Facts about The Lockheed Constellation
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In 1957, Lockheed delivered the stretched L-1649A Starliner variant with a 150-foot fuselage extension, enabling nonstop flights between New York and Paris without refueling stops.
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Pressurized cabin failures forced TWA to retrofit early Lockheed Constellations with stronger fuselages after multiple near-disasters in 1946 and 1947.
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Airline captain Eddie Rickenbacker chose the Lockheed Constellation as Eastern Air Lines' flagship aircraft in 1946, inaugurating nonstop service between New York and Buenos Aires.
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Constellation aircraft served with the U.S. Navy and Air Force during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, transporting troops and cargo across the Pacific theater.
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Howard Hughes' XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft crashed in 1946 partly because he confused its design with the Lockheed Constellation's triple-tail configuration.
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Over 150 Lockheed Constellations were built between 1943 and 1950, serving commercial airlines worldwide and establishing the aircraft as a dominant long-range transport of the postwar aviation era.
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Pressurized cabins allowed Lockheed Constellation passengers to fly comfortably at 20,000 feet, a revolutionary feature when the aircraft entered service in 1943.
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Its distinctive triple tail design gave the Lockheed Constellation a 156-foot wingspan and made it the fastest commercial airliner of the 1940s.
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TWA's Lockheed Constellations could carry 64 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean in the 1950s, making transatlantic travel accessible to middle-class travelers for the first time.
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Powered by four Wright Cyclone engines, the Lockheed Constellation first flew in 1943 and cruised at 340 miles per hour.