Lockheed Constellation - Survivors

Survivors

Commercial

• The Breitling Super Constellation: Swiss watch manufacturer Breitling sponsored a restoration of a C-121C Super Constellation, registration N73544, that is based in Basel and has since been featured in its advertisements. This plane is now registered in the Swiss Aircraft registry as HB-RSC.

• The Camarillo, California, Super Constellation: in flyable condition since 1994, has been flown a limited airshow schedule to very receptive crowds. With ongoing refurbishing, they hope to increase the number of airshows they can attend every year.

• The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) secured and restored a former USAF C-121C Super Constellation (54-0157). The aircraft was subsequently painted in pseudo-Qantas livery (with the usual Qantas lettering along the fuselage replaced with the word "CONNIE") and registered in Australia as VH-EAG. The aircraft is currently based in Wollongong. This Constellation is one of two flying in the world.

• An L-1049H Constellation that was built originally in 1957, stored for several years, and then delivered to cargo carrier Slick Airways was restored in 1986 by the Save-a-Connie, Inc. organization in Kansas City, Missouri, now known as the Airline History Museum. Originally painted in red and white with Save-a-Connie it was later repainted in the 1950s livery of TWA to resemble its original "Star of America" Constellation. The aircraft appeared at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at the original TWA terminal designed by Eero Saarinen to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the airline with the paint job donated by TWA in Kansas City for the occasion. The "Star of America" has appeared at many airshows and was even used in The Aviator, the 2004 film depicting the life of TWA's one-time owner Howard Hughes, the man often credited with helping design and develop the original Constellation series. After being grounded for the past few years, Star of America is currently being returned to airworthiness and is expected to appear at 2009 air shows.

• A L-1049G Super-Constellation in Lufthansa livery and with historic D-ALEM call letters is on display on the Munich International Airport, Munich, Germany, representing Lufthansa's first long-haul aircraft of 1955.

• One Super Constellation is parked on an unused runway in the Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. It was struck by a runaway DC-4 at Aguadilla-Borinquen Airport, on February 3, 1992, resulting in damage to the right wing and main spar.

• ZS-DVJ c/n 1042 (L-1649A) of Trek Airways on display at OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa at the South African Airways Technical area. The aircraft is owned by the South African Airways Museum Society.

• The Dutch National Aviation museum Aviodrome acquired a VC-121A Constellation. It was restored to airworthy condition and ferried from Tucson, AZ to the Netherlands, where restoration continued. It is now painted in the KLM livery of the 1950s, depicting a KLM Lockheed L-749A. Thanks to a donation by Korean Air, who donated two airworthy engines, this aircraft is scheduled to be flying again in the summer of 2009. Renamed Flevoland, this is the only flying example of the "short" version of the Constellation.

• HL4003 of former Korean National Airlines is displayed in Jeongseok Airport in Jeju island, South Korea. The current owner, Korean Air, keeps this aircraft in an airworthy state, and the aircraft flew under its own power from Seoul to its current location.

• N7777G is displayed in TWA colors (although this aircraft never flew for TWA) at the Large Item Storage facility for the UK Science Museum at Wroughton, near Swindon. This aircraft was used by the Rolling Stones to transport equipment during their 1973 Australian tour. It is the only UK Constellation and is viewable on certain open days.

• L-049 c/n 2072, federal registration N9412H (delivered as Air France's first Constellation in June 1946 as L-049 F-BAZA) is parked adjacent to a flight school and cafe at Greenwood Lake Airport in West Milford, New Jersey. It was sold to Frank Lembo Enterprises in May 1976 for $45,000 for use as a restaurant and lounge, and flown in to the airport in July 1977. It was sold to the State of New Jersey along with the airport in 2000, and the interior was refurbished and used as a flight school office in 2005.

• Two L-1649A Super Stars N7316C c/n 1018 and N8083H c/n 1038 (both ex-Alaska Airlines) are parked on private land next to the Lewiston-Auburn Municipal Airport in Auburn, Maine. The two aircraft were purchased at auction by the Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Foundation. Lufthansa Technik North America has built a hangar at the airport, which will used to overhaul N7316C to airworthy condition. The target date for completion of the overhaul is October 10, 2010.

• L-049 c/o 1970, N90831, ex-TWA, former C-69, s/n 42-94549 is displayed in outdoor exhibit at Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona.

• L-049 c/o 2071, ex-KLM, ex-Capital Airlines, is in the museum Asas de um Sonho (Wings of a Dream), located in the TAM Airlines airfield, in Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil. Previously, it served as a children's attraction at the entrance of the Asuncion (Paraguay) International Airport.

• L-749 c/o 2503 is in the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (The Museum of Air and Space) located in Le Bourget Airport, 10 km north of Paris. Parked in museum storage area since 1975 in good condition with minimal corrosion. Ex-Pan American « Clipper America » del. 6 June 1947 reg. N C86520; to Aerovías Guest Mexico (XA-GOQ 01/1948), Air France from 01/1949 to 10/1960 as F-BAZR; CGTM (Compagnie Générale des Turbo-Machines) as F-ZVMV for use as flying engine test until December 1974.

• L-1049G Super Constellation - CF-TGE (c/n 4544) Is on display at the Museum of Flight in Tukwila, Washington with its original Trans-Canada Air Lines markings (the company that operated it from 1954 to 1960s). After TCA service, it was sold to World Wide Airways and later retired in Montreal by 1965. Renovated as a restaurant and bar in and around the Montreal area. Sold and moved again to Toronto and used as convention facility by the Regal Constellation Hotel. Sold again and stored at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Finally sold and restored in Rome, New York and shipped to the Museum of Flight.

• L-1049G c/n 4519 F-BGNJ, formerly a C version, delivered to Air France on November 2, 1953, is undergoing a complete restoration for static display by the Amicale du Super Constellation located in Nantes Airport. It was upgraded to a L-1049 G in 1956 and was operational until August 8, 1967, having totaled 24,284 hours under Air France's colors. After retirement, it was sent to Spain, to be registered EC-BEN, briefly flying humanitarian and medevac missions in Biafra. Aero Fret bought it in 1968, brought it back home to France, registered as F-BRAD and operated on cargo hauls until 1974. When the Constellation landed in Nantes one last time to be scrapped, it was ultimately saved by Mr. Gaborit, who revamped it somewhat by his own modest means to finally park it near the terminal, accessible to visitors for a few years, until the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Nantes-Atlantique Airport bought it, to contract the Amicale du Super Constellation to undergo a complete restoration of the old aircraft.

• A Lufthansa L-1049G Super Constellation serial number 1049G4604, registration D-ALIN, is on display at the Flugausstellung Hermeskeil, near Hermeskeil, Germany. This is the actual aircraft with which Konrad Adenauer flew to Moskow in 1955 to negotiate the release of German POWs.

• L-1649A Starliner, N974R (c/n 1040) is on static display in front of the "Fantasy of Flight" attraction in Lakeland, Florida.

• L-749 Constellation, N2520B, in Aerosur livery is on static display on the 1st ring road in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Known as "El Avion Pirata."

• N4247K c/n 4144 was impounded at Manila Airport, Philippines, by June 1988 and stored in deteriorating condition at the Manila Airport

Military

• Two Constellations, the VC-121E Columbine III (s/n 53-7885), used as Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential aircraft, and an EC-121 Warning Star (s/n 53-555) are fully restored and on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Columbine III was retired to the Museum in 1966, and is displayed in the Museum's Presidential gallery. The interior of the aircraft is open to the public. The EC-121 Warning Star is on display in the Museum's Modern Flight Gallery.

• C-121A serial number 48-0613 (Bataan) is on display at Planes of Fame in Valle, Arizona. This Constellation is in flying condition. According to the Museum's website, this aircraft was used as a personal transport by General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War, and later by other Army general officers until 1966, when it was retired and transferred to the U.S. space agency NASA. After its acquisition by Planes of Fame, it was restored to its original configuration with a "VIP interior."

• C-121C is on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center located at Dulles Airport in Virginia and this aircraft flew as an Air Force C-121C and is painted in the colors of the Air National Guard.

• EC-121A serial number 48-0614, markings 7167th Special Air Missions Squadron, Wiesbaden Air Base, Germany, 1951 - One of Dwight D. Eisenhower personal transports - displayed in outdoor exhibit at Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona.

• EC-121T, serial number 52-3425, is on display at the Peterson Air and Space Museum at Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously assigned to the 966th AEWCS at McCoy AFB, Florida and then the 79th AEWCS at Homestead AFB, Florida, it was the last operational EC-121 and was deployed by the 79th AEWCS to NAS Keflavik, Iceland. It was delivered to Peterson AFB in October 1978.

• EC-121T serial number 53-0554, with markings from the 79th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron, Homestead AFB, Florida, 1974 is displayed in the outdoor exhibit at Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona.

• RC-121D serial number 52-3418 (N4257U c/n 4336 federal registration) was delivered to the Air Force in October 1954. Then it was redesignated EC-121D 1962, converted to EC-121T but the upper radome was not removed. Reassigned to USAF Reserves at Homestead AFB, Florida by July 1974, it was retired and flown to Davis Monthan AFB for storage on April 7, 1976. Reassigned to the Combat Air Museum, Topeka, Kansas, on March 1981 as N4257U, the RC-121D was ferried to Topeka, Kansas, on June 1981 with Frank Lang in command.

• IN315, an Indian Navy L1049G (former Air India L1049E VT-DHM 'Rani of Ellora') Super Constellation is on display at the Naval Aviation Museum at Dabolim in Goa, India.