A curved fuselage, three-part tail unit at the rear and a particularly high-legged landing gear: the Super Constellation is considered by many to be the most elegant airliner that has ever left the factory floor of an aircraft manufacturer. The four-engine long-distance machine is rightly called the “Lady of the Skies”.
The basic model of the “Connie”, as the aircraft is affectionately known to this day, was built by Lockheed in Burbank, California, during the Second World War and initially only offered space for 40 passengers. But over time, the propeller plane has been further developed, first to the Super Constellation.
In the route network of the now defunct airlines Trans World Airlines and Pan Am, the Constellations reduced the distances between the continents. With Tourist Class, first introduced in 1952, and a capacity of up to 109 passengers, these aircraft competed with ocean liners on transatlantic routes.
Flying icon of an era
The Super Constellation was also used by Lufthansa, which was re-established in 1955, and later the last model, the Starliner, which Lufthansa called the Super Star. In the meantime, the wingspan had grown to an impressive 45.7 meters – even wider than today’s Airbus A321. Even with strong headwinds, there was no longer a need to plan a stopover in Ireland or Newfoundland to refuel. A flight from Germany to New York still took 16 to 17 hours.
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Although the Constellations had pressurized cabins, they only flew at an altitude of 6000 meters and thus often in the middle of storms. But the four Curtiss-Wright 18-cylinder double star engines proved to be much more problematic. Because of its susceptibility to failure, the Super Connie was also referred to as the “best three-wheeler in the world”.
end of an era
But with the advent of the four-engine Boeing 707, the Douglas DC 8 and the Convair 880, the end of the piston engine aircraft was heralded. Production ended in 1958 after almost 900 examples of the three most recent variants. The last Lufthansa Connies only flew within Germany and were retired in 1967. As a cargo plane, dozens of machines were extended by other airlines.
Also the only copy of the worldwide approved for passenger flights Super Constellation Flyers Association in Basel has not been allowed to take off since August 2017. 20 million Swiss francs are needed to renovate the wings. However, one of the three Super Stars based in the state of Maine was transported to the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in New York, which opened in mid-May 2019, and is to serve as a bar there.
The Aerojournalist Wolfgang Borgman told in his latest book “Lockheed Constellation – Queen of the Skies” this important chapter in aviation history and relives the golden age of aviation with more than 100 color photos, almost 80 black and white photos, posters and advertising brochures.
On the following pages of the photo series we show some motifs from the illustrated book, which are Motor book publisher has appeared.
Also read:
– Junkyard instead of a museum: Hamburg’s historic Boeing 707 is sawed up
– Pima Air Museum: Airplanes on the desert battlefield
– Travel back in time to the 1960s: The TWA retro lounge above the rooftops of Manhattan
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