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Post by rally on Sept 11, 2014 3:07:19 GMT -5
Lufthansa Turbo Connie on turnaround, Tehran Mehrabad, 1961.  Just flew this in on the Frankfurt-Beirut-Tehran route. Nothing like cruising at 240kias in a Constellation. And that was saving fuel. Paint is Tim Scharnhorp's Starliner D-ALER adapted for the YC-121 set. Still a few tweaks, like putting the rear door in the right place, but it fit not-too-badly. |
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Post by ejoiner on Sept 11, 2014 11:30:28 GMT -5
Did the turbo connie ever actually see commercial service?
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Sept 11, 2014 13:09:14 GMT -5
It did see service, but with the Air Force, not with an airline.
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Post by milspecsim on Sept 19, 2014 14:26:59 GMT -5
I though the US Navy had the test program. I guess both played with it.
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Sept 19, 2014 15:33:37 GMT -5
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Post by dutchman2 on Sept 19, 2014 16:39:03 GMT -5
The Navy and Air Force both got two of the Turbo Connies. One of them gave up and passed the aircraft over to the other. I also thought there were several different type of Turboprops (different manufacturers) flown on Connies by the services. In addition, there was the Elation with D-501s (T-56) as a test bed for the Electra at Lockheed.
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Post by rally on Sept 19, 2014 20:11:58 GMT -5
Yep. The Navy got four R7V-2s, and passed two to the Air Force as YC-121Fs. All four served with MATS while they were operational, where they were known as near rocket ships -- in both speed and noise. It is said that the YC-121Fs were the loudest aircraft ever to enter service with the Air Force.
I did err slightly with the designation: the actual projected civilian L-1249B was to be twin-T34-engined (still combined 10,000shp). But when Lockheed started looking deeper at the YT34/Constellation teamup, they got it into their heads to enlarge, and upsize, and, and. By the time the L-1549's designs were revealed, it had grown by 20+ feet, had a new wing, and a far greater MTOW. Pratt and Whitney were not as confident in the still-new T34 as Lockheed, and refused to release it for civilian service. So in the end, Lockheed used the laminar-flow wing, stuck PRT R3350s on it in more streamlined nacelles, and called it the L-1649 Starliner.
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