Saturday, March 6, 2021

 


7 comments:

  1. Ads from those days are very impressive.
    And the Connie was the best three-engine airliner flying!

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    1. I agree, but I think you meant tri-tail...it had four engines. The Connie is on my short list of planes which look good viewed from any angle...like the DC-3, and the ME-262.

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    2. Troll: 1, Ron: 0

      Legend was that one engine would inevitably fail on each flight.

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  2. The TWA Hotel at JFK has a Connie out back that is set up as a cocktail lounge. Very nice. Here in Preskitt, AZ we have a hiking trail with the remains of a Connie that crashed shortly after takeoff on Feb. 28, 1959.

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  3. The Connie's were used by the Air Force during the 60's and 70's as airborne early warning, etc. They had a huge radar disk on top and the plain was loaded with radar and communication stuff.

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    1. A former boss of mine flew those AEW Connies over Vietnam & Laos, said they were so overloaded with gear and drag-inducing excrescences that they couldn't climb to a more useful signals/electronics altitude, had a hard time coaxing them up to 13,000 feet and maintaining that height.

      He told a great story of Connies meeting up in the sky with F-4 Phantoms, as follows:

      F-4 JOCKEY: Hey, Connie driver, watch this! [The F-4 jock then hurled his Phantom through a series of dramatic aerobatic stunts. Then came back on the air with . . . : ]

      F-4 JOCKEY: "Whaddya think of that, huh?!"

      CONNIE PILOT: "Not bad. Now watch . . . THIS!" [Whereupon the Connie continued to fly straight & level for three minutes, until the Connie pilot came back on the air with . . . : ]

      CONNIE PILOT: "Okay Phantom jock, whaddidya think of THAT?!"

      F-4 JOCKEY: "Think of . . . what? I didn't see anything special!"

      CONNIE PILOT: "I just took a nice long leak."

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  4. Personally, it is the most beautiful aircraft ever built. She is stunning from every angle.

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