Alphasim Lockheed L-1049G Constellation

Throughout the 1950's, Lockheed was in a race with Douglas for the plane that was the fastest, most economical and had the longest range. Douglas started the race with the DC-4, but Lockheed countered with the L049, which was faster and was pressurized. The war surplus DC-4's were cheap, though, and Lockheed was handicapped by a provision in the TWA contract that it couldn't sell a Connie to a competing East-West airline for two years. The development of the larger, faster, and pressurized DC-6 lead Lockheed to introduce the next step in airliners, the Super Constellation. Stretched by over 18 feet and powered by Wright R-3350 radials (eventually Turbo-Compounds of 3400 hp each), the new Super Connie was faster and could fly higher than the DC-6. Of course, Douglas was not standing still, and American convinced him to produce the DC-7 with the Wright Turbo-Compound engines, and now the speed advantage belonged to Douglas. This convinced Lockheed to produce the most successful Connie, the L1049G "Super G".

Of course, TWA (which at 156 total Connies owned more than anyone except the US Navy) ordered the Super G and used them successfully in transcontinental and transatlantic service, and Eastern (also owning lots of Connies) ordered them too. In fact, 16 airlines ordered 102 Super G's, and these were followed by the L1049H, which could be rapidly converted between passenger and freight configurations. These planes were very popular with the flying public, but the engines were not as reliable as those of the DC-6, and the Super Connies were often sold after the jets had replaced them on the premium routes, although Eastern used them successfully in Shuttle service into the late 1960's. There are very few Super Connies left, although there are 4 flyable examples in this country (Save-A-Connie, Planes of Fame, Connie Hist. Soc., and Global Aero Foundation), as well as one in Australia.
( http://www.calclassic.com/sconnie.htm )

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