Video of DC-6/Connie Crash Testing

[girtbar]

Im not quite sure which catagory this should fall under so ive placed it here.

I was looking if anyone would have or know a link to footage of what looked like either a DC-6 or a Constellation being crash tested in the desert??

It was on a video i had ages ago but since lost. It begins its take off roll and while picking up speed it runs into what look like fence posts striking the wing/engines before hitting an embankment and breaking up. Its quite an impressive peice of footage.

Would anyone have or know where such clip could be found??

Thanks in advance

GirtBar

[cringe]

This one?

NASA Dryden Controlled Impact Demonstration (CID) (http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/movie/CID/index.html)

[girtbar]

Thanks ill have a look around that site as they might have the link. Its not the 707 crash i was looking for, im pretty sure it was a DC-6 as in the footage the nose sections takes a camera out so you get a close view of the cockpit section impacting the dirt as its barreling towards the camera!

Thanks though.

[PaperTiger]

NASA Dryden Controlled Impact Demonstration (CID)

I think that was the R/C Boeing 720 "test". There is a video of the DC-7 which the FAA mangled - I've seen it on TV a few times, don't know if it's on the web. There was an earlier destruction of a Connie (don't know which model) but I only know of stills for that one.

I'll see if I can find the tail numbers (I've got them somewhere :O ) which may narrow down the search.

[girtbar]

Thanks that would be great!!

[PaperTiger]

The aircraft involved were:
DC-7 N68N on 24 April 1964
L-1649 LV-GLI on 3 September 1964.

The location is given as "Deer Valley" in both cases but I don't know if the actual destruction took place on the airport (N. of Phoenix) or close by.
Nothing further from google.

[treadigraph]

I'm sure I've seen film of the Connie used in a crash test - it was in a TV programme, but I expect it is out on the net somewhere.

[gruntie]

Wasn't it the one used in "Airplane" - there was a scene in the cabin with the clip showing as the in-flight movie?

[girtbar]

Yip thats the one, its used quite alot in TV but trying to locate the clip is virtually impossible (well for me so far!).

The clip shown in the movie is the part of the forward section of the aircraft having broken way from the wings hurtling towards the camera in flames. Im sure its a Douglas aircraft though, im sure its either a DC-6 or 7. In the same video i used to have they then go onto crash a connie.

Its been driving me mad trying to locate this clip, thought i was seeing things but glad others know what im talking about!

Cheers!

[treadigraph]

Wasn't it the one used in "Airplane" - there was a scene in the cabin with the clip showing as the in-flight movie?

Surely you can't be serious... :E (didn't you just know that was coming!)

Yep, it all comes back to me now, but I think it also "starred" in a TV programme about air accident investiagation, or something similar. I know I've seen a longer sequence...

[gruntie]

Surely you can't be serious...
I am serious. And don't call me Shirley!

[onetrack]

I seem to recall Qantas crash-tested a Constellation on Mauritius in 1960 .. and nearly ruined their much-touted safety record! ..
Now .. a video of THAT event, would be worth something! ..:ooh:

http://www.lockheed.adastron.com/constellation/h2vheac2.htm

[The SSK]

I've seen the footage of the Deer Valley Starliner, I can remember it very vividly. At the back of a cupboard somewhere I have a video of 'The Constellation Story' or some such title, maybe it was on that.

[wub]

The clip you are looking for was used in the title sequence of the BBC programme 'Tomorrow's World' for a number of years. I looked on the BBC archive website but they don't have that one.

Here's a link to details of the test but no video

http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0654538

[EGAC]

I know the Connie/Douglas clip well. Some more details may assist.

"Apr 24, 1964: The deliberate wrecking of a Douglas DC-7 near Phoenix, Ariz., began a testing program in which FAA and the Flight Safety Foundation attacked the problem of preventing postcrash fatalities. FAA crashed a Lockheed 1649 Constellation at the same site in Sep 1964. These experiments reflected a growing realization that fatalities in takeoff or landing accidents could be reduced if passengers were prevented from colliding with the aircraft's interior structure or furnishings and protected from postcrash fire and smoke. The test aircraft crashed through manmade barriers and then into a rocky slope, carrying dummy passengers, cameras, and instruments for recording impact forces, G-forces, hydrostatic pressures, and other stresses. The tests provided valuable data on such matters as fuel spillage, safety characteristics of rear-, forward-, and side-facing passenger seats, and the efficacy of passenger-restraining devices. Beginning in Apr 1965, FAA used the wrecked Constellation's fuselage for emergency evacuation tests."

http://www.faa.gov/about/media/b-chron.pdf

[girtbar]

This has to be the most elusive video clip ever!

Ive used all the information provided searched almost every corner in the world of Google and still nothing!

Well at least i can say ive given it ago, thanks for your help guys ;)

[jabberwok]

Frustrating isn't it?

I know the clip well and I've seen it recently but I can't say where. It might have been Discovery Wings channel or somewhere on the Internet.

Like yourself I've trawled through YouTube and Google but I have not had any success either but it surely must be out there somewhere.

[treadigraph]

Do you know, I have an idea it may have even appeared in a Monty Python sketch... oh dear, I might have to dig out the ancient video and watch it...!

[JT Eagle]

You Tube search for "FAA Crash Test" brought up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZY0-XUmMA

and fascinating it is too.

Hope it helps,
JT

[PaperTiger]

You Tube search for "FAA Crash Test" brought up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZY0-XUmMA
and fascinating it is too.
Hope it helps,
JTWell if the muppet hadn't filed it as a DC-9 we might have found it sooner :=

[EGAC]

The YouTube poster acknowledges that this is part of a 15-minute film so perhaps he could be persuaded to post the remainder including the L-1649 crash test.

He certainly seems to have an interest in, and access to, such material beacuse he has today posted this compilation of interesting clips concerning crash testing of the Vertol H-21.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDb_UCZs7ZM

[EGAC]

The YouTuber concerned has indicated that he has plans to post the entire film from which this clip is taken so we may yet get to see the Connie too.

[wub]

There was a programme on aviation safety on Sky tv last week or so which featured both the DC-7 and Connie crashes in detail. It described how the aircrafts' fuel tanks were filled with coloured liquids simulating fuel with different additives, designed to prevent fires. If you look at the Youtube video you can see the different colours spraying out.

The programme went on to explain that the addititves were not a success and the idea was dropped.

[411A]

Yes, a DC-7 was indeed crash-tested just outside of PHX.
And, for the record it was an ex-Universal Airlines DC-7C.
DC-7C, a very nice aeroplane to fly, even if the CurtisWright turbocompound engines were not as reliable as hoped.
The 1649 Constellation was also a nice aeroplane, but noisey at the pointy end.
The DC-7C was quieter....by a fair margin.
However, unlike the 1649, it could not fly as far.
TWA operated the 1649 non-stop, ORY-SFO on a regular basis....provided of course that the oil consumption was not too high.:{

[Fris B. Fairing]

I seem to recall Qantas crash-tested a Constellation on Mauritius in 1960 .. and nearly ruined their much-touted safety record! ..
Now .. a video of THAT event, would be worth something! ..
http://www.lockheed.adastron.com/con...n/h2vheac2.htm
For the record, the above post (#12) by onetrack did not emanate from the owner of the cited website. I know for a fact that he doesn't like having his website used to denigrate Qantas.