want to Be" featurette on Mickey Mouse Club. Duncan and Pat trained to be Pilot/Stewardess for a Connie Flight. Pretty neat stuff for a ten-yeat-old!

[@LordDigz12]

My friends grandfather was one of the chief designers of this plane. Kelly Johnson came to his funeral to deliver the eulogy

[@Hiddenphanton17]

My favorite of the old prop driven aircraft. I had the opportunity to tour and sit in the cockpit of one at an air show over 20 years ago. Hopefully I'll be able to see another one and take my kids to see one someday. Great video.

[@gregb6469]

There is one at the air museum at the downtown airport in Kansas City.

[@sharoncassell9358]

Ione old one on display at JFK airpirt. NY.

[@awuma]

This is a compilation of three sections, the second being the classic Arthur Godfrey/Eastern Airlines film, the third a Lockheed film about the manufacture of the Super Constellation. Good to see these historical records available on one channel.

[@Mr_Snek037]

Only complaint is that he reuses a couple of movies in multiple videos, but I understand that there are only a few movies he can show...

[@charlesreynolds5586]

My dad was a flight engineer on Connie's in the navy. Did 2 tours in Nam with vx(n)-8. Taking off from sigon during tet they took over 1,000 rounds. Safely landed. No one hurt.

[@marbleman52]

From 1971-75 I was in a Navy squadron, VAQ-33, electronics countermeasures. We were permanent land based at N.A.S., Norfolk, Va. Among our several kinds of jets, we also had an EC-121 Super Connie. It had the radome on top and the round radome underneath. Hearing the turbo props fire off and run was great. I was enlisted and a Plane Captain for our ERA-3B Skywarriors. Once, I got to go along on a flight down to Florida...forget where...( Old Age..lol..!! ). I spent a lot of time in the cockpit and really enjoyed the ride. Yes, the undisputed Queen Of The Sky...and still is after all these years.

[@jimstevens2981]

Certainly NOT a turboprop. All EC-121s had Powerplants of: 4 × Wright R-3350-34 turbo compound 18-cylinder supercharged radial engines, 3,400 hp (2,536 kW) each

[@marbleman52]

@@jimstevens2981 ....Ooops....sorry about that...thanks for the proper information.

[@michaeldahlke1486]

My first airplane trip in the 50s was in a Connie. Alas, I was too young to remember anything of it. From Charleston, SC to Kindley Field in Bermuda when my dad was stationed there, and the reverse trip a couple of years later. My next airplane flight - except for the Grumman American AA-1A in which I learned to fly - was in 1976 and was again at the behest of the Air Force when I flew from Lackland AFB to Lowry AFB for tech school after basic training. The Connie was such a beautiful aircraft, a perfectly melded work of art and science.

[@johnpeschke7723]

my uncle flew for UAL DC4s, DC6s and 7s, 727s, and DC 10s. One airplane he loved was the Connie, never got to fly it. simply the most beautiful transport ever manufactured.

[@Roland8879]

My first trans Atlantic crossing BOAC 749 Constellation flown by my father Dorval to Heathrow, too young to remember sadly, later middle 50's Rome to London do have memories, beautiful aeroplane.

[@tanorr1]

Interesting film. I flew on a Super H to Europe in 1964, a charter through Flying Tiger Lines. The Super H could be configured for passenger or freight. The seating was basic, tubular frame, what you might expect on military aircraft. There was some kind of mechanical problem, and we had to wait several hours in Gander, Newfoundland for repairs. The flight originated in Boston, then Gander, then Keflavik, and finally the destination in Helsinki.

[@doughale1555]

There’s a joke about the Constellation on a trans continental flight. “This is your captain, he have lost one engine but no problem, we’ll just be an hr late”. A little later: “This is your captain, he have lost a second engine but no problem, we’ll just be 2 hrs late” A little later: “This is your captain, we have lost a third engine but no problem, we’ll just be 4 hrs late” One passenger to another: “If we lose that 4th engine we’ll be up here all night!”

[@AC_WILDCARD]

heh 😁

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@nickibanks5185]

😂

[@jared957]

I spent a year flying in the EC-121R version in operation Igloo White. We flew over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam and Laos. The trail was loaded with sensors (mostly seismic) that detected truck traffic. We picked up the sensor signals, looked at the traffic onboard and relayed the data to a big computer center at NKP where they would call in air strikes. Really great airplane.

[@keithstudly6071]

I would have liked to have heard a bit about the US Navy's Connies used on submarine patrol. A friend of mine flew on one of these in the late 1950's and spoke of the time his plane ended up ditching out of fuel. The pilot put it down very gently and it just floated with those big empty tanks. The crew evacuated the aircraft and one crewman slipped when stepping off the wing flap into the life boat and got his shoe wet. Everyone else was dry through the whole adventure and they were picked up after a short time on the water. The aircraft was still floating the next day and a Coast Guard cutter was ordered to sink it. In addition to looking for Soviet subs they flew hurricane patrol and the day they splashed in they were answering a mayday SOS and that was why the pilot cut his fuel too close.

[@gregb6469]

Sink it? Why not tow in into port?

[@MrDannyboyhall]

Still floating the next day I love it 😂

[@douglaslynch5808]

Whenever I see a Connie lift off (in person at airshows or on video) It changes from spindly legged to beautiful... I dont think the other comments about art are wrong !! Great video... Thank you...

[@rotax636nut5]

The Sofia Loren of passenger airliners, the best looking ship that ever flew..

[@martinneuliep6133]

My father worked as a machinist at Lockheed and machined the first prototype of the wing section described at 1:37:26 . He talked about how all the executives and engineers were hovering around him and how he told them they all needed to bug off and leave him alone if they wanted him to get on with it. I like to fantasize my dad telling Kelly Johnson to beat it, though he never mentioned anyone’s name in his stories. That would have been just like him 😂

[@markanderson4163]

My Dad flew in the "Willie Victor's" out of Newfoundland in the late 50"s and again in the early 60"s...flying the "barrier" to Scotland via Greenland/Iceland...

[@Dan.d649]

The C-69 was a beautiful airplane, derived from the "Super Constellation". It had the long range and capacity during it's day as a passenger aircraft. TWA used them just before the 707s came to the fleet. The C-69 had a range for a RECON airplane in the military. A wonderful airplane it was in both versions.

[@bbrut3332]

To all the crew of the 552nd AEW group of Mcclellan AFB from 64 to 68, I salute you and those who served in the "Big Eye" operation. Reach out to me you old retired USAF guys.

[@joseramonvalenzuelaegea6745]

Wonderful documentary for us, lovers of aviation . Thanks

[@drutfurgeson]

"now that we finished the climb-check...time for a chesterfield!" lol wow! @1:05:58

[@Livvie1025]

I had the pleasure of seeing one of these at an airshow. Such a beautiful airplane.

[@DBEdwards]

lucky you!

[@nickibanks5185]

What a bloody gem of a video 👍 So much good ol days political incorrectness . Before the days of health warnings...smoke em if you got em in the cockpit 💪. It was quite a well filmed & informative video for the times too. Well i enjoyed it💯

[@DYERIAIN]

Great profile. The photographs at the depict a machine of awe.

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

Why didn't they have double bladed contra-rotating propellers added to extend the life of these aircrafts. They have been found to be between 6% and 16% more efficient than normal propellers. These are one of the most beautiful aircrafts ever made.

[@awuma]

1. Much heavier (props+gearbox). 2. Noisy as hell (e.g. Tu-114). Turboprops were the way to go, but the early ones were not that efficient. Nowadays, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 family would do very well on the Connie, but curiously kerosene needs bigger tanks, so range would suffer.

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

@@awuma- it may be the most beautiful commercial jet liner ever built. If you had the money to have a new one build you could change the source of propellent!

[@zodszoo]

A Classic and beautiful airframe!! Bucket list for me to fly on!

[@DBEdwards]

The flight reanactment is FANTASTIC! WISH I WERE A PASSENGER THEN!

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Looks a very stable aircraft. Steady as a rock.

[@patton303]

Such a beautiful and elegant aircraft.

[@joe08867]

It's funny how airplanes had such grace before we were worried about stealth. The Connie, Blackbird, Concord and Tomcat being four very beautiful planes.

[@davewimmer9390]

My dad was Roy E Wimmer he was the flight engineer on the connie he worked with kelly johnson and skunk works but ny dad started it all with kelly johnson.he also had part in the Electrica ,C130, and the connie

[@fredferd965]

The last version of the Connie was the most beautiful airliner ever built!

[@busterdee8228]

When I was serving at Pax River, the Navy still had two, both making occasional appearances. Even though one seemed always to have a smoking engine (oil leak), they were still beautiful.

[@williamvan909]

When I was 8 years old we use to go down town and watch these land back in McGrath 😊😊😊😊 use to have to charge The batteries to jump start them. To turn over the engine .

[@BLD426]

Beautiful Beautiful airplane.

[@jantschierschky3461]

My parents flown from Germany to Sydney on a milk run, where I was born 3 month later. I remember seeing that aircraft on airports in the 60s.

[@michaellinner7772]

A truly epic aircraft and one of the best looking as well. Anyone who bets against Lockheed should have his or her head examined.

[@rssvss]

The bit with Arthur Godfrey was very nice!

[@mebeasensei]

1) Why was the DC-6 faster with the standard engines than the Connie? -forcing Lockheed to aim for a bigger engine- was it the fuselage? 2) What impact did the British Comet and Vickers Viscount turboprop have on the Connie 3) What strategy did Lockheed adopt when it became obvious that the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 were arriving on the scene?

[@theEVILone0130]

If you don't use closed captions on these videos (all videos) you miss some humorous dialogue. When the connie was landing in Miami the pilot "calls for full flaps" and close captions would have you thinking there was an accident. My phone said "oh snap they fell off the map" but it changes just about everytime I repeatedly watch a video and I never know what captions will say. But it's normally humorous. My favorite part of KZbin

[@laellewis7787]

love this video

[@cliffordkiehl3959]

In 1964 I was a passenger on a charter flight of a Super Connie from the University of Illinois to Los Angeles and return for the Rose Bowl. Old plane and old crew, but we made it.

[@DBEdwards]

AMAZING AIRCRAFT. BEAUTIFUL DESIGN. STUPENDOUS . CLASSIC. I'd fly this over a 737 anyday

[@johncone9516]

The last time i saw a Connie AE was a USAF one at a RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland in mid 1975.

[@daviswall3319]

Such a beautiful bird!

[@frankbodenschatz173]

My dad tried to get get me a flight on one but TWA retired the last last Connie just before i flew out to St. Louis from NY that year. Bummer!

[@Sacto1654]

The Constellation should have gotten the turboprop variant by 1954. Its top speed of 415 mph would have kept the Constellation relevant until at least the middle 1960's.

[@jayhopkins6990]

It's always funny where you see something that brings back good memories. I remember my sister's boyfriends hitting the side of the ships with stones not snowballs 😅when they were going through the Welland canal when I was a kid. 🙂🍁

[@DBEdwards]

HOW DID YOU FIND ALL THIS INCREDIBLE FILM FOOTAGE?

[@sethrich2790]

The most……., beautiful plane I know of. Giant radial pistons- flame belching gems of gorgeous engineering. Jets do not, have the same soul.

[@Chris_at_Home]

I remember seeing some Navy’s WVs on the ramp at Rota, Spain the times I went there the years of 1972-1974. VQ Squadrons flew these for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering then. Somewhere I have a picture of one parked next to a C-5 and C-141.

[@nonyabiz9487]

The biggest treat of this video is seeing Eddie Rickenbacker

[@DBEdwards]

Howard Hughes designed this. And HIS was GENIUS

[@DBEdwards]

QUEEN OF THE SKY SHE WAS!

[@qibble455]

Does anyone know when this was originally released?

[@oculusangelicus8978]

I have always loved the form of the Constellation, and my dream of dreams is to own one and be able to fly my entire family out to any location we might wish to visit, and because they were economical, it's an easy way to transport all of my kin out to a location, say Hawaii, or Florida or Cuba or anywhere in the world for that matter. How much money could an entire clan save if the only expense to visiting a place is the price of fuel, food and accommodations. Oh well, since they are all gone now except for the ones in museums, my dream in nothing more than a pipe dream.

[@jimw1615]

There are two or three Connies in different variants still flying.

[@gabehartley2008]

14:22 as a thumbnail woulg bring in a million views

[@GeoffPope-y2z]

Did any UK airlines have them ?

[@1949ala]

I flew on one in 1955 to Manila from San Franscisco

[@williamwoods8182]

It was the star of the movies in the 50's.

[@RussellBond-b3z]

I haven't been buy in a couple of years but there used to be a Connie rigged up just like the thumbnail picture except it was in Air force markings.

[@thomascolbert2687]

I've been aboard one. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in a tornado.

[@hectorkeezy1633]

I Saw at the anual airshow right next to where live. I must admid, i wept looking at that Beautifull Girl .

[@Bill23799]

The Connie is a thing of beauty. She must be part Italian,

[@Hoyllandgeorge-qc5uz]

To už všecko odnes čas !!!!

[@walkabout1939]

I miss Connie

[@studuerson2548]

You NEVER want to back up a tricycle gear airplane. Which means, I only did it a couple of times. Once, live on BOS tv.

[@eyestoenvy]

Will forever remind me of "Howard Hughes" and "TWA" ......

[@corsairman1956]

Flew in a Connie in 1957 leaving Paris where I was born in 1956. Too bad that I don’t remember the experience. ☹️

[@oldthudman]

This one was was known as an EC-121......Warning Star.............Both the US Navy and the US Air Force used them.....

[@edstanislaw2273]

One pretty airplane

[@spunbearing65]

I don’t know why the Connie comes to mind. Everytime I think of Skynyrd and that damned Convair 240 (DC-3 wannabe) the first thing that pops up is how great a Constellation would be as a tour hauler in the 60s and 70s. But their management had plundered their earnings so badly that the only affordable alternative to the 240 was birdman suits launched off skyscrapers.

[@stevewheatley243]

I never flew on a Connie,but I have a C-47. Its noisy but cool.

[@LucDesaulniers1]

Amazing, using slide rule!

[@WJSpies]

They don't talk like that for real in commercial airplanes, ever. I worked in aviation for many years, and talked to pilots in the cockpit all the time I worked in and around aircraft. I never (never) heard anyone talk that way ever.

[@wrbowcalifyrobertson5087]

About 2050 lives from 1946 I counted year by year not exact but close.

[@tonyhaynes9080]

There was a dead one at Belize International Airport in '78

[@DBEdwards]

COMPARE THIS TO FLIGHT TRAVEL TODAY. THEN WAS LUXURY. NOW IS A BUS RIDE

[@mtbalpinecounty]

💪

[@SPak-rt2gb]

Flew on one but the only problem i wasn't born yet. My mother was 6 months pregnant coming from the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

[@eottoe2001]

1:06.01 Light that cigarette up.

[@PeterFrederickMackintosh]

She is a beautie

[@outbacktrek]

[@watchhans]

The best 3-engined aircraft ever built, how many pilots called it 😂