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My first flight on a commercial aircraft ( back in 1953 was a Connie out of Anchorage Alaska owned by pacific Northern Airlines. When we (The Sayers family) finally left Anchorage in 1956 it was on a PNA Connie out of Anchorage to Seattle .My last flight (on a Connie )was from Juneau AK in 1959. The pilot was a friend of ours from Anchorage who invited me to the cockpit for the trip to Seattle . What a thrill for a 14 yr old. What a beautiful plane. The Connie was a great plane and I am lucky to have flown in one while they were still "active" with airlines before the advent of jets. ( bACK THEN FLYING on Commercial airlines )was different in many ways . became a pilot myself a few year s later.but never flew any thing big like a Connie.
I was present at JFK with my Dad, waiting at the American Airlines hangar for the first American Airlines Boeing 707 to arrive. We spotted it on final when over my left shoulder a TWA Super Connie just took off and was climbing out. It was the perfect moment. The old piston era was leaving and the new jet age was arriving.
As an old "Gooney Bird" crew member during the 1960's,(Radio Operator), in my humble opinion this was and is the BEST aircraft ever made. Thank you for this story...
I flew the Conti in 1958 NY to Paris and back in 1960 both ways. The pilot let me sit in the cockpit during the flight. I warned the stewardess that the engines were on fire seeing fire exit the exhaust and lighting up the night. She said not to worry that was normal. I was 8. What a beautiful plane.
What was the general feeling about flying back then? It seems like we went from the Ford Model T to flying in the air in just a few years. I can't imagine everyone was enthusiastic about being tens of thousands of miles in the air in an unrproven machine. Or were they?
My one and only adventure with the Constellation started in Sao Paulo , Brazil on 18 August, 1961. On that date my family and I , 12 years old boarded a VARIG Super G on route to New York. The routing was Sao Paulo=Rio= Belem=Port of Spain=Dominican Republic and finally New York, then still called Idlewild. As our final destination was Chicago we transferred to LGA and boarded a TWA Super G with stops in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and finally Chicago Midway, ORD O\Hare was not yet operational. As the transition to turbos and pure jets had just started that was my only encounter with the Connie, I am now 74 and still hold that adventure nearest to my heart. Interestingly later in life I once again flew hundreds of times in another Lockheed airplane, the L188Electra,VARIG of Brazil acquired 14 of the type from American Airlines for the Rio - Sao Paulo Ponte Aerea, " Air Bridge" from early 60's to late 90's without ever recording a single accident, amazing..............................................
First airliner I ever flew on; TWA Super Connie in 1960, LAX to St Louis - then a DC-3 from St Louis to Evansville Indiana. I was 5 years old and received real metal wings from the Captain. We sat in the “family” seats which faced each other. It was an amazing adventure that was repeated two years later in 1962. This time we flew to St Louis n a Boeing 707, and the flight to Evansville was on a Lockheed Electra. Airline flights were an amazing adventure back then. Everyone dressed up for the flight, I wore a suit with a bow tie and shorts instead of long pants. I lobbied hard to wear an actual suit with regular tie on the 1962 trip, which I was successful. Safe to say, even after serving in the US Air Force at the end of the Vietnam War, the Lockheed Constellation is my all-time favorite airplane.
same generation. i was dressed up in a suit and tie for my first flight too. i remember somehow that it was a 737. the constellation sure is a beaut. it still bothers me to see people in certain jobs not wearing a suit anymore, it makes me think they don't fully understand the gravity of what they're doing
I flew on one from the UK to the US when I was six. back in 1954. My father was in the USAF and we had been stationed in the UK a few years back ---Took a ship (USS George Washington) to get there.
While working a ramp job in early 1990s in seattle what old timers had told me about was parked at our hangar. It was being used as a freight hauler Sneaking on one day...there it was...a glass bubble in the crafts roof?...i had no idea...oldtimers knew...if your under 50...u ll never guess. The navigators used the glass bubble to use sextants etc. To use star triangular observations to guide the constellation to its destination!!! Ive been on about 6 different commercial propeller craft and believe only the constellation had such a viewing port
With its elegant lines and curves it remains the most beautiful plane ever! My first plane flight took place in 1954 on the Constellation when we flew to New York from Puerto Rico, and yes, the passengers had class then. I was a child but that trip is still fresh in my mind and unforgettable.
I have a cousin who worked for TWA and later AA as a Stewardess who retired and misses it at 83. I was so proud of her and the sharp uniform in the 60s. Constellation was in order.
As a kid in the 1950's we flew on the variouscversions of the constellation and it was SO far better in comfort and elegance that even as a kid I was impressed. Later we flew on the Boeing 707 the year it was introduced. The comfort of a jet over piston engine planes was a quantum leap! But the constellation was a super baby for sure....
The Connie was the last plane ORVILLE WRIGHT ever flew back in 1946 They picked him up in Dayton, OH. And gave him a turn in the cockpit on the wheel. Later they engaged the autopilot, and Orville said "I always believed that an airplane should be able to fly itself." Orville had only helped invent the airplane some 43 years before--- Lots of progress.
And I knew THAT too. Odd how the brain works I specifically was thinking "Orville" when I was writing this in an effort to avoid this very error. @@timchilders3535
I flew on a Lockheed constellation in 1959 and by far it was pure luxury with big wide comfortable seats & linen headrest covers compared to the plastic Boeings and Airbus fecal sardine cans the airlines fly now! Also the people then unlike today the men wore suits and ties and real woman wore dresses! Yes they all had "CLASS " then unlike the street bums of modern day today! Up Up Away Fly TWA!
Do you mean the time when only rich people could fly? Chicago to phoenix, for example, easy 1200$ in today's money back then. Who blue-collar could pay for that easily. That's $ 4800 for a family trip, a couple plus 2x kids. You are comparing apples and oranges
@@Lou.CypherNo I am not comparing apple to oranges. I am comparing class to no class! An era when bums wearing flip flops wearing stinking jeans weren't allowed to fly on airliners! And the price, your right kept them from doing so! As a passenger I flew on a constellation and It was a better time and I wish I could time travel back! ❤
@@turkey0165 so you are saying that these bums are now bothering you in 1st class right? Because if not, it's apples and oranges. You forget that it is now for everyone and not for the rich. And rich people can have no class too. Everyone was wearing suits in that time. You forget that.
In 1967 I was stationed at NAS Cubi Pt as a member of crash fire and at least one Flying Tigers Constellation would land every day and unload its cargo at the freight terminal located next to crash fire. The pilots were friendly and would allow us onboard to check out the cockpit and sit in the pilot's seat. A beautiful plane.
I was fortunate enough to fly from St Francisco to New York back of the year of 1956. The plane had very comfortable seats with plenty of leg room, compared to today’s planes.😢😢😢
In 1962 I flew in the Constellation from Holland to South Africa in 29 hours. We stopped off firstly in Cairo, secondly at Entebbe and then onto Johannesburg to the then main destination airport at Palmietfontein. After Entebbe, the pilot spoke over the intercom to tell us that in 4 minutes flying time we would pass over Lake Victoria ( on the equator) when the plane would gain altitude like as if we were in an elevator due to the dense air that rose off of the lake. When we took off from Entebbe, because it was so hot we had to take a longer run to get airbourne and I swear we had part of the hedges in the undercart. Years earlier I had ridden by bike with friends from school to Palmietfontein to see the inaugural flight arrival of the COMET, the ill fated jet airliner which landed spot on time as was predicted, a credit to BOAC airline.
US Navy used the Constellation to ferry personnel around the world. I recall going out in 1962 to NAS Point Mugu, where our Dad had been working with Pacific Missile Range for several years, and watching him board a Constellation and take off to fly to Eniwetok, by way of Hawai'i for his first Command... Beautiful airplane, got him there safely!!!
I logged 2000+ hours in flight crews of Navy WV-2 (EC-121) Lockheed Super Constellation Warning Stars as a part of Distant Early Warning (DEW). The Super Connies I flew in were magnificent aircraft. They were early versions of today's AWACS aircraft. On patrol many times the Wright R-3350 engines would be flown at METO power because of the drag created by the upper and lower radomes. Most people today have no idea what the DEW Line was about. I used to try to explain it but don't even try any more. I just say I was in the Navy.
From Wikipedia...Yet before being devoured by his eccentricities, Hughes was a true entrepreneurial genius who achieved remarkable accomplishments as a movie producer, an aviator and an industrialist.😇 Not bad for a mediocre student who did not finish high school.
The world's first turboprop airliner was the British Type 630 Vickers Viscount which had its first flight in July 1948. It was introduced on the18 April 1953 with British European Airways, and it was taken out of service 58 years later in 2009.
From Wikipedia...The piston-engined airliners generally relied on electrical compressors to provide pressurized cabin air. Engine supercharging and cabin pressurization enabled aircraft like the Douglas DC-6, the Douglas DC-7, and the Constellation to have certified service ceilings from 24,000 to 28,400 ft (7,315 to 8,656 m)
I was 7 when I first traveled by air going from El Paso Texas to LA. Sadly when we were walking down to our gate I could see a few new jets and lots of Connie's and Douglas prop liners. My mind was quietly racing saying "Please Let It Be a Jet"! Sure enough it was a 707... As I grew up, I regretted not flying in a Connie as a year later they were all pulled out of airline service.
It was a drama that the L-1011, which was superior to the DC-10 in ALL relevant respects, ultimately lost out due to the problems of RR RB-211 financing problems! Since then, Lockheed Tristar has stood for the statement "The best is beaten by the second best!".
My dad worked at TWA for 47 years as a mechanic at the Downtown Kansas City airport then at north KC when the moved the Overhaul Base there. He would say at times you would see HH walk through the plant. There is a Connie at the downtown airport on display with other aircraft. SAC, Save a Connie.
4:13The photos shown show two different aircraft. The photo here shows what I believe is a Stinson. How many others that reverse angled windscreen but your photos keep contradicting each other. If I had the opportunity to have the flight of my choice before I die it would be in a Connie or a Super Connie. A flying masterpiece.
Fun Fact: Piston-powered planes have an efficiency of 80% or more, when flown at moderate speeds. Early fan-jet engines were at 50%, Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle
A few errors here. The DC-4 actually entered service a year ahead of the Connie. That, the fact it wasn’t using the new and still very troublesome 3350 contributed significantly to the fact it became the primary 4 engine transport of the war. Especially with priority for 3350s going to the B-29. Also Lockheed was very busy with P-38 production with the AirForce needing fighters a lot more than they needed transports. The bomber variant of the Connie wasn’t proposed as the B-29 backup. That role was taken by the B-32 Dominator. The bomber variant was a response to the same RFP that led to the B-29 in the first place. The Boeing 377 did use the wings and tail of the B-50 (itself a major derivative of the B-29) but it also used the lower fuselage section hence the double bubble look. It wasn’t a wings and tail on an all new fuselage variant.
I'm with you on that. I prefer a real voice other than in the case of some time's the person that put a program together because they love the subject and want to share what they know has trouble speaking or can't speak. I've seen some fine programs by such and fully enjoyed them.
I love this Documentary. I built a model of th4y T.W.A. Conny as a teenager because I fell in love with the look of it. It's still on my shelf 45 year later. :)
I absolutely love the overall look and design of the Tri-Motor. I live by the Boeing museum and every time I stand and stare at that plane. I'm trying to find 3 accurate model kits to build of her and maybe get to take it around and educate people of it's history and good/bad things about it.
Salut moi je suis une adoratrice des ✈️ 🛩 🎉avions propliner vintage....dc-3 dc-4 dc-6 dc-6... super connie...Lockheed électrique...iljushin 14 iljushin 18...brequet deux ponts....grumman albatross.....
These were amazing 1950s planes for their day, stunning. But I hope you were rich, could stand violent turbulence at 20K ft, smoked like a chimney because everyone did, didnt get airsick, or die from a crash because they had a horrible safety record compared with today. Engines failed and burned a lot. Drink your fifth Martini and enjoy your caviar !! Also, thank the heavens for good Pratt and Wright engines, war-tested. Overall the Connie, Super Connie and DC6-DC7 were the best prop airliners of all time.
I am 40 and have flown on a Dc3 when I was 12 and I wish I could get a ride on a constellation. My other wish ride was a 757 which I did ub 2013. Seems the 747 might be on my list soon since it is exiting the market fast.
Check OUT Oxnard, CA airport. There use to be a flyable CONNIE there for a very long time. I lived 45 minutes from there and saw it more than a hundred times. I always looked for it at its hanger location; sometimes there sometimes not. Good luck. If it’s still there let me know here. Thanks
There is still a flyable SUPER CONNIE, next in Camarillo,CA,the city next door. Google: super constellation Camarillo airport. You might even get a ride because they have rides available. Good luck. I’m 75. Still a beautiful plane. Where do you live? Plane ride might be expensive too save your money for that ride.
The KC 135 is on the way out but still flying. Incredible American ingenuity. Boeing is throwing it all away with DEI and cost savings. What a waste. I don’t fly but Americans will be flying on Chinese aircraft in a decade or so.
My fist airliner trip was via North Central DC3, the DC 6 or 7, and the Connie. Later, NC had the 2 engine turboprop Convair 550, the those huge, rectangular 4 bladed props. There was the Lockeed Electra 4 engine turboprop. Then came the DC8 and 707. One time, it was the Convair 880, supposedly the fastest 4 engine jet. After the 60's and 70's, flying became nothing special.
I am disgusted. Such a beautiful aircraft presented in this video with an altered/stretched horizontal aspect ratio is unforgivable. The plane did not have oval-shaped 8:38 landing gear tires and wheels, and was nowhere near as long as this distorted image 4:41 implies.
DC-4s were not “retrofitted” with cabin pressurization. You don’t retrofit that. The Canadair Northstar was built from the beginning with a pressurized cabin in some variants, but it was never retrofitted to a non-pressurized DC-4.
"But corporate greed got in the way" (4:00-4:08). "Corporate greed"?! Corporations are in the business of making money & looking out for their stockholders. That isn't "greed." In any case, it led to competition & the development of the Constellation. That's how capitalism works at its best.
American Airliners, it is right in the title…We have plenty British celebratory videos,on the channel, sometimes only focused on brilliant people like Sir Frank Whittle, or the legendary Eric “Winkle” Brown.
Your assessment of the 8th flying night raids is incorrect. The RAF started with daylight raids and then switched to night raids when bombing during the day proved to be too costly. The 8th Air Force always flew daylight raids. Also, the Black pilot that flew in WWI was actually an American named Eugene Jacques Bullard. He did, however, fly for the French. As far as being shotdown and captured by the Germans, you would have had a better chance at surviving if you encountered German soldiers than German civilians. German civilians very well likely would beat you and in some cases beat you to death wheress German soldiers would take you for interrogation and then to a POW camp.
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19:35
My first flight on a commercial aircraft ( back in 1953 was a Connie out of Anchorage Alaska owned by pacific Northern Airlines. When we (The Sayers family) finally left Anchorage in 1956 it was on a PNA Connie out of Anchorage to Seattle .My last flight (on a Connie )was from Juneau AK in 1959. The pilot was a friend of ours from Anchorage who invited me to the cockpit for the trip to Seattle . What a thrill for a 14 yr old. What a beautiful plane. The Connie was a great plane and I am lucky to have flown in one while they were still "active" with airlines before the advent of jets. ( bACK THEN FLYING on Commercial airlines )was different in many ways . became a pilot myself a few year s later.but never flew any thing big like a Connie.
Wow! Planes were relatively new back then. Weren't you and others afraid to go up in the air?
I was present at JFK with my Dad, waiting at the American Airlines hangar for the first American Airlines Boeing 707 to arrive. We spotted it on final when over my left shoulder a TWA Super Connie just took off and was climbing out. It was the perfect moment. The old piston era was leaving and the new jet age was arriving.
American was flying 707s years before IDLEWILD AIRPORT became "JFK".
As an old "Gooney Bird" crew member during the 1960's,(Radio Operator), in my humble opinion this was and is the BEST aircraft ever made. Thank you for this story...
I flew the Conti in 1958 NY to Paris and back in 1960 both ways. The pilot let me sit in the cockpit during the flight. I warned the stewardess that the engines were on fire seeing fire exit the exhaust and lighting up the night. She said not to worry that was normal. I was 8. What a beautiful plane.
😅😅
What was the general feeling about flying back then? It seems like we went from the Ford Model T to flying in the air in just a few years. I can't imagine everyone was enthusiastic about being tens of thousands of miles in the air in an unrproven machine. Or were they?
I flew it in 1950, 1953, and a super constalation in 1957. Very special in those days!
My Dad was a TWA pilot from 1954 to the 1980s. I flew in Connies many times. It was always my favorite plane.
a pilot in the 1950s???? How did he learn how to fly when planes just became a method of transportation? Wasn't it very risky?
One of one of the most beautiful planes to grace the skies!!!
No doubt!
Absolutely, yes
Bobbyo60 absolutely, such a beauty, designed way ahead of its time
QUEEN OF THE SKY. CONNIE WAS MAGNIFICENT
My one and only adventure with the Constellation started in Sao Paulo , Brazil on 18 August, 1961. On that date my family and I , 12 years old boarded a VARIG Super G on route to New York. The routing was Sao Paulo=Rio= Belem=Port of Spain=Dominican Republic and finally New York, then still called Idlewild. As our final destination was Chicago we transferred to LGA and boarded a TWA Super G with stops in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and finally Chicago Midway, ORD O\Hare was not yet operational. As the transition to turbos and pure jets had just started that was my only encounter with the Connie, I am now 74 and still hold that adventure nearest to my heart. Interestingly later in life I once again flew hundreds of times in another Lockheed airplane, the L188Electra,VARIG of Brazil acquired 14 of the type from American Airlines for the Rio - Sao Paulo Ponte Aerea, " Air Bridge" from early 60's to late 90's without ever recording a single accident, amazing..............................................
It's so sad what Brazil has become now.
@@billolsen4360 It's even sadder what the USA has become!
It's even worse what the UK has become.Total trash!
The last piston powered aircraft I flew on was a DC-7. It was fabulous. Never got the chance to board a Connie.
Another era in airline travel....
I was a child passenger in the Superconstellations and the Douglas airliners of the day. A very different experience than today.
First airliner I ever flew on; TWA Super Connie in 1960, LAX to St Louis - then a DC-3 from St Louis to Evansville Indiana.
I was 5 years old and received real metal wings from the Captain. We sat in the “family” seats which faced each other. It was an amazing adventure that was repeated two years later in 1962. This time we flew to St Louis n a Boeing 707, and the flight to Evansville was on a Lockheed Electra.
Airline flights were an amazing adventure back then. Everyone dressed up for the flight, I wore a suit with a bow tie and shorts instead of long pants. I lobbied hard to wear an actual suit with regular tie on the 1962 trip, which I was successful.
Safe to say, even after serving in the US Air Force at the end of the Vietnam War, the Lockheed Constellation is my all-time favorite airplane.
Now people fly half naked, specially fat people!
same generation. i was dressed up in a suit and tie for my first flight too. i remember somehow that it was a 737. the constellation sure is a beaut. it still bothers me to see people in certain jobs not wearing a suit anymore, it makes me think they don't fully understand the gravity of what they're doing
I flew on one from the UK to the US when I was six. back in 1954. My father was in the USAF and we had been stationed in the UK a few years back ---Took a ship (USS George Washington) to get there.
While working a ramp job in early 1990s in seattle what old timers had told me about was parked at our hangar. It was being used as a freight hauler
Sneaking on one day...there it was...a glass bubble in the crafts roof?...i had no idea...oldtimers knew...if your under 50...u ll never guess. The navigators used the glass bubble to use sextants etc. To use star triangular observations to guide the constellation to its destination!!!
Ive been on about 6 different commercial propeller craft and believe only the constellation had such a viewing port
With its elegant lines and curves it remains the most beautiful plane ever!
My first plane flight took place in 1954 on the Constellation when we flew to New York from Puerto Rico, and yes, the passengers had class then. I was a child but that trip is still fresh in my mind and unforgettable.
I have a cousin who worked for TWA and later AA as a Stewardess who retired and misses it at 83. I was so proud of her and the sharp uniform in the 60s. Constellation was in order.
When I was stationed in Puerto Rico the local air force base had quite a few of them in active service. A truly great looking ship.
What an elegant, beautiful plane!
As a kid in the 1950's we flew on the variouscversions of the constellation and it was SO far better in comfort and elegance that even as a kid I was impressed. Later we flew on the Boeing 707 the year it was introduced. The comfort of a jet over piston engine planes was a quantum leap! But the constellation was a super baby for sure....
Fun Fact: The L-1011 could ride a controlled wheelie on it's back wheels the full length of the take-off.✈
I've been on one. The QANTAS one that they have at the HARS museum in Albion Park NSW Australia. Great experience.
The Connie was the last plane ORVILLE WRIGHT ever flew back in 1946 They picked him up in Dayton, OH. And gave him a turn in the cockpit on the wheel. Later they engaged the autopilot, and Orville said "I always believed that an airplane should be able to fly itself." Orville had only helped invent the airplane some 43 years before--- Lots of progress.
You are actually describing Orville Wright. Wilbur died in 1912 from Typhoid Fever.
And I knew THAT too. Odd how the brain works I specifically was thinking "Orville" when I was writing this in an effort to avoid this very error. @@timchilders3535
I flew on a Lockheed constellation in 1959 and by far it was pure luxury with big wide comfortable seats & linen headrest covers compared to the plastic Boeings and Airbus fecal sardine cans the airlines fly now! Also the people then unlike today the men wore suits and ties and real woman wore dresses! Yes they all had "CLASS " then unlike the street bums of modern day today! Up Up Away Fly TWA!
and you could see a talkie fer a nickel
Do you mean the time when only rich people could fly? Chicago to phoenix, for example, easy 1200$ in today's money back then. Who blue-collar could pay for that easily. That's $ 4800 for a family trip, a couple plus 2x kids.
You are comparing apples and oranges
@@Lou.CypherNo I am not comparing apple to oranges. I am comparing class to no class! An era when bums wearing flip flops wearing stinking jeans weren't allowed to fly on airliners! And the price, your right kept them from doing so! As a passenger I flew on a constellation and It was a better time and I wish I could time travel back! ❤
@@turkey0165 so you are saying that these bums are now bothering you in 1st class right?
Because if not, it's apples and oranges.
You forget that it is now for everyone and not for the rich. And rich people can have no class too.
Everyone was wearing suits in that time. You forget that.
You need to sit up front in first, not back in coach.
She was a beautiful aircraft!!😊😊
In 1967 I was stationed at NAS Cubi Pt as a member of crash fire and at least one Flying Tigers Constellation would land every day and unload its cargo at the freight terminal located next to crash fire. The pilots were friendly and would allow us onboard to check out the cockpit and sit in the pilot's seat. A beautiful plane.
A very pleasant historical video.
Thank you!
I was fortunate enough to fly from St Francisco to New York back of the year of 1956. The plane had very comfortable seats with plenty of leg room, compared to today’s planes.😢😢😢
In 1962 I flew in the Constellation from Holland to South Africa in 29 hours.
We stopped off firstly in Cairo, secondly at Entebbe and then onto Johannesburg to the then main destination airport at Palmietfontein.
After Entebbe, the pilot spoke over the intercom to tell us that in 4 minutes flying time we would pass over Lake Victoria ( on the equator) when the plane would gain altitude like as if we were in an elevator due to the dense air that rose off of the lake. When we took off from Entebbe, because it was so hot we had to take a longer run to get airbourne and I swear we had part of the hedges in the undercart.
Years earlier I had ridden by bike with friends from school to Palmietfontein to see the inaugural flight arrival of the COMET, the ill fated jet airliner which landed spot on time as was predicted, a credit to BOAC airline.
US Navy used the Constellation to ferry personnel around the world. I recall going out in 1962 to NAS Point Mugu, where our Dad had been working with Pacific Missile Range for several years, and watching him board a Constellation and take off to fly to Eniwetok, by way of Hawai'i for his first Command... Beautiful airplane, got him there safely!!!
What a wonderful plane, so nice looking too.
I logged 2000+ hours in flight crews of Navy WV-2 (EC-121) Lockheed Super Constellation Warning Stars as a part of Distant Early Warning (DEW). The Super Connies I flew in were magnificent aircraft. They were early versions of today's AWACS aircraft. On patrol many times the Wright R-3350 engines would be flown at METO power because of the drag created by the upper and lower radomes. Most people today have no idea what the DEW Line was about. I used to try to explain it but don't even try any more. I just say I was in the Navy.
This is a very intresting and informative video. Thank You.
From Wikipedia...Yet before being devoured by his eccentricities, Hughes was a true entrepreneurial genius who achieved remarkable accomplishments as a movie producer, an aviator and an industrialist.😇 Not bad for a mediocre student who did not finish high school.
Elon Musk is going to end up like Hughes. Alone in a darkened room, with hair down to his ankles and foot-long fingernails.
The world's first turboprop airliner was the British Type 630 Vickers Viscount which had its first flight in July 1948. It was introduced on the18 April 1953 with British European Airways, and it was taken out of service 58 years later in 2009.
From Wikipedia...The piston-engined airliners generally relied on electrical compressors to provide pressurized cabin air. Engine supercharging and cabin pressurization enabled aircraft like the Douglas DC-6, the Douglas DC-7, and the Constellation to have certified service ceilings from 24,000 to 28,400 ft (7,315 to 8,656 m)
The Connie was Pres. Eisenhower's form of air transport - his "Air Force One" plane, though it wasn't yet called that at the time.
An awesome documentary. Love the extreme detail. Thanks!
I flew in a Lockheed constellation in 1966 to Cincinnati,noisy as hell but they served me a steak for lunch. How times change.
I was 7 when I first traveled by air going from El Paso Texas to LA. Sadly when we were walking down to our gate I could see a few new jets and lots of Connie's and Douglas prop liners. My mind was quietly racing saying "Please Let It Be a Jet"! Sure enough it was a 707... As I grew up, I regretted not flying in a Connie as a year later they were all pulled out of airline service.
It was a drama that the L-1011, which was superior to the DC-10 in ALL relevant respects, ultimately lost out due to the problems of RR RB-211 financing problems! Since then, Lockheed Tristar has stood for the statement "The best is beaten by the second best!".
My dad worked at TWA for 47 years as a mechanic at the Downtown Kansas City airport then at north KC when the moved the Overhaul Base there. He would say at times you would see HH walk through the plant. There is a Connie at the downtown airport on display with other aircraft. SAC, Save a Connie.
In 1956 I flew in a TW3 Constellation. My seat was right above the wings. The engine noise was deafening.
My present for my tenth birthday was a flight from Newark to Washington in a Super Constellation on Eastern Airlines in 1954.
4:13The photos shown show two different aircraft. The photo here shows what I believe is a Stinson. How many others that reverse angled windscreen but your photos keep contradicting each other.
If I had the opportunity to have the flight of my choice before I die it would be in a Connie or a Super Connie. A flying masterpiece.
The Constellation was my first flight. 1958. I remember the large windows.
I was also on Air Canada’s last Viscount flight. Can’t remember the year.
I got to be a passanger from Maryland 1962 fly to Lackland AFB basic training.
Constellation inesquecível.
Fun Fact: Piston-powered planes have an efficiency of 80% or more, when flown at moderate speeds.
Early fan-jet engines were at 50%, Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle
I love the Constellation!
great video
A few errors here.
The DC-4 actually entered service a year ahead of the Connie. That, the fact it wasn’t using the new and still very troublesome 3350 contributed significantly to the fact it became the primary 4 engine transport of the war. Especially with priority for 3350s going to the B-29. Also Lockheed was very busy with P-38 production with the AirForce needing fighters a lot more than they needed transports.
The bomber variant of the Connie wasn’t proposed as the B-29 backup. That role was taken by the B-32 Dominator. The bomber variant was a response to the same RFP that led to the B-29 in the first place.
The Boeing 377 did use the wings and tail of the B-50 (itself a major derivative of the B-29) but it also used the lower fuselage section hence the double bubble look. It wasn’t a wings and tail on an all new fuselage variant.
Dad was a navigator on EC-121's out of Otis AFB on Cape Cod
My dad was a navigator on Connie also. He flew out of highspire pa
WHAT AN AMAZING BEAUTIFUL PLANE THE SUPER CONNE. QUEEN OF THE SKY
The sound effects sound of... - 'surely, you can't be serious?' ~ 'yes I am, and don't call me Shirley' 😎
I remember them as a child London to New York and also Eastern shuttle from Washington to New York.
Ah the good old days when airliners were usually early. Not like these days where they're generally late.
I seen a flight over SF Bay!..💪
The MOST beautiful… At least for me.
I don’t know if this narration is a human or synthetic voice but I’d think somebody involved would know that the “k” in Knute Rockne is silent.
Buck, I came straight here as soon as I heard the "K" to find your comment👌🏽
in German the K is spoken ! This is a German name originally !!!
@@franciscoeukalyptus6537But it was pronounced as Nute in the U.S.
I'm with you on that. I prefer a real voice other than in the case of some time's the person that put a program together because they love the subject and want to share what they know has trouble speaking or can't speak. I've seen some fine programs by such and fully enjoyed them.
I love this Documentary. I built a model of th4y T.W.A. Conny as a teenager because I fell in love with the look of it. It's still on my shelf 45 year later. :)
Anyone for the Ford Trimotor?
That’s nice, but I’m buying a ticket for the Stipa Caproni.
I absolutely love the overall look and design of the Tri-Motor. I live by the Boeing museum and every time I stand and stare at that plane. I'm trying to find 3 accurate model kits to build of her and maybe get to take it around and educate people of it's history and good/bad things about it.
The Conny is beautiful and ground breaking. I wish it was in service in my lifetime, born a little to late.
Salut moi je suis une adoratrice des ✈️ 🛩 🎉avions propliner vintage....dc-3 dc-4 dc-6 dc-6... super connie...Lockheed électrique...iljushin 14 iljushin 18...brequet deux ponts....grumman albatross.....
These were amazing 1950s planes for their day, stunning. But I hope you were rich, could stand violent turbulence at 20K ft, smoked like a chimney because everyone did, didnt get airsick, or die from a crash because they had a horrible safety record compared with today. Engines failed and burned a lot. Drink your fifth Martini and enjoy your caviar !! Also, thank the heavens for good Pratt and Wright engines, war-tested. Overall the Connie, Super Connie and DC6-DC7 were the best prop airliners of all time.
I am 40 and have flown on a Dc3 when I was 12 and I wish I could get a ride on a constellation. My other wish ride was a 757 which I did ub 2013. Seems the 747 might be on my list soon since it is exiting the market fast.
Check OUT Oxnard, CA airport. There use to be a flyable CONNIE there for a very long time. I lived 45 minutes from there and saw it more than a hundred times. I always looked for it at its hanger location; sometimes there sometimes not. Good luck. If it’s still there let me know here. Thanks
There is still a flyable SUPER CONNIE, next in Camarillo,CA,the city next door. Google: super constellation Camarillo airport. You might even get a ride because they have rides available. Good luck. I’m 75. Still a beautiful plane. Where do you live? Plane ride might be expensive too save your money for that ride.
I think it said on the website it’s the only one flyable out of five in existence. Second owner airplane. First owner: United States Air force.
Still has a Qantas Connie has in New South Wales and it’s still flying
The KC 135 is on the way out but still flying. Incredible American ingenuity. Boeing is throwing it all away with DEI and cost savings. What a waste. I don’t fly but Americans will be flying on Chinese aircraft in a decade or so.
The connie and dehaviland comet have my vote for most beautiful airliners 👍
Nice video
I worked Baby Connies at Torrejon AB ,Spain 65-68.
The k in Knute was silent!
What's the music at the start it's so beautiful
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird enters the chat.
The most heautiful aircraft
My fist airliner trip was via North Central DC3, the DC 6 or 7, and the Connie. Later, NC had the 2 engine turboprop Convair 550, the those huge, rectangular 4 bladed props. There was the Lockeed Electra 4 engine turboprop. Then came the DC8 and 707. One time, it was the Convair 880, supposedly the fastest 4 engine jet. After the 60's and 70's, flying became nothing special.
King Air BABY
Yes
Picture aspect ratio stretched?...
“Livery” - the way an aircraft is painted - is pronounced like the body part liver so “livv er ee” not like the body part eye (not “l eye ver ee”)
May I have everyone's scrap books? Oh Boy!
❤we do the walls otherwise
Um, the "K" in Knute is silent.
I think the K is silent in Knute
You neglect to mention that, just like Concorde the Yanks were nit the first with a passenger jet airliner, that was the Comet
This mostly about AMERICAN Airliners,mas the title says…
Yes, the Comet was classy, but as we all know, riding one was a game of Russian roulette!
@@mariekatherine5238 You only live once! :)
I was going to ask if anyone ever took that flight on that type of plane
Just the name FOKKER woulda made me look for an all-metal plane.😳
I am disgusted. Such a beautiful aircraft presented in this video with an altered/stretched horizontal aspect ratio is unforgivable. The plane did not have oval-shaped 8:38 landing gear tires and wheels, and was nowhere near as long as this distorted image 4:41 implies.
Is this narrated by Elmar Fudd?
Atlanta Ga
2:15 Glue? Yeah, glad they got rid of that aviation engineering practice.
It's known as ‘TWA’ world wide!
Is that a ufo? No, it is an "identified flying object!"
The "K in "Knute" is silent.
They don't rust
Lockheed Electra?
DC-4s were not “retrofitted” with cabin pressurization. You don’t retrofit that. The Canadair Northstar was built from the beginning with a pressurized cabin in some variants, but it was never retrofitted to a non-pressurized DC-4.
lol. "KA-nute" Rockne. The "K" is silent.
"But corporate greed got in the way" (4:00-4:08). "Corporate greed"?! Corporations are in the business of making money & looking out for their stockholders. That isn't "greed." In any case, it led to competition & the development of the Constellation. That's how capitalism works at its best.
💪
"Livery" is pronounced like "liver."
Sadly it’s the worst airline and frankly the shame of America!
As aircraft history, this is badly incomplete. Where are the important British contributions to the aircraft industry?
American Airliners, it is right in the title…We have plenty British celebratory videos,on the channel, sometimes only focused on brilliant people like Sir Frank Whittle, or the legendary Eric “Winkle” Brown.
was this a video of British aviation or American? oh yeah the title says early American airliners
Knute flew on a wooden airplane, YIKES!
Hard to believe they were still using part wood at that time.
Your assessment of the 8th flying night raids is incorrect. The RAF started with daylight raids and then switched to night raids when bombing during the day proved to be too costly. The 8th Air Force always flew daylight raids. Also, the Black pilot that flew in WWI was actually an American named Eugene Jacques Bullard. He did, however, fly for the French. As far as being shotdown and captured by the Germans, you would have had a better chance at surviving if you encountered German soldiers than German civilians. German civilians very well likely would beat you and in some cases beat you to death wheress German soldiers would take you for interrogation and then to a POW camp.
8:33
You got a thumbs down for not pronouncing words correctly.