Constellation pilots/passengers
 

Hi,

I am making a website dedicated to the Lockheed Constellation, specifically on the Dutch West Indies route Amsterdam - Curacao in the late '40s and early '50s. Has anyone here ever flown that route, either as pilot or as passenger on the Connie? If so I would love to hear about your experiences, and I would be honored if I may publish your recount on my humble website.

If you wish to see my site please send me a PM, and I will send you the link. I don't want to post a link here yet because the site is still under construction. When it's finished, I will edit this post and place a link.

Thank you in advance!

Regards,

Sander.

Too young to have done it, but I have plenty of timetables from the period.

Here's Summer 1952. 3 times a week by Constellation via Montreal and twice a week by DC-6 via Dakar. KL655/6 was the only tourist configuration schedule ("Cosmopolitan class"), and by its slightly slower times was possibly an L-749 rather than a L-1049.

WHBM,
That is a great reply, and just goes to show how spoil we are today, as with 5 sectors for AMS--Curacaco a passenger had to be pretty tough, especially if that trip was made in the middle of winter or perhaps this was the summer only schedule

Wow WHBM, thank you! I've been looking for these schedules as well. I've asked our local aviation museum (Aviodrome) about the route too and they've also provided me with some information about it, but not like the timetables that you've posted.
Would you also have the timetable for the winter route which they would have flown around these months? I know it should be more southern, via Santa Maria (Azores) and Sydney (Nova Scotia) or via Lisbon, Dakar, Natal and Paramaribo, although this last route was usually flown with a DC4 in the late 40's.

Regards,

Sander.

Bleriot :

I'll stick some more on in the next few days. Certainly got 1947, 1949 and 1956 as well on the bookshelves from the prop days, even some prewar ones with KLM doing Amsterdam to Batavia (now Jakarta) in a DC-3 with about 20 stops ! They are worldwide ABC timetables so can do any carrier you like.

I noticed in 1952 that Pan Am had more flights through Curacao than KLM.

I've always collected summer, given a choice. In those days the schedules were much more extensive in summer than winter.

As promised, for the 1946 (sorry,my mistake, not 1947) and 1949. I'll post the 1956 when I have a little more time, it's a bit more complex !

1946, just 12 months after the end of WW2, is inevitable a bit thin. I look forward to the website to discover the aircraft type, but I'm guessing a DC-4.

No Curacao route via North Atlantic at this time. Only other KLM transatlantic route was twice-weekly Amsterdam – Prestwick – Gander – New York La Guardia (yes, Idlewild [now JFK] not open yet) at this time so possibly Curacao route in 1946 was only weekly, maybe even less.

1949 shows the mid-Atlantic route losing it's dominance, it will come back by 1956 to be the prime route. Notable how this route seemed to get into the DC-6, with sleeper bunks, from the beginning, while the Northern route always seemed to be a Connie route.

This is awesome stuff! Thank you :D

Would it be ok if I publish some of these time tables on my site?

The aircraft type on my site is the Connie.

I got some information back from the Aviodrome (our Aviation Museum) and they sent me a schedule including the aircraft registration and the names of the captains on those flights. I'll be visiting the museum soon, to take pictures of the Schiphol terminal they have built. No not on scale, they re-built the actual thing. As soon as you enter the doors, you find yourself transported back into the 50s!
I will post my pics here when I have them.

Thank you!

Sander.