EC-121 Super Constellation

[PPRuNeUser0139]

Here's a sight for sore eyes.. Had a trip in one of these classic Lockheed designs up at Kef in the mid-70s..(except I think it would have been the T model with the dorsal mounted radar height finder) The crews were reservists and were worth a guinea-a-minute..
Sx-t8SFLifQ
That nose wheel leg always intrigued me..

[treadigraph]

Love that sound!

[chevvron]

I understand similar versions owned by the US Navy frequented Blackbushe up to Aug 1960 when it was forcibly and abruptly closed by the government; (the only way they could get the airlines to move to Gatwick with it's far worse weather record) after the US Navy invested a lot of money developing a base there.
See Home | Blackbushe Airport - The one-stop Forum (http://www.blackbusheairport.proboards.com) for photos of them in several threads.
As can be seen in the video, it's rate of climb left a lot to be desired. When I did my Area Radar training back in the early '70s, one of the tracks used in the simulator was a Connie departing from Heathrow to go transatlantic; I think we all made the mistake of not asking it to expedite its climb and it would disappear somewhere near Lyneham having gone below radar coverage!

[WHBM]

That's a significant misfire around 6.35 from one of the starboard engines during the takeoff run. Too much boost ? Oh, good old Wright Turbo-Compounds, as ever.

[Stanwell]

Ah yes, the Connie.
Living not far from Sydney airport, they used to come quite close by my place.
Fully loaded with fuel, pax and mail, on climb-out, those glorious 3350s would rattle the window panes and interfere with the television reception.

We've a restored, operational C121 (VH-EAG) representing a Qantas L1049 (see HARS website) a bit to the south of here.
Hearing and seeing that beautiful girl on take-off and in flight causes me to go weak at the knees.

[treadigraph]

When this one landed at Chino, No 3 had been shut down with a lot of oil deposited along the aft fuselage as I recall.

I visited Camarillo in 1999 - it's great to know that the two Connies there at the time eventually flew out; the other is now Breitling's well known HB-RSC.

Must get me a trip in Lufthansa's Starliner when they get it going...

[Wander00]

Thanks for that nostalgia when I was a kid - late 50s - Dad worked for a firm based at Colnbrook, between Slough and Heathrow. Saturday mornings he often had to go to the factory for a sales meeting - and I would go with him in the Ford Popular we had then, and spend the morning standing outside the office watching, smelling and hearing a succession of piston engined airliners on final approach at some fairly low height. Brilliant

[Fareastdriver]

In the mid-seventies valuable and attractive items were always transported by air; there was too much pilfering on the seaboards. IIRC Miami Airlines/Airways used to be in this freight business using Constellations of varying hues.

We had one shut down in Belize owing to a technical problem so I had a wander over to have a look. The finish was non-descript but you could see the faded, rubbed out, Pan American logos.

Walking around it revealed the tyres were soaked in oil that had dripped down from the engines and when I climbed inside I found the interior was lined with hardboard with hacksawed window accesses but, however, all the cabin call buttons, light, etc were still there.

The flight engineer welcomed me aboard and at that started the No 4 engine. He seemed happy with that and started folding up his paperwork. Conversation established that No 4 was the suspect engine and had been for some time. The requirement was that they could use it to take off and once they were airborne they would feather it and continue on the other three.

About six months later a Connie passing Belize had a No1 prop overspeed. The engine caught fire and threw its propeller off which went into No2 and shredded a blade. This in turn caused No2 engine to break loose on its mounting and rotate into the port wheel well. The captain pushed out a Mayday and headed towards Belize International.

The aircraft arrived at Belize; one engine on fire, the next engine stopped and the undercarriage on that side jammed up. He landed it on one mainwheel and eventually the nosewheel and it slew off the runway into the grass.

At that point the valuable and attractive cargo let loose.

Prime pedigree cattle.

They beat all known records for aircraft evacuation. They went out through the sides, the roof, anywhere, between eight and ten seconds.

The captain was heartbroken. He had amassed tens of thousands of hours flying this particular aeroplane with PanAm around the world with a cabin full of flight attendants and now it had gone.

I don't think he flew again.

[pjac]

[U]Stanwell
Where did you live then, I lived at Eastlakes and on a given day, they came right over the top.


pjac

[Chris Scott]

Yes Geoff, there's something about the Lockheed Constellation that seems to have captured the imagination and affection of so many of us baby-boomers. In my case, the L-749A of SAA/SAL at Lusaka (City), 1953 - 1955.

In those days the South African Airways Connie was king as far as long-haul from the Rhodesias to Europe was concerned. BOAC was operating the Hermes in place of the recently-lost Comet 1. The Argonaut (EAA) and DC-6B (UAT) wouldn't start operations until a bit later, as would the Viscount 748Ds (CAA).

Watching from close quarters the Wright R-3350s firing up in the heat of the tropical dusk was an awesome experience for an impressionable boy. Almost invariably one of the four would demur at the first attempt. Once the others were running, the second attempt inevitably produced a formidable amount of flame and smoke, observed warily by the man with the fire extinguisher. Then the chocks would be waved away, the aircraft would creep forward in its strange, nose-high attitude; the twin, slanting nose-wheels pivoting at the bottom of that long leg and the distinctive empennage swinging round as the big ship left the apron, followed by a wave of hot air and dust. Then there would be the usual delay while the engines were run up at the far end of the airfield.

Today's spotters, accustomed to the modest climb angle of a heavily-laden jet, might find the piston equivalent unnerving, particularly after the encouragingly short take-off run. What I later knew to be "WAT" was generally the limiting factor for take-off performance, particularly at African altitudes and temperatures; the real inspiration for the old chestnut about the curvature of the earth.

In 1955 we finally flew to London in one. Well, that was me hooked!

[Stanwell]

[U]Stanwell
Where did you live then, I lived at Eastlakes and on a given day, they came right over the top.


pjac


Randwick - near the Avoca St ridge.
You'd catch them when they were using 07, of course - and they still hadn't gained much in the way of altitude by then, either. :ok:

[Sheikh Your Bootie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-8gD6npG8

All engines were working nicely on arrival. Despite a slight leak from No.3

SyB :zzz:

[PPRuNeUser0139]

My main memory of my flight in one at Keflavik was how quiet and civilised (as in 'odour-free') the environment was - compared to the Shack.
The reservists who flew the Connie were a superb bunch.. with some real characters among them. I remember their final rousing TDY at Lossie (must have been around 1978) - & finishing up in the Bothy at some ungodly hour..

[Shackman]

My only memory of the EC-121 (apart from watching Connies flying overhead when I was younger) was on the first visit by the USN one to Lossie/8 Sqn. On a short demo trip we were impressed at how much more kit they had, how different/easy it was to fly compared with the Shack, and the final show stopper was this wonderful thing in the galley called a 'microwave oven' that the crew had self fitted! At this time they were unknown in the UK, and in fact it must have been nearly 10 years before the first very expensive ones appeared in Curry's!

[treadigraph]

One's memory is not what it was (or ever was) SyB!

As a 14 year old enthusiast (OK, spotter) in 1978 who'd never seen a Connie, I was dozing in my pit early one morning and heard the sound of radials rumbling overhead.

Radials were still fairly common, so instead of dashing to the window and peering out, I stayed abed and missed seeing an EC-121 on its way to Germany.

Had to wait until Vern Raeburn bought his Connie over to the UK in the 1990s before I got to actually see one fly.

[NRU74]

Slight Thread Drift
I was in Flight Planning at El Adem c 1964 (we were going to Nairobi) and there was an Ace Freighters crew who were flying a Constellation and were taking freight under some MoD contract to Aden.
The Nav type guy helped himself to several copies of every Flight Planning chart available plus numerous topos and on the chart he was using put a straight edge from El Adem to Aden and worked on that ( no Nasser's Corner avoidance etc.)
Met the same crew,in what was Salisbury, a few weeks later

[Dairyground]

My first ever flight was in a Super Constellation, a student charter with KLM from Heathrow to Idlewild (as it then was) with refuelling stops at Shannon and Gander. The return flight was non-stop on a DC7C.

One thing that was unexpected and greatly appreciated by us students was that not only was beer available on board, but it was free!

Someone had a guitar with them and when he started playing most of us migrated towards the party and singalong. This was in the rearmost cabin and after a while we got a request from the flight dech to move forward a bit, as they were finding it difficullt to keep the tail up.

[ICT_SLB]

Beleive there was an EC-121 based on Santa Maria in the Azores in support of Concorde flight testing in the mid-70s. There is a non-flying example at the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field in Topeka, KS. They also have an extensive set of training aids & cutaways of the Turbo-Compound engine.

[b1lanc]

Has to be the most elegant commercial airliner design ever. Was the one airliner I always wanted to fly on and never got the chance. All United DC6Bs during the 50's.

[tonytales]

The Lockheed Constellation family were tough birds to maintain compared to the Douglas DC-4/6/7. They were, in typical Lockheed fashion, far more complicated than the corresponding Douglas products. The L49/C-69 Connie was the first airliner where all the flight controls were hydraulically boost operated. That meant dual hydraulic systems, primary and secondary. You never saw an in-service Connie where the underside of the rear fuselage didn't have red juice on it. Even the VC-121 SAMFLEET VIP aircraft and the VC-121E Presidential. Both systems were powered up full pressure if engines were running.
Douglas flight controls were straight mechanical which made them more work to fly, it is true, but less complex with no boost packages although rigging could be interesting. Lots of cables. Basically, the hydraulic system on a Douglas prop liner was turned off in cruise flight, that is, put into bypass. On the DC-4 it did run at low pressure to power the autopilot servos and the cowl flaps.
The engine installation was much better on the all the Connies. Except for the L049/149, the power section cowling blossomed out easily. Best of all, you had full access from the rear accessory section through firewall doors. The EC-121/WV-2 types were a bit more crowded in the outboard nacelles due to an extra generator/alternator gearbox taking up room.
The Douglas products lacked rear access except through the side panels. Made it tough to reach in through the lines and wire looms to change a starter or a generator. The power section cowling was in three pieces and had to be manhandled off and deposited on racks to work the engine. In a wind, taking off a big piece of cowling could be interesting while standing on a ladder.
Douglas got away without a flight engineers station just giving the engineer a folding jumpseat aft of the pedestal. The Connie flight engineers station had everything there and was certainly easier to monitor. However the whole cockpit on the Connies was more cramped as it was squeezed into the pointy end.
I think the fact that Douglas propliners stayed in use longer is because of their basic simplicity. For sheer beauty however the Connie, particularly the L-1649 Starliner wins, hands down.

[Chris Scott]

Thanks, tonytales. Fascinating to read that the Connie had PFCUs on all primary flight controls, whereas the Boeing B367-80 jet transport, launched as late as 1952 and first flown in 1954, relied on balance-panel assistance for elevators and ailerons, although roll control was supplemented by the hydraulically-powered spoilers. (Perhaps you or someone else can tell us whether the rudder-boost system familiar to B707 crews was fitted to the Dash 80 at launch, or if it was a retro-fit.)

Did the Connies have any feel system, and if so was it Q-feel?

[reynoldsno1]

I recall seeing a set of photos taken from a Shackleton escorting a civilian Super Connie that had an engine mount bolt failure - one of the engines had a sad looking sag on it ...
I think it was a transatlantic flight and the aircraft landed at Shannon?

[Setpoint99]

We supported a squadron of EC-121s at McClellan AFB in California in the 1960s.

The cone-like nose made for a very small cockpit.

Once, on a flight to Hickam AFB in Hawaii, the squadron commander's bird lost an engine off the wing, and it plopped into the Pacific. They arrived safely, however.

[b1lanc]

@tonytales

American was having fits with the Wrights. Curtiss put out a book for American crew and mechanics in 1957. Gov't reporting was 10 engine failures per day on the east coast west coast runs (Aviation and the Role of Government, pg 144). The Curtiss Wright book included:
BASIC THEORY OF OPERATION FOR WRIGHT TURBO COMPOUND ENGINES - 1965 reprint of 1957 manual based upon lectures to American Airlines DC-7C Flight Crews and Maintenance Staff.
This manual covers:
Effect of Airflow on Power
Effect of Mixture Strength on Power
Effect of Mixture Strength on Engine Temperatures
Detonation and Pre-ignition
Summary of Reasons for Using 10% BMEP Drop
Carburetion
Exhaust System
The Effect of Spark Advance
Cruise Mixture
Fuel Distribution
Manifold Pressure Limits
Carburetor Ice
Ignition Analyzer Policy with One Dead Cylinder
TC18 Tips

Have to wonder if the Connie had the same failure rate?

On a personal note, I remember dropping my Uncle off at Idlewild for his return trip to LA in the mid-to-late '50s. Gave me plenty of time to wander above the concourses and take in the sights. I soon centered on a SwissAir DC7C getting ready to depart. Passengers were on board and 3 4 and 1 were humming. 2 would not kick despite repeated tries. After what had to be 10 minutes, all the engines were shut down and ladders were moved up to number 2 for maintenance to work on. With the anticipated delay, passengers deplaned. Had to be an hour or so with portions of the cowling off and mechanics working away. At some point, ladders were moved away, cowling was still off and the captain got number 2 running. OK, shut it down, put the cowling back on and re-board the passengers.

Round 2 - 3, 4, and 1 running and 2 bolted back together but again would not kick. Engines shut down and mechanics back to work. This time no dice - engine still wouldn't fire. At some point, must have been a couple of hours now, air stairs were put up to the front cabin door and the captain came down to discuss with the ground crew. Once again the ladders were moved, cowling off, and as the Good Lord is my witness, the captain climbs the stairs and starts hammering on something in the engine. Climbs down, instructs the ground crew to bolt her back up and move the ladders and air stairs, clambers back on board and number 2 starts as if nothing had ever been wrong. 4 going and I'm wondering how the folks on board felt at departure if they had seen that.

[Herod]

One of the old-style captains. The engine WOULDN'T DARE to disobey him.

[ionagh]

@b1lanc "Have to wonder if the Connie had the same failure rate?"

Given that she was often referred to as "the best ever three engined airliner" I guess thats an affirmative :}

[Argonautical]

When I watched the big prop liners like Constellations and the various DCs, starting up at Entebbe, Uganda, there were always two chaps with an extended fire extinguisher standing by the engine about to be started. Notice they weren't used during this machine's startup.

[Chris Scott]

Quote:
"When I watched the big prop liners like Constellations and the various DCs, starting up at Entebbe, Uganda, there were always two chaps with an extended fire extinguisher standing by the engine about to be started. Notice they weren't used during this machine's startup."

Precisely my thought too, Argonautical. See my earlier post (Lusaka). Doubt it was just jobs for the locals.

Quote from b1lanc:
"...as the Good Lord is my witness, the captain climbs the stairs and starts hammering on something in the engine. Climbs down, instructs the ground crew to bolt her back up and move the ladders and air stairs, clambers back on board and number 2 starts as if nothing had ever been wrong."

Maybe a tip he'd picked up from a grizzled maintenance guy at Zurich? Not all captains were mechanically-ignorant premadonnas, Herod, as I'm sure you will remember - and a handful were/are even ex-mechanics! Sometimes, if it's the B-team's turn on the ramp, even a pilot can show them a thing or two...

[BEagle]

Percussive engineering - brilliant!

When I was learning to fly the Jet Provost, on one occasion an AC inverter wouldn't start as advertised. The groundcrew lad raced off to the hangar, from which emerged a grizzled old Chief in one of those brown pigman's coats they used to wear.

The next thing I knew was the nose had been opened, 'Chiefy' then rolled up his sleeve and reached inside - and the aeroplane shook as he thumped the recalcitrant inverter in the nether regions, whereupon it started working. Down with the nose, thumb up and off he went. No paperwork, but job done!

[Shackman]

On one of my early (constituted) crews, we had a Flight Engineer who always brought with him a long metal pole when we went on detachment/land-aways. He would never say what it was for until one day when one of the inboard engines would not start. HAving already been introduced to the 'kick start' procedure by another crew (rushing down the runway on 3 then unfeathering the recalcitrant engine at about 80kts!) I assumed that's what would come next. In fact, all the Eng did was climb out on the wing through the overwing hatch, open up the top panels and thread his long pole through the innards, before taking the big mallet from the tool kit and giving it an almighty wack - again felt throught the whole airframe. He then reassembled everything, pressed the start button and everything worked as advertised.

He subsequently showed me that it was the easiest way of getting the start solenoid to work as they had a propensity to stick, and he had been shown the trick (he said) on Lancasters.

[tonytales]

Regarding the Wright engines on Connies and DC-7's. I started work in 1954 as they were being delivered to my companies customers. The 3350 was generally an easy starter due to being direct fuel injected. All the commercial models were so there was usually little technique required. The carbureted engines of both Wrights and P&W could be something else, particularly in cold weather.
On the direct injected engines it was usually not necessary to use the primer as the injection nozzles were spraying the fuel directly into the cylinder.
On carbureted engines the primer went into the blower section and the fuel had to travel a distance through the induction pipes to get to where the fire was supposed to be. Over-priming could result in raw fuel from the exhaust stacks and blower drain and a little backfire would light it off. Experience would tell you if it were necessary to use the ground fire extinguisher for if the engine caught it and ran it would blow the fire out. Fuel pooling on the ground though could make an impressive blaze. Starting a carbureted engine in very cold weather was an art and we (maintenance), sometimes had to go upstairs and assist some of our customers who normally operated in the tropical regions. The induction vibrators used to tickle the magnetos for greater output on starting would often burn out from too much use as did starters. Worst of all was opening the throttle to try to "catch" and engine on startup would caused the plugs in the cylinders to ice up. That meant a plug change or a long wait for ground heaters to warm things up.
Sticky solenoids on strarters and inverters that had stopped on a dead spot on their commutators did sometimes respond to malletizing. Plenty of same problems with the jets, pneumatic starter valves that wouldn't open.
All in all, the TC models required a lot of maintenance. The power recovery turbins (PRT) and the cooling caps cracked a lot. The blades on the PRT were extremely brittle and a little mishandling could easily damage a turbine requiring a change. Changing a Nbr. 2 released a flood of oil on top of you. Lots of cylinder cracking too. The exhaust pipes wore out at joints. We had a lot of ignition distributor changes too and there was a long period of trying different spark plugs before the right ones came along.
It was necessary to inspect the oil screens regularly and too many shiny particles or chips or even chunks signaled an internal failure and an engine change. The big Wright's were also great sludge producers, particularly the BA series and it collected in the prop domes. These had to be regularly de-sludged.
All in all, working those engines was a dirty, hard job and as a youngster I loved it.

[Bergerie1]

Back in the late 1960s, when I was flying VC10s, I had a long slip in Lima with several days off. I had wanted to take the train up into the Andes, but heavy rain had caused a landslide which had blocked the track. So, instead, I wandered down to the Trans-Peruana airline's office and asked to hitch a ride over the Andes to Iquitos.

I wanted to do this because they were flying ex-BOAC 049 Connies. The first leg was (and I kid you not) between the peaks of the Andes to Pucallpa where we landed on what looked like a bumpy country road amongst the trees. It was immediately filled after we landed with people, donkeys, dogs and chickens. When we set off again, these were chased off the runway by a man in a car and we set off for Iquitos on the upper Amazon.

But I do admit to having a few second thoughts when I saw how run down the aircraft looked and, again, when the captain pulled out an Esso road map from which he seemed to be navigating! However, a marvelous ride with all those lovely engine noises and clouds of smoke when starting up.

[Stanwell]

Thanks tonytales for your valuable insight.
Ta also to Bergerie for the mind-picture you conjured up. :ok:

[Spooky 2]

I was flying co pilot on the 1049H at Tigers back in 1965. My first trip was a pax configured charter from KEWR to KONT. The airplane was former KLM Connie that Tigers had acquired from KLM. It crashed many years later down in Mesa, AZ after Tigers had sold it.

The clearance from EWER was to cross a fix somewhere in Pennsylvania at 10,000. The Captain looked over at me said something to the effect that we would not be able to make that crossing restriction. At the time the east cost of the US might as well have been the backside of the moon to me. I conveyed the Capts thoughts and the controller said, "standby". A minute or two later he came back with a new clearance and said we were to cross Kansas City at or above 10,000. I laughed of course since KC is half way across the United States.

[tonytales]

Did the Connies have any feel system, and if so was it Q-feel?
Chris Scott

Sorry I missed that point in you post. No, there was no Q-feel on the Constellation boost system. If I remember correctly it was just springs, but, its been a long time. I know pilots always like the "feel"" of flying the Connies. The whole flight control boost system, except for continual leakage particularly from the rudder system, gave little trouble.
The flight control boost system was little changed too from the first L-49 series to the last of the L-1049's. The system operated at 1700-psi so required volumes of fluid to move things. Four engine driven variable displacement hydraulic pumps were fitted but no electric aux pump. A hand pump to the right of the F/O could pump up the brakes or lower the nose gear. There was provision for fitting a hand crank to the flap drive back in the cabin floor and I contest that no one would ever try to get full flaps down using it. Lots and lots of turns. One peculiarity that maintenance had to live with was the fittings on the tubing. Right to the last L-1049 there were still some AC (Army Air Corp) flared fittings. There were a lot of the later AN (Army Navy) fittings mixed in on the L-1049's. They looked similar but loss of an AC fitting caused problems as they were scarce.
The L-1649 Starliner with its elegant long wing had a 3000-psi hydraulic system with a some of its features coming from the then oncoming Electra.