Breitling Super Constellation HB-RSC grounded

[stripakis]

This beautiful bird has been grounded for 2017.

Here is the link to SCFA and the details:

SCFA - 2017-06-01 - Connie grounded for the remainder of 2017 (http://superconstellation.org/index.php/en/news-en/674-2017-06-01)

[Wander00]

That's sad. I used to go with my Dad to Colnbrook on a Saturday morning when he went to his employers for a sales meeting. I was about 8 or 9 and used to stand outside under the Heathrow approach, watching the Connies, DC6s etc quite low on their approach. Never forget the rumble of those big round engines.....

[Discorde]

Those Wright turbo-compounds had a distinctive 'crackle' when throttled back to approach power. So even stuck indoors in a school classroom (four miles from the 28L threshold) we could identify Super Connies flying over. Can't remember if the DC7Cs emitted the same timbre (they had the same engines). Playing footie in the Old Deer Park the game would have to stop if a Connie was extending its gear - that beautiful long nosewheel leg emerging into the slipstream was a sight to behold.

Other types identified by engine timbre:

Darts = Viscount
Centaurus = Lizzie
Merlins = Argonaut or York
Jet = Comet 2 or prototype Caravelle or Tu104

A repost of an incident I remember from schooldays:

One spring morning in 1958, during break, we spotters in the playground identified a distant approaching aircraft as either DC4 or Argonaut (the airframes were virtually identical). Unusually it was flying much lower than normal. As it got closer the narrow frontal area of its engine nacelles told us ‘Argonaut’ and soon the growl of Merlins confirmed the identity. By now, other children were taking interest. The noise of kids at play gradually subsided as one by one they stopped their games and stood rooted to the spot watching the BOAC aircraft roar past, the eyes of a couple of hundred temporarily silent and motionless children following its progress. I estimated that its height was about 500 feet. The aircraft did not appear to be in trouble. All four props were turning and it was not descending. I noted the registration, of course, but sadly this snippet of data has since escaped my memory. We all watched as the aircraft sedately flew on towards Heathrow and gradually the other children lost interest and resumed their playground activities.

There was no subsequent reference to the incident in any of the media and I wonder if perhaps the crew of the Argo were just having a bit of fun. In those days Captains had more latitude about how they flew their aircraft. A repeat performance today would probably result in a no-biscuit interview of the crew by their managers.

Hope they manage to get 'SC flying again.