Great news regarding the passenger doors, C17. She's going to look fantastic as no expense seems to be being spared on this superb project. :ok:

L1649

C17age,

Please keep the updates coming - we do care and many good people are really impressed with the enthusiastic team and the enthusiastic airline that owns her, Lufthansa.

Saman

Lufthansa-Connie-Restaurierung: Motoren der Super Star werden überholt - Klassiker der Luftfahrt

Another update on Klassiker. They refurb six engines using plenty of new parts!
And flight crews got german CAA-qualified (LBA) on the Breitling connie this september.

Some update on this beautiful bird
 

The assessment of the stripped airplane is almost finished right now. Next spring they will start the restoration itself. Till then they source parts and get the documentation right.

German source with pics from the hangar:
Lufthansa Super Star: Befundung abgeschlossen - Klassiker der Luftfahrt

Lufthansa Starliner project
 

Couldn't agree more with comments re BA and Lufthansa's contrasting attitudes to their heritage. The destruction of the Argonaut at LHR was particularly distressing and the abandonment of the BA collection at Cosford unforgiveable. I will make every effort I can in future to fly Lufthansa whenever possible.

1649A on the Auburn/Lewiston ramp

Appears to be sans R3350s.

Any chance of an update on the progress of this fantastic project? I can't seem to find any news on the Lufthansa Technik site.

@L1649: Try here:

Fast 500 Jahre geballtes Technik-Know-how | Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung

Thanks for the link.

@C17age
 

So now that they have 40 mechanics and 10 engineers working on the hanger queen, what kind of time frame are they looking at for first flight?

Please keep us updated on progress . It will be nice to see this Connie a unique model back in the air. It takes an awful amount of work and dedication to achieve this .

Number 3 Engine Running
 

Here a link with some progress reports and the number 3 engine test at Anderson.

Super Star news - Lufthansa Technik AG

Try this too


3sat.online - Mediathek: Restaurierung einer Luftfahrtlegende

That's a great film. They say it's going to cross the Atlantic with passengers, and that it used to take 15 hrs for Hamburg-New York. They said the "Start" was at the latest in 2014. "Start" usually means take-off, and it definitely doesn't mean first flight, so I don't think I quite understood that sentence.

Interesting film. Good to see that there are still lots of crazy people in the world. That is, the ones with the big money give it to the ones who have a dream. In the process, lots of people are employed. :ok:

But I have to say, in the nicest terms, that looking at a seriously broken Connie and saying, "We can make this fly" must class people as crazy!:}

Thank god for crazy people then...

And all credit to Lufthansa for having the devotion to this project and attending to it with the German attention to detail and thoroughness that they are famous for and that a machine as beautiful as this deserves.

Right at the tail-end of piston-engine technology the complexity of the machinery is amazing. That it was all conceived by slide-rules and forges without anything like CAD and laser cutting precision tool etc is even more astounding.

If only more purely profit-driven airlines and even manufacturers (i.e. CEO's demanding exorbitant paychecks) had the foresight to tackle such projects.

Other projects worthy of attention:
Boeing 747 s/n 001 N747001 (currently languishing and falling to pieces in Seattle).
Caravelle resplendent in the livery of one of the many European operators
A300B1 or B2 early series painted in early Airbus Industrie livery

Lufthansa Starliner Project-- Slow go or no?
 

Saw this on the Connie Survivors page.

Hope Lufthansa doesn't decide to cancel the Starliner project. Looks like it is ready to put all the parts back together.

Constellation News