Captain of The Ship: Lockheed

A2ASIMULATIONS
CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP
L-049
LOCKHEED
CONSTELLATION
L-049 CONSTELLATION
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L-049
LOCKHEED CONSTELLATION
CONTENTS
6 LOCKHEED L-049 CONSTELLATION
76 DEVELOPER’S NOTES
78 FEATURES
80 QUICKSTART GUIDE
82 ACCU-SIM AND THE L-049 CONSTELLATION
86 ACCU-SIM AND THE COMBUSTION ENGINE
92 PROPELLERS
96 CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP
104 2D PANELS
110 THE L-049 CONSTELLATION
122 FLIGHT OPERATIONS
136 OPERATING DATA
142 EMERGENCY OPERATIONS
146 CREDITS
4
5
LOCKHEED L-049
“CONSTELLATION”
By Mitchell Glicksman © 2016
6 A2ASIMULATIONS ::: L-049 CONSTELLATION www.a2asimulations.com
FOR SIMULATION USE ONLY

o, what is the most beautiful piston
S
engine airliner? Pose this question
amongst two or more aviation enthusi-
asts and you may be sure that a lively,
possibly heated discussion will ensue.
However, I would be quite surprised if
most, if not all, would ultimately agree
that the Lockheed “Constellation” was the most beautiful,
graceful if you prefer, or at least amongst the top two or
three.1 The “Connie,” as it was universally and affection-
ately called (much to the dismay of Eddie Rickenbacker of
WWI fame who, as the owner of Eastern Airlines, thought
the name to be too effeminate) was a spectacular and sin-
gular aeronautical design from the first rude sketch of
“Excalibur” to the last L-1649 “Starliner.”
Gathering many firsts and breaking many records in its
almost five decades-long useful lifetime, Constellation con-
sistently stands out from her sister airliners both visually
and functionally. Sadly, the many luminous stars embody-
ing this “Constellation” were ultimately eclipsed when at
their brightest by the urgent, inexorable force of progress
which saw the end of the age of the long-distance piston-
engine airliners and the birth of the big, jet-powered trans-
ports. This new era of air-transportation in the U.S. began
on 26 October 1958 when Pan American Airlines (Pan Am)
flew a Boeing 707 with 111 passengers from New York to
London. Soon, the jet-powered Douglas DC-8, Convair 880
and Sud Aviation “Caravelle” joined the 707 and long-range
piston airliners were through.
Even so, there are many, this writer amongst them, who
posit that even whilst swifter, no kerosene burning alumin-
ium tube has ever come close to matching Connie’s superb
1 Some astute aviation historians might claim the Republic XF-12

“Rainbow” to be most beautiful, and beautiful it certainly was; how-
ever, only two of them were built. One crashed and the survivor served solely
in the U.S. Air Force for a very short time. Although plans were made for
“Rainbow” to go into civilian service, it was never an airliner.
WRITER’S NOTE
The story of commercial aviation in the U.S. leading to Lockheed’s
inimitable L-049 Constellation takes us through the most
dynamic, creative and exciting years in aviation, 1927-1947. The
changes over these years in aeronautical concepts and design,
public awareness and acceptance of aviation, vast developments
in the piston engine as well as in metallurgy, aircraft structure
methods and materials, electronic and hydraulic systems, radios
for communication and navigation, etc. is greater than in any
other period of a similar length. There’s a great story to tell and I
hope that you will enjoy reading about it.
www.a2asimulations.com L-049 CONSTELLATION ::: A2ASIMULATIONS

7
LOCKHEED L-049 “CONSTELLATION”
A confident-looking Charles
Lindbergh standing in front of
Ryan NYP, “The Spirit of St. Louis”,
a redesigned 1926 Ryan M-2 mail-
plane powered by a 223 hp (166
kW) Wright Whirlwind J-5C radial
engine. In order to make room
for the extra fuel necessary for
the cross-atlantic flight from New
York to Paris and to maintain a
stable centre of gravity, fuel tanks
were built into what was formerly
the pilot’s and passengers’ areas
and the new pilot’s compartment
was located aft of them at the
trailing edge of the wing. Special
oil canisters were attached to the
engine to keep it well-oiled during
the flight.
grace and poise. Her story is full of ironies and surprises, of which won him the Orteig Prize of $25,000.00.
Geniuses, Presidents and Pioneers. You see, there once was Lindbergh’s purpose-built Ryan NYP carried 450 US gal-
this fabulously wealthy, incandescently brilliant, eccentric lons of gasoline (1,700 L; 370 imp. gal.) which weighed 2,710
movie mogul, aviator and airline owner who had an idea for pounds (1,230 kg), giving it an expected range of 4,000
an airplane... miles. Fuel was stored in five fuel tanks: three wing tanks
(153 US gallons total), the most forward fuselage tank (88
MODERN COMMERCIAL AIR- US gallons), and behind it the main fuselage tank (209 US
TRANSPORT ARISES IN THE U.S. gallons). The oil tank was placed behind the main fuselage
When discussing development of commercial aviation, there tank and served as a most questionable “firewall” for the
is a distinct break point separating the relatively primitive, cockpit. The fuel tanks in the forward fuselage completely
early days of single-engine, two or three passenger trans- blocked any kind of forward view for the pilot which was
port and the rising of the modern airliner. As it happens, only very slightly compensated for by a small, retractable
this break point is not only one of aviation’s but is also one periscope on the port side of the cockpit. Altogether this
of the world’s most significant events — the solo cross- aeroplane was surely a handful to fly even when moderately
atlantic flight of Charles A. Lindbergh2, 20-21 May 1927 loaded and must have been quite a bear when full.
Roughly dating photographs of the Spirit of Saint Louis as
2 I think it would be remiss not to make mention of some facts about

Charles Lindbergh that are quite unpleasant but true:
While Lindbergh had many Jewish friends, some of them influential and First,” urging U.S. non-intervention in the war against the Nazi’s in Europe
well-known, he and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh were held by many and wrote articles in popular publications stating these views on dozens of
people to be anti-Semites from the evidence of Lindbergh’s close asso- occasions including a speech at Madison Square Garden on 23 May 1941. Of
ciation with and open admiration for Nazis as early as 1935 and as late as the Jewish people he wrote, among many other similar things; “Their great-
September 1941; He was an admitted fervent and unrepentant supporter of est danger to this country (U.S.) lies in their large ownership and influence in
Adolph Hitler and the Nazis; He and Anne were the guests of Field Marshal our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.” and “There
Goering (Hitler’s “paladin”) and his wife at his home on numerous occa- are too many (Jews) in places like New York already. A few Jews add strength
sions; He accepted “The Service Cross of the German Eagle,” a Nazi medal in and character to a country, but too many create chaos.”; He was a friend of
October 1938; He advised the Luftwaffe and flight-tested numerous Luftwaffe Joseph P. Kennedy and a close consultant to Henry Ford, both notorious anti-
aircraft; As a leader of “America First,” a pro-Nazi organization in the U.S., Semites; Considered by President Franklin Roosevelt to be a Nazi, Lindbergh
Lindbergh strenuously opposed U.S. entry into WWII against the Nazi’s. was refused permission to serve in the U.S. armed forces during the war;
“America First” held that the Nazi’s were essentially preserving Europe for After WWII when revelations about the Holocaust came to light, Lindbergh
“the white race” and cleansing it of its surplus flotsam populations (Jews, still refused to change his favorable views about Hitler and the Nazis or to
Gypsies, colored minorities, homosexuals, etc.), that the U.S. should favour apologize for his former pro-Nazi activities. Sorry if this tarnishes anyone’s
the Nazi’s efforts in this regard and at least allow them to finish the job lofty opinion of Lindbergh, but despite his truly heroic flight, this is also who
without interference; He gave dozens of speeches as a leader of “America he was.

before or after the famous flight is facilitated by the spin- south from Old Country Road to a (then) golf course
ner. If it still has the decorative swirl-finished one, it is extending south to the then “Long Island Motor
before the flight as that spinner cracked during an engine Parkway,” today’s “Stewart Avenue.”
run-up a few days before the take off. That damaged spin- In 1929 the entire property containing both airfields
ner was replaced by a smooth spinner that Glenn Curtiss was sold, Curtiss Field becoming “Roosevelt Field
had his on-site factory make for the “Spirit” which he gen- Unit 2” , and the larger airfield to the east becoming
erously gave to Lindbergh for the flight. Curtiss’ replace- ‘Roosevelt Field Unit 1.” In 1936 the eastern and
ment spinner is still attached to “Spirit” as can be seen in larger part of Roosevelt Field (Unit 1) was sold so
photographs of it hanging in the atrium of the National Air that Roosevelt Raceway (now sadly gone since 1988)
and Space Museum in Washington, DC. (See below) could be constructed on that property. Today’s
Due to much that was untold in Lindbergh’s own two- shopping mall at Roosevelt Field is located on the
book account of his life and the famous flight (the hurriedly most western and northern part of what was Curtiss
penned “We” in 1927 and the far better, 1954 Pulitzer prize Field and extends southward to Stewart Avenue.
winner, “Spirit of St. Louis” in 1953) and in an entertaining
but incomplete, fictionalized and often misleading 1957 film 4. Lindbergh stored and maintained the “Spirit” in a
starring Jimmy Stewart based on the later book, some of hangar at Curtiss Field, donated to him by Curtiss.
what many people have come to believe about Lindbergh’s He kept the “Spirit” there for ten days and flew
preparation for his flight is not exactly as it happened. at least six short test flights from Curtiss Field’s
Carefully researched sources including the meticulously 3,000’ east-west sod runway from which he
written Pulitzer Prize winning biography, “Lindbergh” by initially intended to take off on his flight to Paris.
A. Scott Berg, put a few things right:
5. Admiral Richard E. Byrd was also in the running
1. Lindbergh began his flight to New York on 10 May to be the first across the Atlantic from New York
1927 from U.S. Army Air Corps airbase, Rockwell to Paris and thus winning the Orteig Prize, but his
Field, North Island, San Diego, California and broke Fokker C-2 Tri-motor crashed on a heavy takeoff
the non-stop long-distance record to Lambert test flight at Hasborough, New Jersey on 16 April,
Field, St. Louis, Missouri, flying 1,564 miles in 1927. As Byrd’s Chief pilot, Floyd Bennett, was
fourteen hours and twenty-five minutes. injured in the crash and would require weeks of
hospitalization, the flight was postponed until a
2. He left Lambert Field the next morning (11 May) and replacement could be found. While Byrd waited, he
landed, not at Roosevelt Field, but at Curtiss field, very graciously offered the use of his 5,000’ packed
Mineola, NY , 7 hours and 22 minutes later, breaking clay runway at Roosevelt Field to Lindbergh for
the transcontinental flight record by making the his takeoff, which Lindbergh readily accepted.
crossing in less than twenty-two flight hours.
6. While hangered at Curtiss Field, Ed Mulligan,
3. Curtiss Field was privately owned by Glenn Curtiss one of Lindbergh’s mechanics noticed a crack
who had a factory on its southern boundary and who in “Spirit’s” beautifully swirl-finished spinner.
owned a number of other airfields on Long Island, Glenn Curtiss had his factory, located on the field
N.Y., including one where the “Green Acres Shopping make a new one, but did not swirl-finish it. It
Mall,” Valley Stream, NY is currently located. Curtiss was fitted to “Spirit’s nose” a few days before the
Field, located in what was then Mineola, NY (now East Paris flight and it remains there to this day.
Garden City) was located adjacent and to the west
of the U.S. Army Air Service airbase originally called 7. On 13 May Lindbergh’s mother, Evangeline, surprised
“Hazelhurst Aviation Field No. 1 until 1920 when it him with a wire that she would be coming to Garden
was sold to civilian owners and re-named “Roosevelt City for a visit on Saturday, 14 May. Friends report
Field.” that his publication suitable sentiment regarding
If you want to locate the Curtiss and Roosevelt his mother’s visit was “Good Lord!” She had taken
Fields of 1927 on a modern map: Both Curtiss and the train to Garden City, N.Y. near Curtiss Field, and
Roosevelt Fields’ were in what is today East Garden stayed for part of one day. Charles’s mother watched
City, NY, south of today’s Mineola. Their northern him do two reassuring test flights that day, after
boundaries were at the east-west running Old Country which her son took her for a meal in Hempstead
Road. Roosevelt Field’s eastern boundary was Merrick and then happily and promptly drove her back to
Avenue, where the telephone lines were (are) strung the Garden City train station for her return trip. She
that Lindbergh cleared by only twenty feet. Curtiss had refused to allow photographers take a picture of
Field’s western boundary was Clinton Road and its her kissing him goodbye although faked composite
eastern boundary was 3,000’ due east from there. photos of them in such a pose do exist. (Yes, this
Curtiss Field’s southern boundary was 1,300’ due was commonly done even before “Photoshop”)

9
8. At dawn on 20 May 1927, the partially fuelled “Spirit’ 1 1 . All exterior shots of “Roosevelt Field’ in the film
was lashed to a truck and most carefully towed were taken at Zahn’s Airport in North Amityville,
down a steep embankment separating Curtiss and NY, gone since 1980. It was one of the last of
Roosevelt Fields to Roosevelt Field and its 5,000’ the 1920-30’s type of airport and needed almost
hard-packed clay runway. Lindbergh took off from no alterations to pass for the real thing.
this East/Southeast runway, using almost all of
it and barely clearing the telephone lines strung Lindbergh’s solo flight to Paris is far more than an
along Merrick Road on the easternmost boundary of important aviation record. It represents in reality the age-
Roosevelt Field. Lindbergh did not snag a telephone old, beloved fable of the unconquerable spirit and courage of
wire as dramatically but fictionally depicted in a single human being attempting an impossible task. More,
the film, “Spirit of St. Louis.” Had Lindbergh it was a worldwide cultural quantum leap into the modern
tried to take off from the 3,000’ sod runway at mindset that all parts of the planet are intrinsically con-
Curtiss Field, he surely would have crashed at nected and easily accessible. However, Lindbergh was not
the embankment at its end and died in the fiery the first to fly across the Atlantic.
explosion of the 2,750 pounds of fuel on board. U.S. Navy-Curtiss seaplanes NC-1, NC-3, NC-4 began a
crossing of the Atlantic between 8 and 31 May 1919. The
9. Hundreds of people witnessed Lindbergh’s takeoff not route planned was from the Naval Air Station at Rockaway
the few seen in the film. No one gave him a makeup Beach, New York to Newfoundland, then on to the Azores
mirror before the flight, but a school teacher did and to Portugal, ending the flight in Plymouth, England.
hand him a St. Christopher’s medal on a chain which The flight took 24 days, with six stops. Fifty-three ships
he put in his pocket without looking at it. It wasn’t spread out across the Atlantic transmitted radio signals to
put in the bag with the sandwiches by his friend give the aircraft points by which they could navigate. Only
as in the film. Not an important matter, perhaps, NC-4 made it all the way across, the other two aircraft being
but why not portray these things as they really damaged or incapacitated at various points along the route.
happened? Beware of Hollywood’s “history lessons.” The first non-stop flight across the Atlantic took place
only fifteen days later on 14-15 July 1919. Ex-Royal Flying
1 0 . A two-seat Curtiss Oriole with a photographer Corps (RFC) aviators William Alcock and Arthur Whitten
on board took off behind Lindbergh, followed Brown flying a much modified two-engine British Vickers
along side of ‘Spirit” as far as the Long “Vimy” bomber took off from Lester’s Field, St. John's,
Island Sound and then turned back. Newfoundland, Canada and after a flight of 16 hours, 12
This how the “Spirit” looks today

hanging in the National Air and
Space Museum on the Great Mall in
Washington D.C. It is in its original
condition as it was when it returned
to the U.S. after multiple international
tours, thus the many nations’ flags on
the cowl. Note the plain aluminium
spinner that Glen Curtiss made for
Lindbergh when it was discovered
that the original swirl-finish spinner
had cracked a few days before the
Paris flight. The original aluminium
swirl-finish nose panels have naturally
oxidized to a yellow/gold color over
time and the Museum has wisely
decided not to try to clean them as they
are quite thin and likely very brittle
and fragile by now. Also such would be
dangerous regarding the preservation
of the original painted markings, etc.

minutes, “landed” in a bog near Clifden, Ireland. This won
them the British newspaper, Daily Mail’s prize of 10,000
pounds sterling (about $1.3 million in 2016) to the first
aviator(s) to cross the Atlantic. They were also knighted by
King George V.
In the U.S. in the 1920’s, a person could travel long dis-
tances faster by rail than by aeroplane but that would soon
change in the coming decade. Even though it was not the
first flight across the Atlantic, (See above) the Lindbergh
flight single-handedly shattered the previously, commonly
held conception that aviation was limited to short, land-
based operations and that the planet’s continents were only
reachable by ship. Suddenly, from a rather parochial, curi-
ous, but not really practical means of transportation for
ordinary people (i.e., those who are not carnival daredevils),
the entire world, with no limits, was now ripe and ready for
everyone to explore and visit by air.
Lindbergh’s flight was also about more than the practi- Boeing Model 40B-2, its pilot and its four valiant, progressive passengers.
cal matter of a new means of travel. The U.S. and people Photo circa 1929.
all over the World became enamoured, even fascinated with

the romantic lure of the skies. The aeroplane, an invention
then only twenty-four years old, was now seen to be an after the war. Whilst commercial air travel was burgeon-
unlimited and serious scientific advance. This sudden tec- ing in Europe in the 1920’s and ‘30’s, particularly with the
tonic shift cannot, I think, be quite imagined today when formation of the first airline, KLM, in Holland in 1919 and
we are so accustomed to “miraculous” technological break- Deutsche Luft Hansa (now known as Lufthansa) in Germany
throughs announced almost every week, any one of which in 1926, the progress of commercial air travel was consider-
would have been entirely unimaginable and would have ably slower in the U.S. during this period as well.
seemed like magic in the 1920’s. That single flight not only
changed the way people thought about aviation but about BOEING’S FIRST AIRLINER
the world and its geography, other countries, other cultures, The first US airliner of sorts is generally considered to be
other people, politics, science, technology, business ... and Boeing’s Model 40. It was introduced in mid-1927 as a
war. Wall Street investors saw a new popular and potentially civilian air-mail carrier in accordance with the Air Mail Act
lucrative industry emerge and jumped into it with both feet. (Kelly Act) of 1925 which gradually privatized the U.S. Post
Suddenly, the world became much smaller and suddenly Office’s air mail service. Soon Model 40A was redesigned
European and Asian social and political matters were not with a more powerful engine, a strengthened fuselage and
quite such remote and distant things. provision for two passengers ride along with the mail in
The combination of Lindbergh-inspired aviation zeal and the forward enclosed part of the fuselage. This arrange-
lots of money were the white hot flames that forged modern ment proved to be popular so in May 1928 Boeing intro-
commercial aviation in the U.S. Accordingly, modern com- duced Model 40C which had and provision for four passen-
mercial aviation as we know it can be thought of as “BL” gers in the enclosed cabin. Soon afterwards Model 40B-4
(Before Lindbergh) and “AL” (After Lindbergh). which had a 525 hp. (391 kW) Pratt & Whitney Hornet radial
However, just as aviation was slow to develop in the U.S. engine was introduced. This model remained in production
before WWI3, commercial aviation remained so in the U.S. and commercial use until February 1932.
THE FIRST U.S. LONG-DISTANCE AIRLINER

3 The four prolonged Federal patent lawsuits by the Wright Brothers begin-
ning in 1909 against Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Augustus Herring,
which were not finally decided upon final appeal until 13 January 1914 (Wright
The next progression in airliner design was both a great
advance for commercial air travel but was also a throwback
v. Herring-Curtiss. [Wright IV], 21 1 F.654; 1914 U.S. App LEXIS 1776. {C.C.A.
2d 1914}) is commonly believed to be and is often cited as the reason why to the WWI era. In 1925 Anthony Fokker, the same Fokker
advances in aviation were made difficult to impossible in the United States who had led his company to produce numerous fighters for
during that five-year period. However, a good argument with copious sup-
porting evidence can and has been made by U.S. Patent Law experts Ron D.
Katznelson and John Howells that the Wright v. Herring-Curtiss patent war royalty, obtain a licence for use of the patent-protected products of each
as the reason for the suppression of U.S. aviation development is a myth that other. It is argued that this mostly favoured the U.S. government which was
was deliberately promulgated by officials of the U.S. government at the time the main and largest U.S. purchaser of aircraft before WWI and which could
to convince Congress to pass laws creating Federal Eminent Domain con- then purchase aircraft and aviation technology for very low prices. This plan
demnation over many aircraft patents, including and specifically the original was additionally and substantially fuelled by the firm belief of many in the
and valuable Wright Brothers’ patents. Further, that these officials used the U.S. government that no person(s) or company(s) should “Own the Sky” as
threat of Federal Eminent Domain condemnation (which was never actu- was the Wright Brother’s apparent goal. In preventing that from taking place,
ally ordered) to convince major aviation patent holders to accept depressed the government’s plan was highly successful. Meanwhile, evidence exists to
royalties from their patents and to induce them to enter a cross-licensing show that aviation patents and designs actually flourished in the U.S. before
patent pool whereby each patent holder could, upon payment of a depressed WWI., although certainly not to as large an extent as those in Europe.

11
1928 Fokker F. 10A, was an improved and more

powerful F.10. It had three 425 hp Pratt and
Whitney Wasp C radial engines and carried up
the Central Powers in WWI (including to twelve passengers, but only eight well-to- do Fokker continued to improve the
the excellent Fokker D.VII, considered by looking passengers appear to be about to board F.VIIA/3M and in 1926 the twelve-pas-
many to be the finest fighter aeroplane when this photograph was taken. Note the thick, senger F.10 Tri-Motor went into regu-
cantilever, plywood-covered wing, the drag-
of the war) became aware that a compe- producing, exposed engines and the W.W.I Fokker lar airline service in the U.S., sixty-five
tition called “The National Air Tour for fighter-style fin and rudder. being built. For the first time truly long-
the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy,” distance commercial air travel routes
more commonly known as “The First Ford Reliability Tour” were established in the U.S. Fokkers’ timing in developing
was going to be held at Ford Airfield in Dearborn, Michigan this aeroplane could not have been better and in the follow-
from 28 September to 4 October 1925. It was to be a long ing year, immediately after Lindbergh’s flight, the airline
distance aerial race, the course covering over 1,900 miles business as well as Fokker’s began to boom.
with stops in 10 cities. Whilst F.10’s thick wing permitted it to carry sufficient
In 1924 Fokker had produced a successful single-engine, fuel to travel 795 statute miles, it also created a good deal
seven-passenger airliner, F.VII, for the Dutch airline KLM. of parasite drag. This thick wing and all of the other myriad
It was designed by Walter Rethel who would go on in the drag-producing items that hung out in the oncoming wind
1930’s to design aircraft for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke A G, gave F.10 a top cruise airspeed of only 120 mph. However,
the aircraft company owned by aeronautical engineer Willy the thick wing also gave F.10 excellent slow speed charac-
Messerschmitt. It was Rethel who later chiefly designed the teristics, permitting it to operate in and out of the hundreds
Messerschmitt BF (later ME)-109 fighter. of small, grass airfields that serviced medium and small
Fokker wanted his aeroplane to win the 1925 Ford Tour towns across the U.S. In 1928, U.S. civil airports with paved
very badly, not so much for the prize money, but to favor- runways of even moderate length still remained quite rare.
ably establish his company and his aircraft in the U.S. He The Fokker F.10 and the more powerful F.10A established
quickly put to work his trusty old head designer, Reinhold Fokker in the U.S. alongside a larger fleet of Ford 4-A and
Platz, who had designed many of Fokker’s WWI fighters, 5-AT Tri-Motors. All went well until 31 March 1931 when
including, some say (and others dispute), the exceptional Trans World Airlines (TWA) Fokker F.10, Flight 599 from
D.VII, modifying Rethel’s existing single-engine Fokker Kansas City, Missouri to Los Angeles, California crashed a
F.VII into the three-engine Fokker F.VIIA/3M. When it was few miles southwest of Bazaar, Kansas. All eight on board
completed it was purchased by Henry Ford and shipped to were killed, including Knute Rockne, the revered and
the U.S. in time to enter the competition. beloved coach of the University of Notre Dame football team.
Similar to the single-engine F.VII before it, Fokker Whilst Fokker and its investors tried to blame the acci-
F.VIIA/3M Tri-Motor was powered by three 200 hp. Wright dent on a passing thunderstorm, meteorological readings
Whirlwind radial engines, had a fabric-covered, steel tube for that day, time and place indicate that no such weather
fuselage and a cantilever (no supporting struts), plywood- anomaly existed. After inspection of the crashed aeroplane
skinned wooden framed wing, the same structural formula the cause of the crash became widely accepted to be cata-
that had been used by Fokker during WWI, and which was strophic structural wing failure.
continued thereafter. Antiquated as F.VIIA/3M was, it won As said, the wing of F.10 is made of laminated plywood
the Ford Tour. covering a wooden structure. It was found that moisture

had seeped through the plywood and into the interior of one other aircraft manufacturers, particularly those who made
wing which gradually attacked the glue bonding the wing’s all-metal aeroplanes. As it happened, there was another
structure. This caused the wing’s spar to give way, causing aeroplane ready to fly and perfectly suitable for the job.
severe wing flutter at first and then the wing’s detachment.
The startling death of Knute Rockne created grave doubts FORD – AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURER
about the safety of commercial air travel. National public The Stout Metal Airplane Company was founded by William
outcry caused The Aeronautics Branch of the U.S. Department Bushnell Stout in 1922 and was located on Ford Airfield
of Commerce, forerunner once removed of today’s FAA, to which Stout and Henry Ford had built. Thereafter, Stout
take immediate action. All Fokker Tri-motor aircraft were designed and built the single-engine Stout 2-AT “Pullman”
grounded pending further action. It was determined that which was a reasonably well-flying and performing air-
thereafter they would be required to undergo frequent and plane. Henry Ford, who had always had a great interest in
rigorous inspections and maintenance of all interior struc- aviation was impressed with Stout and purchased Stout’s
tures. Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), which had company in 1924.
heavily invested in the Fokker Tri-motor, nearly went out of As it happened, the Fokker F.VIIA/3M that won the 1925
business because of a combination of these additional main- Ford Tour was given as a present by its owner, Henry Ford,
tenance expenses and a great slacking off of business due to to his son, Edsel who named it “Josephine Ford” after his
the public’s mistrust of the Fokker aeroplane. Other posi- daughter. Edsel then lent this aeroplane to explorer Richard
tive changes, including regulations that aircraft accidents Evelyn Byrd for his now controversial and possibly success-
were now to be officially reported and how each accident ful 9 May 1926 North Pole Expedition which was also spon-
was to be investigated were made, as well as the addition sored by Edsel.
of numerous, much needed safety regulations to commer- As an aside, after the 1931 Fokker Tri-Motor crash that
cial air travel. killed Knute Rockne, TWA representatives and supporters
Fokker and his aeroplanes’ reputation were seriously dis- of Fokker, trying to replenish confidence in the Fokker Tri-
credited and both the U.S. public and the airlines looked to Motor, pointed out that it was in fact a Fokker Tri-Motor
that had safely carried Byrd and his engineer, Floyd Bennett
on the hazardous journey to the North Pole. One may sup-
pose that some people were reassured.
In any event, Fokker “Josephine Ford” was temporar-
ily based at Ford Airfield in late 1925 after Byrd’s flight.
Top Left: Stout 2-AT.
Photo circa 1925. A Whilst there, Ford engineers took numerous photographs
pretty good aeroplane. and measurements of the aeroplane. In a remarkably short
Bottom Left: Stout 3-AT. time thereafter, a single three-engine Stout 3-AT was pro-
As awkward and un-
aerodynamic as it looks, duced by the Stout Metal Airplane Company Division of Ford
the Stout 3-AT was even Motor Company based on Stout 2-AT “Pullman.” It was an
more dangerous to fly
all-metal aeroplane which was quite prescient in a time
according to Rudolph
William "Shorty"
Schroeder, its first and
only test pilot.
“Ford Airport during an airshow

circa 1930. The two Ford
Trimotors at left are parked
in front of Ford’s Stout Metal
Airplane division plant, where
the aircraft were built. Part of
this facility, at the northwest
corner of the property, still
exists today and houses Ford’s
advanced powerplant and fuel
cell labs. In the background
is the Henry Ford Museum,
constructed a few years after the
airport.” Caption by Mac’s Motor
City Garage.

13
Top: Restored Pan
American Airways’
Ford AT-5. Its
similarity to Fokker
F.10 is surely more
than a coincidence.
Bottom Left: This
two-view of Ford AT-5
clearly shows the
thick, drag producing
wing.
Bottom Right: This
4-view of the Fokker
F. 10 “America”
shows the striking
similarity between it
and the Ford AT-4/5.
The forward-slanting
windshield was an
attempt to reduce
reflections from
above but only
succeeded in adding
reflections from
below.
when this was not at all common aircraft structural prac- That month an entirely new aeroplane, the eight-
tice. Whilst this terribly underpowered and poorly designed passenger Ford 4-AT, a three-engine cantilever wing aero-
aeroplane was not produced beyond the prototype, before plane was designed by Ford's chief aeronautical engineer,
it flew Henry Ford publicly touted that it was “the airplane Tom Towle who hired MIT graduate Otto C. Koppen, John
of the future.” The Stout 3-AT had only one, almost disas- Lee, and James Smith McDonnell (later to found McDonnell
trous flight during which it could barely maintain altitude Aircraft Corporation) as the redesign team of the awkward,
after take off. Rudolph William “Shorty” Schroeder, Ford’s dangerously performing, three-engine Stout 3-AT.
test pilot, told Henry Ford that he would not ever fly that Thus, in early 1926 Ford 4-AT Tri-Motor began flying
piece of “excrement” again. A most irate Henry Ford quickly in the same skies as the Fokker F.10. It was remarkably,
removed William Stout from the aviation department’s even suspiciously similar to the Fokker but it had one great
engineering staff and assigned him to publicity tours. advantage, like Stout aircraft which came before, 4-AT’s
On 16 January 1926 Ford engineer Tom Towle was asked airframe was all-metal. Whilst this feature would not
to remove all drawings of 3-AT from the Stout factory and become an important issue to the public until after the 1931
to bring to the Ford Engineering Laboratory building across Knute Rockne/Fokker crash, Henry Ford reported to the
the field. At about 6 a.m. the next morning, a fire destroyed press that the new all-metal Ford was “the safest airplane
the Stout factory and all the Stout aircraft in it. The new around.” Ford Tri-Motors operated by Stout Airlines, later
Ford 4-AT was designed from the “saved” drawings of part of United Airlines were the first to carry a flight atten-
Stout 3-AT. dant, a young man.

Whilst Ford 4-AT was as much of a throwback aerody- munity of the late 1920’s that they were already an anti-
namically as was the Fokker F.10, the Ford had a corru- quated design concept.
gated duralumin skin4 overall that was an improvement The times were ripe for a breakthrough.
over fabric or fabric-covered plywood. The Ford had the
same thick wing as the Fokker and for the same reasons, NOT A PLEASANT RIDE
but the slightly improved 4-AT-E which had three 300 hp. Airline travel in the 1920’s was distinctly uncomfortable.
Wright J-6-9 radial engines cruised at only 107 mph due to The cabins were drafty, cold and unpressurised. Boarding
the extra drag of its corrugated skin. The larger and heavier passengers were given chewing gum to help them to avoid
Ford 5-AT could carry 10 passengers, but was even slower painful ear aches at altitude and when descending. Exhaust
than the 4-AT, cruising at 90 mph. and oil smells filled the cabin as well as the noxious smell of
In 1928 Transcontinental Air-transport, one of the early airsick passengers and of the disinfecting chemicals used to
airlines which became TWA when it merged with Western clean up after them. Most trips were long as the aeroplanes
Air Express in 1930, began flying what were called the of this era were slow, could not climb higher than most
first “coast-to-coast” flights with the Ford. The jour- mountain ranges and had to fly around them. They were
ney was actually two flights combined with two separate also often delayed by and had to fly around bad weather,
train rides, one from New York to Port Columbus, Ohio they could not fly after dusk or before dawn, and frequent
and another from Waynoka, Oklahoma to Clovis, New refuelling stops had to be made. The ride was usually and
Mexico. Pan American Airways (Pan Am), which became uncomfortably bumpy, promoting airsickness, as the aero-
Pan American World Airways in 1950, was founded in planes could not fly high enough to avoid the weather and
1927 and flew Ford 5-ATs on its first southern interna- ground thermals/turbulence. The aeroplanes were so noisy
tional flights from Key West to Havana, Cuba. This was that normal conversation during the flight was impossible
soon expanded to multiple-hop flights to Central and and many passengers took to sticking cotton in their ears
South America. during the flight to dull the roar of the engines.
The days of the main line Tri-Motors lasted only until Even so, the number of commercial air travellers rose
1934 when advancing aviation technology relegated them year-by-year and especially after 20-21 May 1927 due to the
to second-level transports — the evergreen and ongo- huge, world-wide Lindbergh phenomena. The number of
ing story of commercial aviation. They were simple aero- commercial airline passengers in the U.S. grew from fewer
planes, reliable, easy to fly and to maintain and, with a than 5,900 in 1926 to more than 173,000 in 1929.
few notable exceptions, had a very good safety record.
They were the first of the genuine airliners from which BOEING STEPS UP AGAIN
all else stem. Whilst Fokker and Ford Tri-Motors were a Seeing the huge success of the Tri-Motors in air-trans-
great leap forward for commercial air travel from single- port, Boeing, never a company willing to be behind-times,
engine biplanes, it was clear to most in the aviation com- quickly designed and built Boeing Model 80 in 1928. Whilst
the Fokker and Ford aeroplanes had been a distinct rever-
4 The Ford Tri-Motor’s corrugated duralumin skin was pioneered by Hugo

Junkers, a German engineer and aircraft designer and became a trade-
mark feature of Junkers aircraft until WWII. The company he founded in 1912,
sion to earlier aircraft design practices, the hastily cre-
ated Boeing was even more so. Yes, Model 80 had three
Junkers and Co. designed and developed the first all-metal aeroplane in 1915, engines and carried twelve passengers three-abreast in its
the Junkers J.1 “Blechesel” which means Sheet metal Ass (Donkey). Whilst
only one of this model was built to test the corrugated metal skin concept,
the 1917 Junkers D.1 (factory numbers J7 and J9) monoplane fighter with the
same type skin saw service in the German Naval Air Service where twelve of
them were deployed.
In 1919 Junkers built the Junkers F.13 four-passenger, single-engine, canti-
lever monoplane, designed by Otto Reuter. Its skin was the same corrugated
duralumin as Junkers had used before and it was the world’s first all-metal
airliner. 300 of them were built.
During the 1920’s Junkers built a number of other successful all-metal air-
liners including the Junkers G.24 tri-motor incorporating corrugated duralu-
min skin culminating in the tri-motor JU. 52, affectionately nicknamed both
and Iron Annie and Tante Ju, although the former is its mostly common
name. Junkers’ company went on to design and produce numerous successful
combat aircraft for the Luftwaffe during WWII.
When the Ford Tri-motor was introduced, Junkers considered it to be all-
too similar to the 1924 Junkers G.24. That the Ford had a high-wing and
the G.24 a low wing did not in the least assuage Junkers’ anger at Ford for
“copying” his design. In fact, what Junkers was most infuriated about was
the Ford’s use of Junkers’ patented corrugated duralumin skin. U.S. Patent
law at the time did not extend internationally, so Junkers could do nothing
about his claims in the U.S. courts; however, when Ford tried to export and
sell their Tri-motor in Europe, Junkers successfully prosecuted a law-suit
in Germany, enjoining Ford from so proceeding. In 1930 Ford counter-sued
Junkers in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now The Czech Republic) hoping that The Tri-Tail Boeing Model 80A-1. This was the latest advancement in airliner
anti-German sentiment in that country would help to defeat Junkers. After a design in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s and would not be replaced until the
lengthy and expensive legal battle, the Czech court unanimously found that revolutionary Boeing 247 in 1934. Photo circa 1930. It seems amazing that only
Ford had indeed infringed upon Junkers’ corrugated duralumin skin patent. thirteen years separate this aeroplane from the sleek and gracious all-metal
Ford, losing for a second time, did not pursue the matter in Europe again. Constellation.

15
becoming the first airliner which had
female flight attendants on board.
Boeing’s flight attendants, the first
“Air Stewardesses,” were all unmar-
ried Registered Nurses between the
ages of 20 and 26 years. Because of
the restricted space in the small pas-
senger cabin, Air Stewardesses were
required to be no taller than five feet,
four inches, nor weigh more than 118
pounds. Passengers, however, had no
such restrictions.
One more significant improve-
ment was made to the Boeing Model
80A. It was discovered after many
flights that the Model 80A’s aft verti-
cal area was insufficient for its power.
Accordingly, on the now re-desig-
nated Boeing Model A-1, provision
was made for the addition of two fins
and rudders on the horizontal stabi-
lizer, one on either side of the main
fin and rudder. This made the Boeing
The rather snug-
looking passenger Model 80A-1 the first airliner with a
cabin of the Boeing functional triple-tail, preceding the
80. Note the quaint experimental triple-tailed Douglas
lamps, fancy curtains
wide cabin (see photograph below); however, unlike the and overhead DC-4E by eight years and Lockheed
Fokker and Ford cantilever monoplanes, it was a biplane. baggage holders. C-69/Constellation by thirteen years.
The exit door and the
This arrangement was selected to give the Model 80 a ser-
door to the lav are aft
vice ceiling sufficiently high so that unlike the Fokkers and of the seats. Photo: 7 CURTISS CHIMES IN
Fords, it could fly over all but the highest Rocky Mountain July 1928 Arguably looking almost as behind
ranges that lay along its route. This was before Federal Air the times as the Boeing Model 80
Regulations prohibited flight with passengers above a cabin which was introduced in 1928, Curtiss
altitude of 8,000’. Aeroplane and Motor Company (Curtiss-Wright) seemed
One plus was that both the fuselage and wings of Boeing to be uncharacteristically temporarily bereft of what had
Model 80 were constructed of fabric covered steel and dural- been its famously forward and uniquely modern designs
umin tube construction, far stronger and more durable than when it produced the T-32 “Condor” II in so late a date as
wood wing spars with plywood covering and a wood-framed 1933. This was initially to be a twelve-passenger “deluxe
fuselage. In at least one concession to passenger comfort if sleeper” (later versions accommodated fifteen day passen-
not to modernity, Boeing Model 80 was the first airliner that gers), two-engine, two bay biplane (!) of both wood and
had a forced, fresh air ventilation system in the passenger metal construction with a modern-looking fabric and alu-
cabin and a lavatory with running water. One may imag- minium tube fuselage that suggests nothing other than a fat
ine what crude facilities the Fokkers and Fords may have Douglas DC-1. Its undercarriage mostly retracted, its engine
offered, if any. cowlings were the latest NACA design and its fuselage was
Boeing built only four Model 80s, mostly as conceptual fairly streamlined yet the biplane wings were strut and wire
test aircraft. Almost one year to the day after Boeing 80 braced. This aeroplane was working against itself.
went into service for Boeing Air-transport (which became Powered by two 710 hp. Wright SGR-1820-F3 Cyclone
United Air Lines in 1931) on 20 September 1928 the larger radial engines Condors were able to cruise at a respect-
and more powerful Boeing Model 80A began commercial able 165 mph, and they were widely advertised to be “The
service. Longer than the 80, it carried eighteen passengers World’s First Complete Sleeper-Planes.” Used primarily
and was powered by three 525 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-1690 by Eastern Air-transport and American Airways, forerun-
Hornet radials making it the largest and the most power- ners of Eastern Air Lines and American Airlines on exten-
ful commercial air-transportation aeroplane in the U.S. in sive routes across the U.S., it was somewhat attractive to
the late 1920’s. All of that 1,575 hp. pulled the huge and the USAAC who purchased two of them for use as execu-
ungainly-looking Boeing 80A through the air at a cruise tive transports, designating them YC-30, eight as a Bomber
speed of only 125 mph. variant, designated as BT-32, and three as a cargo carrier,
On 15 May 1930 the Boeing Model 80A made history by designated as CT-32. The U.S. Navy purchased two, desig-

Top: Wiley Post’s
nating them R4C-1. Altogether, 45 were built, many of them famous Lockheed
eventually exported. Vega 5, “Winnie Mae”.
Whilst it was still on the drawing board the superb and Note the passenger’s
windows showing the
fully-modern 1933 Douglas DC-1, which it partially resem- Vega 5’s commercial
bled, made “Condor” immediately obsolete. airliner roots.
Bottom: Amelia
Earhart’s Vega 5B
A NEW PLAYER HITS HOME RUN as displayed at the
Whilst Fokker and Ford Tri-Motors were plying the National Air and
Space Museum,
American skies in the middle to late 1920’s, Allan Loughead, Washington
John (Jack) Knudsen Northrop and Kenneth Jay formed the D.C.. Note her leather
Lockheed Aircraft Company in 1926 using a re-spelling of jacket along with her
bust, that is, a bust of
Allan’s name for its title. Borrowing the plywood monocoque her head in the glass
(stressed skin) technology of the Loughead S-1, a single- case.
seat sport biplane that Allan and his brother, Malcolm, had
developed and produced when they operated the Loughead
Aircraft Manufacturing Company in 1920, they designed
and produced the Lockheed Vega 1, the first version of what
became one of the most significant aeroplanes of its era.
Designed in 1927 at Lockheed by Jack Northrop and
Gerard Vultee, both of whom would later found their own
aircraft manufacturing companies, the Vega 1 was a five-
seat, single engine, high-wing cantilever monoplane with a
monocoque fuselage and streamlined fixed undercarriage. It nental speed records. The Lockheed Vega went on to become
was at first powered by 225 Wright J-5A. B, and C Whirlwind one of the most famous record breaking aeroplanes of all
radial engine. With a top airspeed of 135 mph, very fast for time. On 30 May 1932 Amelia Earhart flew a Vega 5B solo
that time, the first Vega 1, “Golden Eagle” won every cat- across the Atlantic, and in August 1932 flew solo across the
egory in the Cleveland Air Races in 1928. continental U.S. breaking the woman’s cross-continental
Later in 1928, the improved Vega 5B and C were pro- speed record.
duced specifically for airline operations. It had a rather tight On 23 June 1931, Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty
provision for seven seats, was powered by a 450 hp. Pratt took off from New York and flew around the world in a
and Whitney R-1340 “Wasp” radial engine and had a new, record 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes in “Winnie Mae,” a
NACA-designed, low-drag engine cowling. With a blister- Vega 5. In 1933 Wiley Post completed the first solo around-
ing maximum airspeed of 165 mph, Vega 5s, in particular the-world flight 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes also in a
“Yankee Doodle” NX4789, soon began breaking transconti- Vega 5.
U. S. Navy R4C-1,
military version of
Curtiss “Condor”.
NACA cowlings,
mostly retractable
undercarriage, fairly
streamlined fuselage
and all of this with
those old-fashioned
strut and wire braced
biplane wings.
What’s wrong with
this picture? Note
the familiar-looking
Douglas DC-type
fuselage profile.

17
NORTHROP’S CONTRIBUTION Alpha’s second aeronautical advancement was the use
Numerous other single-engine airliners were produced in of drag reducing wing fillets between its low wing and the
the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. One such was Northrop fuselage which had been developed at the Guggenheim
‘Alpha,” designed and introduced in 1930 by Jack Northrop’s Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of
new company, using his experience at Lockheed co-design- Technology. The third advancement was the installation of
ing the Vega. Northrop imbued Alpha with three major rubber de-icer boots, the first ever on a commercial aero-
aeronautical advancements: First, he designed a stressed- plane. This feature, in addition to the most up-to-date
skin wing containing independent fuel cells within making radio navigation equipment and instruments gave Alpha the
it the first “wet wing.” This revolutionary design greatly ability to safely and reliably fly at night and in all weather
increased Alpha’s fuel capacity, increasing its range whilst including into known icing conditions.
keeping the weight of the fuel close to the aeroplane’s centre
of gravity. This feature was widely imitated thereafter, par- BOEING GOES ALL METAL
ticularly in the Douglas DC-series airliners. Other large single-engine airliners proliferated as they were
inexpensive to run and to maintain. Among them was the
1933 Boeing Model 200 “Monomail,” Boeing’s first all-
metal, low-wing, retractable undercarriage monoplane.
With seats for eight passengers, the final version of the
“Monomail,” Model 221A, successfully flew a regular sched-
ule for United Airways on the Cheyenne-Chicago route. This
progressive aeroplane influenced commercial and military
aircraft design for the rest of the decade.
LOCKHEED’S STARS SHINE ON BRIGHTLY

Lockheed, spurred onward by its success with the Vega and
having the brilliant Gerard Vultee as its chief design engi-
neer produced a number of single-engine airliners includ-
ing the 1928 “Air Express,” a parasol-wing derivative of the
Northrop “Alpha” in USAAC test-aircraft colors. Note the fillet between the
fuselage and wing, familiar today and since the 1930s; however, this was the
first aeroplane upon which it was featured. Photo circa 1930.
Boeing Model 200 “Monomail”. Advanced

aerodynamics (for 1933) mixed with an open cockpit.
This was typical of the 1930’s reluctant transition to
true modernity. Photo circa 1933.

Lockheed “Orion”, the last ofU.S., more than forty-billion dollars
the single-engine Lockheeds.
There is something quite was lost in one year (approximately
charming about this $562,000,000,000.00 in 2016).
aeroplane; something both
That this catastrophe took place
powerful and utilitarian
whilst also an artistic just as commercial air travel was
aeronautic expression. Note beginning to become a popular and
the massive inward-retracting
main undercarriage and fully
preferable way to travel was most
enclosed cockpit (shown inopportune. “The Depression,” as
open here) Photo circa 1931.it came to be called was, of course,
just as a serious and almost fatal
setback for the commercial aviation industry as it was for
virtually every other industry. As businesses closed and
shrunk, unemployment soared to eight-million in the
U.S. (25%) by 1933. Even among the employed popula-
tion, many of those who formerly might have been able to
Vega, the 1928 Model 8 “Sirius,” of which a special float- afford the price of an airline ticket now were compelled to
plane version was built for Charles Lindbergh, the 1930 tighten their economic belts and forego this luxury as well
“Altair,” essentially a retractable-undercarriage variant of as many necessities. With the sudden fall-off of business,
“Sirius” and one of the first aeroplanes so designed, and the the new, burgeoning airlines were forced to cancel pur-
1931 Model 9 “Orion,” a large and powerful six-passenger, chase contracts with aircraft manufacturers who, in turn,
retractable undercarriage airliner whose top airspeed of 220 were forced to cancel purchase contracts for materials. All
mph at sea level was faster than U.S. military aircraft of businesses were forced to lay off many of their employees
its time. who now, without steady income, could no longer afford to
Orion was a hybrid of successful features taken from purchase many basic goods and food. This downward spiral
other Lockheed aircraft and the last one that would use ele- played out similarly all over the world creating mass unem-
ments of prior Lockheed designs. Orion is essentially an ployment and extreme hardship for most of the industrial
“Altair” but with the cockpit on the forward top of the fuse- world’s population.
lage as in “Vega” and an NACA cowling similar to that on Air After almost four years of the crippling Depression, in
Express, Lockheed’s second aeroplane. Very similar fuselage the Presidential election of 1932, Democrat Franklin D.
and wing moulds were used on all of Lockheed’s wooden Roosevelt easily defeated incumbent Republican President
designs. Herbert Hoover’s bid for a second term. Along with winning
These Lockheed single-engine aeroplanes were very fast the White House, the Democratic Party also won a major-
in their day and had good range. Accordingly, in the first ity in both houses of Congress. Hoover’s policies limiting
Bendix Trophy Race of 1931, of the nine aeroplanes compet- government regulation of the banking/investment indus-
ing, six were Lockheed designs: one Vega, three Altairs and try during his administration (1929-33), among many other
two Orions. However, the race was won by Major James H. things were, fairly or not, widely blamed as causing the
Doolittle (yes, that Doolittle) flying a purpose-built, single- Depression. Roosevelt’s victory was seen by most of the
seat racing biplane, the Laird LC-DW500 Super Solution aka people in the U.S. and around the world as a fresh, new
“Sky Buzzard.” beginning, a cleansing rain that would soon wash away the
In October 1934 many U.S. aircraft manufacturers were current economic misery.
stunned when the Bureau of Air Commerce banned the use Despite the first Roosevelt Administration’s many ear-
of single-engined aircraft by commercial trunk (i.e. major nest attempts to end or at least to diminish the effects of
multi-route airlines) airlines. Some manufacturers, such as the Depression by the creation of new administrations and
Lockheed and Boeing had already philosophically and actu- authorities, most of which were declared unconstitutional
ally moved on to multi-engine aircraft by the time of this by a very Conservative Supreme Court, the Depression in
regulation. the U.S. did not essentially end until the commencement of
WWII in Europe on 1 September 1939 when U.S. businesses
DARK TIMES AND A NEW HOPE began to sell supplies to Great Britain and other nations
The longest and deepest world-wide economic Depression fighting the Nazis. In addition, in the late 1930’s the U.S.
began shortly after “Black Tuesday,” 29 October 1929 when military services began to spool up for what was seen to be a
the combined effects of a decade of improvident and ques- coming conflict involving the U.S. as well. Accordingly, U.S.
tionable economic practices and policies ticked off a sudden, businesses began to supply the armed services with what
steep down-turn in the New York Stock Market, creating they required. This increase of industrial activity promoted
an uncontrollable, cascading sell-off panic which, inter alia, a general long-awaited up-turn in the U.S. economy and
caused stock prices to fall precipitously, essentially collaps- quickly began to reduce the rolls of the unemployed.
ing the U.S. economy and quickly thereafter collapsing the Meanwhile, optimism created by President Roosevelt’s
economies of virtually every country in the world. In the inauguration on 4 March 1933, to some degree at least,

19
eased the malaise that had settled into daily life and encour- trollable rudder trim tab, the first on any U.S. aircraft. The
aged many businesses to take more chances and to try as improved 1932 Model 246 Y1B-9A went further still with
well as they could to operate on a more normal, pre-depres- a pair of slightly more efficient 600 hp. Pratt & Whitney
sion footing. This optimism was also felt in the commercial Y1G1SR-1860B Hornet radials turning three-bladed propel-
aviation industry and, not perhaps entirely by coincidence, lers, metal covered control surfaces, and later a more effi-
it was in 1933 that a revolution in commercial aviation cient vertical tail surface. Whilst a giant step in the right
occurred. direction, in some things the Y1B-9A design still held to
older and by then outmoded concepts. Even with all of its
BOEING’S AND MARTIN’S ADVANCES innovations, Y1B-9A still had open-cockpit crew positions
EXPAND THE ENVELOPE and no internal bomb bay. All ordinance had to be carried
Seeking to manufacture multi-engine aircraft as well as externally under the wings, largely negating the innovative
supplying the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC.) with drag-reducing elements of the aeroplane.
fighters, Boeing privately funded in a modification of its Touted as the “Fastest Bomber in the World,” Y1B-9A was
eight-passenger single-engine Monomail Model 221-A air- never ordered by the USAAC. Whilst this impressive Boeing
liner into a two-engine bomber. bomber was being evaluated, the Glenn L. Martin Company
The resulting design, the Model 215 made its first flight in Baltimore, Maryland entered a competing and superior
on 29 April 1931 and whilst not the USAAC’s first mono- bomber design, the revolutionary, Collier Trophy-winning
plane bomber, it was its first all-metal cantilever, low wing XB-907, with all-enclosed crew positions and many fur-
monoplane bomber. ther innovations. It was accepted by the USAAC and desig-
Sleek, clean and powered by two 600 hp. Pratt & Whitney nated B-10 and B-12. The 213 mph B-10/12 instantly made
R-1860-11 Hornet B radial engines with new drag-reduc- all existing U.S. bombers, including Y1B-9, obsolete, and set
ing NACA cowlings and a semi-retractable undercarriage, the standard for bomber design for decades. It had fully-
including the tail wheel, the Boeing Model 215, designated enclosed engine cowlings, an internal bomb bay and an
YB-9 was the fastest U.S. bomber when it was introduced enclosed front gun turret, the first for any U.S. aircraft.
on 5 November 1931 with a top speed of 188 mph, just about Although a failure as a potential and hoped-for military
matching the top speed of the USAAC’s fastest single-engine aeroplane, Y1B-9A led Boeing into the new world of large,
fighter, Boeing P-12E at 189 mph. multi-engine aircraft design and production of which it has
The YB-9 design greatly advanced multi-engine air- been a leader ever since.
craft by placing the engines directly in front of the wing
on the leading edge rather than slinging them below the THE AIRLINER REVOLUTION(S) BEGIN
wing on drag-producing struts. It also had a cockpit-con- Some few aircraft designs stand out as being so innova-
tive and forward-thinking that we
call them “revolutionary” in that they
make virtually all aircraft that came
Top: Boeing YB-9. before them immediately obsolete
Even though seen and quaint. Boeing 247 is universally
here in the Olive
Drab and Orange-
honoured as one of these.
Yellow colors of the An all-metal, anodized aluminium,
USAAC, it was not low wing, two-engine, retractable-
accepted by the
USAAC. However, it undercarriage, cantilever monoplane
did greatly influence utilizing semi-monocoque con-
the design of the struction, 247’s design was imbued
first modern airliner,
Boeing’s 247. with all of the available aeronautical
Bottom: Martin B-10 knowledge and innovation of its time.
in the new USAAC
247 first flew on 8 February 1933
colors, seen here
in formation with and from that date, commercial air
Boeing P-26A fighters travel never looked backwards again.
in a line to the rear.
No information Among the innovations that 247
available about this brought into common usage were:
picture. cockpit controllable trim tabs on all
control surfaces, variable-pitch pro-
pellers, auto pilot, gyroscopic instru-
ments for low-visibility (later IFR
— Instrument Flight Rules) flying,
and pneumatic de-icing boots for the
wings and tail surfaces.
Its basic design was all-metal con-

Top: This portrait of the 1933 Boeing 247D well-
portrays the newly-adopted Boeing design formula.
Picture two more engines, add a few bits and pieces
and there is B-17D.
Bottom: Boeing 247D interior. Photo circa 1935
miles, insufficient for most western U.S.

airlines where the distance between desti-
Three-view of the handsome
nations could be as much as 900 to 1,000
and sleek Boeing 247. Note miles.
the thick wing which was a Within five months after 247’s first flight
carry- over from past airliner
designs and made necessary in February 1933 United Airlines (part of
struction, low cantilever wing with engines in by the more primitive United Aircraft and Transport Corporation
metallurgy of the 1930s. A which also owned Boeing) had thirty of
nacelles mounted on the leading edge of each
thinner wing would have
wing became the model upon which all future certainly added many mph to the sixty 247Ds it had ordered with more
piston engine, land-based airliners would this aeroplane. coming each week. TWA was also interested
follow. in buying 247Ds for its routes but was shut
247 carried ten passengers in greater luxury and comfort out by United’s large order.
than any previous U.S. airliner. It featured thermostatically Frustrated, TWA looked around for an aircraft manufac-
controlled cabin heating and cooling, soundproofed cabin, turer to provide the aeroplane that they had in mind since
a galley for preparing (limited) in-flight food and bever- 1932. TWA’s original specifications for this new aeroplane
age service, a lavatory, individual passenger air vents and were quite modest; it had to be all-metal, have three radial
reading lights. However, wing’s main spar was mounted engines, cruise at 150 mph, carry twelve passengers and
through the front of the cabin and some passengers had to have a range of at least 1,080 miles. It also had to be able
climb over it to get to their seats. to service all of the airports on TWA’s routes including the
In its initial incarnation, 247, whilst certainly impressive airport at Albuquerque, New Mexico, the elevation of which
on many counts, did not exhibit spectacular performance is 4,954’. In the summer the high temperatures there natu-
due to its fixed-pitch propellers. Boeing took immediate rally give it an even higher density altitude. Additionally,
steps to remedy this and very quickly after the first few 247s TWA insisted that the new aeroplane would have to be able
were built the improved 247D was introduced. Powered by to takeoff and land with only one engine operating.
two 550 hp. Pratt & Whitney S1H1-G Wasp radial engines The 247D was faster than TWA’s requirements and had
turning Hamilton Standard adjustable-pitch propellers it only two engines which meant less expensive operating
had a top airspeed of 200 mph and a cruising airspeed of 188 costs. It could handle airports a s high as Albuquerque and
mph at 8,000 feet, a rate of climb at sea level of 1,148 feet per climb at maximum gross weight with only one engine run-
minute and a service ceiling of 25,400 feet. However good ning, however it did not have the required range, and only
all of these specs may have been, 247D’s range was only 745 accommodated ten passengers.

21
THE SECOND REVOLUTION
On 5 August 1932 Jack Frye, President of TWA sent a letter
to Donald Douglas outlining TWA’s specifications for a new
airliner. Unknown to Douglas, Frye had already approached
Boeing, but was not successful there. Boeing was more than
satisfied with its plans for its forthcoming, revolutionary
247 which were coming along nicely.
Donald Douglas had great ambitions for Douglas Aircraft
Company and he was intrigued with Frye’s specifications, but
cautious. Since the early 1920’s Douglas Aircraft Company
had been a successful supplier of a number of aeroplanes to
all of the U.S. military services, including the elegant, gull
wing B-7 bomber, the USAAC’s first monoplane.
If Douglas built what Frye wanted it would be Douglas’s
first civilian aeroplane. Entirely confident that he and his
design team5 could design an aeroplane to more than satisfy Clarence “Kelley” Johnson with the 55” scale
TWA’s specifications Douglas was, on one hand, hesitant to wind tunnel model of the first, single tail design
for Lockheed’s Model 10 Electra.
commit to designing and building this new aeroplane as he
doubted that a sufficient number of them would be ordered.
On the other hand, not at all pleased with leaving the field
wide open to Boeing’s 247, Douglas and his engineers went by seventeen foreign nations.
to work and designed the DC (Douglas Commercial) -1, the Boeing’s once revolutionary 247D could not compete with
forerunner of the famous DC series of airliners. Introduced the new Douglas aircraft and so the short-lived reign of
in July 1933 and powered by two 690 hp. Wright Cyclone Boeing’s 247 was over. Rex mortuus est, Vivat rex!
SGR-1820F3 9-cylinder radial engines driving variable-
pitch propellers, DC-1 outperformed the 247 both in speed ANOTHER BRIGHT STAR FROM LOCKHEED
and range, and with a twelve-passenger capacity, it had two Even before the government’s ban on single-engine airlin-
seats more than the 247. DC-1 offered all of the amenities of ers in October 1934, Lockheed was preparing to introduce its
the 247; however, its cabin was wider and more capacious first all-metal, two-engine aeroplane, the Lockheed Model
than the Boeing and there was no wing spar in the cabin 10 “Electra” designed by Lloyd Stearman and Hall Hibbard.
that passengers had to climb over. Yet another Lockheed aeroplane named for a star6, it was
Only one DC-1 was built as a test and demo model. Its introduced in 1935 was powered by two 450 hp. Pratt and
maiden flight was on 1 July 1933 and it was extensively flown Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior SB radial engines. So sleek and
for the next six months. Seeing that the basic design was efficient was the Electra’s design that it carried ten passen-
sound and practical, Douglas built a larger and improved gers faster than the Boeing 247D, and as fast as the Douglas
version of DC-1, called DC-2. It was powered by two 730 hp. DC-2, but with engines totalling only 900 hp. whilst 247D’s
Wright GR-1820-F53 Cyclone 9-cylinder radial engines, and engines totalled 1,100 hp. and DC-2’s engines totalled
with capacity for fourteen passengers. TWA accepted DC-2 1,460 hp.
as its flagship on 15 September 1933. On 19 February 1934 a For airlines not requiring the four additional passenger
DC-2 made a record-breaking flight across the U.S., with seats of DC-2 it was the perfect choice. Lower in price and
fuel stops, in thirteen hours and five minutes of flight time. lower in overall per-hour operating costs, Electra 10 and its
DC-2 was what we today might call, “a smash hit.” 198 subsequent improved models A-E as well as the later Model
DC-2s were produced from 1934-39. Nine U.S. airlines oper- 12 Electra Junior and Model 14 Super Electra were operated
ated them, ninety were ordered by the various U.S. armed by thirteen U.S. and fourteen foreign airlines. Additionally,
services before and during WWII, and many were purchased military versions were ordered by eight nations, plus the
USAAC, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Electra was the first aeroplane of its kind to incorporate
5 In 1933 Douglas Aviation’s brilliant design team consisted of Donald
Douglas, James H. “Dutch” Kindelberger, John Leland (Lee ) Atwood,
Arthur E. Raymond, Ed Burton, Jack Northrop, George Strompl and Fred
the latest known aeronautical methods of airframe stream-
lining and what would later be termed the “mass reduc-
Herman. Within this “dream team”
“Dutch “ Kindelberger become North American Aviation’s President and tion” approach to aircraft design, e.g., eliminating as much
General Manager and he and Chief Engineer Lee Atwood went on to design as possible all that might add drag and/or weight. Lockheed
and produce AT-6 “Texan,” B-25 “Mitchell” and P-51 “Mustang,” F-86
“Sabre” and other brilliant, ground-breaking aeroplanes; Arthur E. Raymond
had led the way in this method of aircraft design with its
designed the DC-3, remained at Douglas until 1960, and was instrumental very efficient and sleek single-engine airliners and by
in the designs of every Douglas airliner from DC-2 through DC-8. He was a
founding member of The Rand Corporation. Raymond was a Supervisor on
6
NASA’s Project Gemini and Project Apollo; Jack Northrop founded Northrop Electra is officially catalogued as 17 Tauri, a blue-white giant star in
Aviation in 1939; George Strompl a talented Project Manager at Douglas, and the constellation of Taurus and is one of the nine brightest stars in the
Fred Herman, an up and coming engineer at Douglas were members of the Pleiades open cluster. Electra and the other six most visible stars in this
design teams for DC-2 through DC-7. group are named for the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology.

incorporating this philosophy into Electra’s design, created was as fast but no faster than the best of its contemporary
the most aerodynamically efficient aeroplane of its day. competitors; however, it carried twenty-one sitting or four-
In 1933, when Electra was still on Lloyd Stearman teen to fifteen sleeper berths for a distance 1,500 miles with
(Lockheed’s President and future designer of the Stearman better passenger comfort than anything else in its day. It
PT-13 trainer and others), Hall Hibbard and Richard von simply outclassed its competitors for a very long time and
Hake’s drawing board, the great Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, popularized commercial air travel as a viable and desir-
then a green, twenty-three-year-old recent graduate of the able alternative to rail. DC-3 raised the airline industry’s
University of Michigan and a newly hired Tooling Engineer at bar once again leading directly to the four-engine airliners
Lockheed, happened to give the design for Electra a look. He to come.
immediately and instinctively realized
that it would have serious directional
(yaw) stability problems with its then
insufficiently large single vertical tail
surface. When he rather brashly so
advised Chief Design Engineer Hal
Hibbard of this, Hibbard at first con-
sidered young Johnson to be work-
ing distinctly above his pay grade.
However, to Hibbard’s credit he did
not dismiss the bold young man off-
hand, but backed Johnson’s instinct
and gave him the project of design-
ing a solution, sending him back to
the U. of M’s new wind tunnel with
a 55” scale wind tunnel model of the
single-tail Electra. Tests conclusively
proved Johnson’s instinct to be correct
and Electra’s twin-tail was the result
of Johnson’s efforts and it became a
trademark design of Lockheed there- Lockheed Electra 10, the sleekest
aeroplane of its time.
after. Johnson was immediately pro-
moted to Design Engineer from which
position he oversaw the design of
P-38 “Lightning” and a bit later
“Constellation.”
Certainly the most famous flight
of an Electra was that of Amelia
Earhart’s much modified Model 10E
in her fatally tragic second attempt
at a ‘round-the-world flight with
navigator Fred Noonan on 1 June
1937. Controversy, myth, legend and
cinema abound as to what might have
happened and as to the final resting
place of Amelia, Fred and the Electra.
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL

AIRLINER
Seeing how successful their DC-2
had been, in 1936 Douglas Aircraft
Company with more than a little
Amelia Earhart, a beloved aviation celebrity
“push” from American Airlines, designed a larger and more of the 1930s, stands before her modified
powerful version of it, DC-3 and DST (the Douglas Sleeper Lockheed Electra 10 on 17 March 1937 in
Oakland, California before flying it to Miami to
Transport version). DC-3 was the culmination of this series
begin her tragic second attempt at a ‘round-
of aeroplanes and it has proved to be a unique, timeless and the-world flight.
most excellent aircraft, many of which are still in daily ser-
vice today (2016). Having a cruise airspeed of 207 mph, it

23
The classic lines of Douglas DC-2.

The rear-swept leading edge,
multi-cell, tapered wing was
designed by Jack Northrop.

Even though DC-3 weighed approximately 25,000 lb. when Douglas couldn’t refuse Smith’s calls, American Airlines had
fully loaded with passengers, baggage and fuel, it could still purchased a goodly number of DC-2s and could not there-
operate in and out of the small grass airports that serviced fore be ignored. It might have gone something like this:
smaller towns and even those located at high elevations. Its
1,500 mile range made long distance flights simpler and less Donald Douglas’s secretary’s phone:Brrrring, Brrrring
expensive with less time-consuming fuel stops. In addition,
it was rugged and relatively easy to maintain. DD’s secretary:Douglas Aviation, office of the President,
Powered by two 1,200 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-1830- how may we help you?
S1C3G Twin Wasp 14-cyl. air-cooled two-row, radial piston
engines driving two 3-bladed Hamilton Standard 23E50 Voice on the phone (somewhat grumpy):This is Cyrus
series, constant-speed propellers, DC-3 had a service ceil- Rowlett Smith, President of American Airlines, let me
ing of 23,200’, fully loaded, and could climb over most of the speak to Donny.
mountain ranges and bad weather that its competitors had
to fly around. DC-3 pioneered true cross-continental com- DD’s secretary:(button push) — Mr. Douglas, I have a
mercial air travel and, with carefully-planned fuel stops, Cyrus Rowlett Sm....
flew world-wide. By the 1930’s, trans-continental and long
distance passengers in the U.S. had become accustomed to DD (somewhat resigned):Alright Thelma, just put him
taking Pullman-equipped trains in which they could travel through.” (click) “Well C.R., how the hell are you?
both day and night, sleeping comfortably whilst the train
chugged along, thus shortening the time of transit by many CR (more than somewhat grumpy):Well, Donny, I’m
hours or even days. Transferring this system to long dis- feeling just as fine as when I called you this morning and
tance airliners made a lot of sense and was a big selling the morning and afternoon before that. I’m feeling just
point for travelling by air. The DST’s 14-16 sleeping berths f***ing fine, thank you. So, what are you gonna do about
and DC-3’s 21-seat day cabin made it the first commercial what I asked you?
airliner to enable its operators to make a profit solely flying
passengers and not relying on additional mail and/or cargo. DD (with some unction):I’m glad you’re fine C. R. Listen,
Like many extraordinary things, DC-3 almost never was I’ve been thinking about your request for a larger DC-2,
born. Donald Douglas had reluctantly built DC-1 and 2 and and yes, I know that the 2’s cabin is only 66” wide and
only after TWA’s Jack Frye had wheedled him into it. Well, too narrow for side-by-side sleeping berths and... say,
DC-2 proved to be highly successful which allowed the why do you need side-by-side berths anyway?
skeptical Mr. D to breathe a little easier.
Now, just about two years after that ordeal, the story goes CR (with forced patience):Donny, if you weren’t who you
that in early 1936 American Airlines CEO C. R. Smith began are I’d think you weren’t running on all cylinders. Have
to call Douglas on a regular basis with an urgent request. you ever heard of the “mile-high club?
Typical airliner “Pullman” sleeper

accommodations.
Douglas prototype DC-3/DST.
Photo circa 1936.

25
The ubiquitous, legendary and
timeless Douglas DC-3 seen here in
Eastern Airlines colors. One of the
most successful aeroplanes of all
time, it dominated air-transport
world- wide from the time it was
introduced in 1936, through
WWII as C-47/Dakota, and well
after. DC-3 was also known as
“Gooney Bird”, “Skytrain” and
“Raisin Bomber” for its gallant
service during the Berlin Airlift:
26 June 1948-11 May 1949, when
it was often used to drop candy
to bombed-out, hungry German
children. Still in use in many
forms and in many nations to this
day, DC-3 is perhaps the most
durable and versatile aeroplane
ever built. The first of the truly
modern airliners, DC-3’s design
and passenger accommodations
in 1936 set the pace for all future
commercial air travel.
A suitably awed
(and well-tanned)
Donald Douglas
shaking hands
with President
DD:The what? Oh, oh yeah. Yeah, I get it.
Franklin Delano
Roosevelt CR: Yeah, and without side-by-side berths no one is
whilst receiving
the Collier gonna get it, capiche?
Trophy (on the
President’s desk DD: So what you’re telling me is I’ve got to design an
in foreground) in
1935. entirely new plane, wider than the DC-2 so that we can
put twin sleeping berths in it, right?
CR:That’s it Donny boy. Seriously, you’ve got a great air-

plane in the two. Just think what we here at American and
the folks over at TWA, Eastern and United could do with
say, a 15 sleeper, 20 day seat, 1,200 mile airplane. By god,
I bet you’d sell hundreds of them. Hell, I’ll commit right
now to buy twenty, sight unseen, with more orders to
come. Really Don, the world is waiting.
Later in ’36 the world got what it was waiting for — DC-3
and DST. Production of the civilian DC-3 ended in 1942, the
first full year of WWII for the U.S., and by that time 607
had been built and sold before they came off the assem-
bly line. This had to reassure Douglas as to the efficacy of
“Fifty Years a Lady”, a painting by Craig Kodera.
“In my painting,” said Craig Kodera, “I strove to evoke a sense of warmth, the whole DC-3 project as it was the most numerous, by
nostalgia and romance. Never have so many stories been written about far, of any airliner built until then. In any event, history
a single airplane; never has an airplane been so much a part of our has proven that Donald Douglas had nothing to reproach
consciousness. It seems that everyone, at one time, has flown in a DC-3.
This painting is for all of them. As unique as the airplane is, so too is the himself about DC-3. The military version, C-47/R4D/Dakota
painting. My goal was to capture not just the airframe but indeed the added a further 16,000 sales and it was purchased or built
spirit of aviation which is the Douglas DC-3.” Amen, Craig.
under license by more than 40 domestic and international
operators. DC-3s have flown deep into formerly unknown
regions of the Amazon, operated from the trackless ice-
world of the Antarctic to the remotest regions of Africa, and
in every continent and country in the world.

A full history of this aeroplane would surely include its Brooklyn, New York on 10 July 1938 with a crew of four and
stellar record of service in every combat theatre of WWII, circled the globe around the narrow northern latitudes. They
as C-47/R4D/Dakota, however, that would require an stopped only long enough to top off the fuel and oil at Paris,
entire book in itself and is beyond the scope of this discus- Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, and Minneapolis, land-
sion. DC-3 advanced aviation in immeasurable ways. As a ing back in New York on 14 July. The total distance flown
civilian airliner it set the tone and pace for the Lockheed was 14,672 miles and the total time was 3 days, 19 hours and
Constellation to come. 17 minutes. The man was Howard Hughes.
However well the Model 14 did as a commercial airliner for
THE LAST OF THE TWO-ENGINE MAINLINERS 7 Lockheed, it was nothing in comparison to what it did for
In the years immediately after DC-3 commenced its abso- Lockheed as a military transport and light patrol bomber.
lute dominance in the commercial air-transport industry, The idea that the Model 14 would make a good light bomber
very few new designs of its size and type emerged. After all, is attributed to Clarence “Kelly” Johnson as is the re-design
what was the point of competing with a sure winner? Except of Super Electra. Accordingly, in late 1937 Lockheed pub-
for Douglas’ abortive DC-4E project, the only two new com- lished a cutaway drawing of Super Electra, showing it inter-
mercial aircraft to be successfully introduced in the U.S. after nally set up as such. By chance, the drawing came to the
1936 and before WWII (7 December 1941) were the Lockheed attention of the British Purchasing Commission (BPC) who
Model 14 “Super Electra” and Model 18 “Lodestar.” was also just by chance looking for a suitable maritime
Introduced in October 1937, Model 14 Super Electra was, patrol aircraft design to supplement the RAF’s Avro Anson.
as its name implies, a super-sized Electra 10 designed by a
team led by Don Palmer, with seats for 12-14 passengers,
powered by two 900 hp. Wright SGR-1820-F62 Cyclone
9-cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engines. Super Electra
featured a new type of flap, the Fowler flap8 giving it excel-
lent slow speed characteristics, and a high speed wing
design which extends its performance envelope enormously
and beyond anything else currently in commercial ser-
vice. With a top airspeed of 250 mph, a cruise of 215 mph
at 8,000’ and a ferry range (with additional fuel tanks) of
2,125 miles, Super Electra was the fastest U.S. commercial
airliner in the late 1930’s. It was not in any way competition
for DC-3, but it gave Boeing 247D and DC-2 a very good run
for the money. 354 Model 14s were built which in the eco- Lockheed Model 14 “Super Electra”. Photo circa 1939.
nomically challenging late 1930s was a very good number of
aeroplanes, indeed.
Electras of various kinds were the apparent first choice of
long-distance record seekers. A man in a Super Electra who
would soon become instrumental in the development of the
Lockheed Constellation took off from Floyd Bennett Field in
7 By “Mainliner” I mean those aircraft which flew the airlines’ chief, long
distance routes. Of course, two and three-engine aircraft have been and
are U.S. airlines’ short(er) haul aircraft since the advent of the four-engine
airliners and are an equally important factor in commercial aviation.
8 Seen here, the Fowler flap was the invention of

aeronautical engineer Harlan D. Fowler in 1924
who later won the 1949 Franklin Institute “Wetherill
Award” for this invention. It was tested by the legend-
ary Fred Weick at NACA in 1932 and found to be a revolutionary aeronautical
advance. Fowler flaps were first installed on the Martin 146 bomber proto-
type in 1935. The 1937 Lockheed Electra Model 14 was the first production
aircraft in which a Fowler flap was installed.
The Fowler design may be either a split flap (as seen here), that is, where
Great Britain’s Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain returning to England on
the top of the trailing edge remains stationary as the flap is lowered below it,
or more commonly a full trailing edge flap where part of the entire trailing
30 September 1938 after the second Munich Conference on 28-30 September.
edge is lowered. The unique feature of the Fowler is that it moves rearward as He is holding up the agreement that he made with Adolph Hitler giving
well as changing angle. This increases the actual area of the wing by length- Germany permission to absorb a large portion of certain provinces of northern
ening the local chord, thus reducing the overall wing-load of the aircraft Czechoslovakia in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, called the “Sudetenland”
and increasing the local Reynolds Number. This increases wing’s coefficient or “Southern Land”, where many culturally and traditionally German
of lift (Cl), increases the wing’s local Alpha and begins to increase drag pro- Czechoslovakians resided. This became notoriously known as “The Great
portionally after lowering approximately 25º which has the effect of, among “Appeasement” and led to the fall of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939. The
other things, permitting a steeper approach without increasing airspeed aeroplane in which Chamberlain flew back to England, its characteristic twin-
(similar to a speed brake) whilst also reducing the airspeed at which the air- tails seen here behind him, is a British Airways (the pre-war airline) Lockheed
craft will stall. Model 14 Super Electra.

27
Lockheed Model 18 “Lodestar” operated by

Alaska Star Airlines, later to become Alaska
Airlines in 1944. Photo circa 1942.
An RAAF Lockheed “Hudson Mk I” looking quite bellicose. The blue and white roundels and fin flashes are the
usual tri-color Type A, red centre, white and blue circle RAF/RAAF roundel and fin flash but with the red centre
circle of the roundel and the forward red stripe of the Type A fin flash omitted. This insignia modification enough to DC-3’s twenty one. Powered
was done on all Allied aircraft throughout the Pacific Theatre beginning May 1942 for fear of the red circle
being mistaken in combat for the red Japanese Hinomaru. The current, more familiar RAAF roundel with red by two 1,200 hp. Wright R-1829-
kangaroo facing left or forward in the centre was adopted on 2 July 1956. Prior to that, the RAAF displayed the87 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial
usual RAF roundels.
engines, “Lodestar” had a ferocious
top airspeed of 266 mph. Introduced in
Lockheed learned that the BPC were coming to discuss Super March 1940, sales of Lodestar were slow in the U.S. as hun-
Electra as a possible military aeroplane and feverishly mod- dreds of DC-3s had already been purchased and were oper-
ified one from the assembly lines according to Johnson’s ating with all of the domestic airlines.
drawings in only five days and nights. Foreign sales of Lodestar were far better, nine having
On 10 December 1938, Lockheed flew a demonstration of been purchased by the British Overseas Airways Corporation
the militarized version of the Super Electra for BPC. After (BOAC), now British Airways, twenty-nine by the
making the few changes that were requested by BPC in only Netherlands East Indies, thirteen by New Zealand National
24 hours, Lockheed won a contract for up to 250 of what Airways Corporation, twenty-one by South African Airways,
was to be called “Hudson Mk I.” Powered by two 1,100 hp. and twelve by Trans-Canada Air Lines.
Wright Cyclone GR-1820-102A radial engines it had a very Lodestar’s excellent performance specs and Lockheed’s
respectable maximum airspeed of 246 mph at 6,500 feet. highly successful Hudson caused the USAAC to take interest
Lockheed, which had never before produced any kind of in the aeroplane. In the build-up to WWII starting in 1940, a
military aircraft now found itself supplying the RAF with number of commercial Model 18 “Lodestars” were impressed
a light patrol bomber, eventually complete with a Boulton- into military service and designated C-60 by the USAAC and
Paul Type C electro/hydraulic dorsal machine gun turret. R5O by the USN. In February 1940 the RAF, already quite
Hudson’s performance is comparable to the Nazi’s Heinkel pleased with Lockheed’s Hudson patrol bomber, ordered
111H-2 bomber.9 188 of the larger and faster Lodestars which they named
Lockheed’s Model 18 “Lodestar” was a last gasp attempt “Ventura.” After 7 December 1941, a further order for 487
to compete with DC-3. As a commercial airliner, Super improved Venturas, Ventura Mk II was partially diverted to
Electra had been less than successful at this. It was faster the USAAF which ordered 200 more and designated them
than DC-3 but carried seven less passengers and was more
expensive to operate. By further stretching Super Electra’s
fuselage another 5’6,” eighteen passengers could now be
accommodated, which Lockheed considered to be close
9 2,941 Lockheed Hudsons in eighteen variants saw service throughout

WWII with the RAF, RCAF, RAAF, RNZAF, USAAC-F, USN, Brazilian AF,
Chinese Nationalist AF, Royal Netherlands AF, Portuguese AF, South African
AF, Irish Air Corps, and the Israeli AF. The immediate and totally unexpected
commercial success of the Hudson gave fresh courage to Lockheed who, to
everyone in the aviation industry’s surprise, entered an aeroplane pursuant
to the USAAC’s 1937 specifications for a twin-engine, high-altitude “inter-
ceptor” having “the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile
aircraft at high altitude.” Lockheed’s design team led by Hall Hibbard and
Clarence “Kelly” Johnson came up with an unusual arrangement of twin
beams and a twin tail (by then a Lockheed trademark) with a central “pod” Lockheed PV-1 “Ventura” in U. S. Navy mid- WWII
for the pilot, guns and ammo. This resulted in Model 22, later designated by Pacific Theatre, tri-color camouflage.
the USAAC-F as P-38 “Lightning.”

B-34 “Lexington.”
In early 1942 the USAAF was, by tradition, responsible NO, YOU
for land-based coastal anti-submarine patrols. Naturally
always deeply resentful of this, the USN created plans for a
BE A
land-based Naval air mission using fast, heavy patrol air- LONE
craft to find and sink Nazi submarines which were known
to be operating in waters proximate to the U.S. The matter EAGLE
was resolved to both service’s satisfaction when the USAAF A POEM BY
Ogden Nash
needed the Navy plant in Renton, Washington State for the OGDEN NASH
manufacture of Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. The Navy gave
the plant to the USAAF in return for the right to operate This and other equally clever, subtlety hilarious poems
land-based anti-submarine patrols and the transfer of all may be found in “Loving Letters from Ogden Nash:
current B-34s to Naval service. Further, a navalised version A Family Album” edited by Linell Nash Smith, Nash’s
of the B-34, named PV-1 Ventura would henceforth be built daughter.
for the USN by Vega, a subsidiary of Lockheed. PV-1s served This inimitably humorous poem by the inimitable
from the Aleutians to the Solomon and Gilbert Islands. Ogden Nash came about after he witnessed the non-
In 1943 Lockheed designed and built PV-2 “Harpoon,” an fatal crash of one of the world’s first four-engine airlin-
even larger version of PV-1. After discovering serious prob- ers, Fokker F-32 on 27 November 1929, mentioned on
lems with the new wing, it finally went into combat at the the next page.
end of 1944 as PV-2D. With eight forward-firing .50 calibre
machine guns it was used primarily as a formidable ground I find it very hard to be fair-minded
attack aeroplane. The RAF, RAAF, RNZAF, RCAF, South
About people who go around being air-
African Air Force, Soviet Air Force, also flew Venturas, and minded. I just can’t see any fun
later a few Harpoons until the end of the war.
After WWII ex-military PV-1 Venturas were converted to In soaring up up up into the sun
civilian use as luxury executive transports by Howard Aero When the chances are still a fresh cool orchid to
in San Antonio, Texas. With the fuselage stretched a fur- a paper geranium That you’ll unsoar down down
ther four feet, huge picture windows, decadently luxuri- down onto your (to you) invaluable cranium.
ous interiors, generous baggage compartments where the I know the constant refrain
weapons and bomb bays had been, provision for more fuel,
the Super Ventura was a prestigious, comfortable, desirable
About how safer up in God’s trafficless
heaven than in an automobile or a train
and most capable private corporate airliner. In the 1960s
18 Super Venturas, now called Howard 350s, were produced But ...
with heavier-duty PV-2 undercarriages. Nineteen or more My God, have you ever taken a good look at a strut?
Howard 500s were built with pressurised cabins. These
ultra-transports were powered with two 2,500 hp. Pratt &
Then that one about how you’re in Boston before
you can say antidis- establishmentarianism
Whitney R-2800-CB17 twin-row “Wasp” radial engines,
had a top airspeed of 410 mph and cruised at between 350 So that preferring to take five hours by rail is
and 378 mph at 25,000 to 35,000’. a pernicious example of antiquarianism.
At least when I get on the Boston train I have a
WANTED: TWO MORE ENGINES PLEASE good chance of landing in the South Station
All was going swimmingly well for the booming airline travel
And not in that part of the daily press which
business in those innocent years between Lucky Lindbergh’s
is reserved for victims of aviation.
great 1927 flight and the terrible and public faith-chilling,
fatal crash on 31 March 1931 of a TWA Fokker tri-motor in Then, despite the assurance that aeroplanes
which all on board were killed including the beloved Notre are terribly comfortable I notice that when
Dame University football coach, Knute Rockne. With that you are railroading or automobiling
single stroke the reputation and public confidence in com- You don’t have to take a paper bag along just in case of
mercial aviation in general, and Fokker aircraft in particular a funny feeling. It seems to me that no kind of depravity
was greatly shook.
Brings such speedy retribution as ignoring
However, in that halcyon year of 1929, before another kind
the law of gravity. Therefore nobody
of crash, aeronautical progress was healthy, its vistas seem- could possibly indict me for perjury
ingly unlimited. Whilst every manufacturer of large aircraft
in the U.S. was busy trying to perfect a really useful two- When I swear that I wish the Wright brothers had
engine airliner to replace the antiquated Ford and Fokker
gone in for silver fox farming or tree surgery.
Tri-Motors, Anthony Fokker was hard at work with his for-
midable design team to develop a four-engine airliner.

29
The Fokker F.32 was certainly a precocious aeroplane conditions caused only Western Air Express to actually pur-
in 1929 with a seating capacity of 32 or sleeping capacity chase only two of the total of seven F.32s built.
for 16. This was far greater capacity than even DC-3 which A good deal of confidence in F.32 was shattered when
first flew seven years later. The F.32 was so far advanced of one crashed during a demonstration flight at Roosevelt
what was then flying the commercial airways that it might Field, Long Island, New York on 27 November 1929
have been considered to be an object in a futuristic science- wherein a take-off on three engines was attempted.
fiction story. However, neither H. G. Wells nor Jules Verne Many in the aviation industry were already of the opin-
had anything to do with this monster aeroplane. ion that this new Fokker was underpowered and that
F.32 had a 99’ wingspan, a 69’ 10” fuselage length, a furthermore, the aircraft’s back-to-back engine config-
height of 16’ 6” and was powered (or should I say “under- uration, with an engine on each end of the under-wing
powered”) by four 450 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-1340-7 Wasp, nacelles caused each front-engines’ two-blade propel-
9-cylinder, air-cooled radial engines mounted back to back, ler to create rearward turbulence which greatly interfered
two under each wing. It was the second largest aeroplane in with the rear-engines’ three-blade propellers’ efficiency.
the world in 1929, the largest being the enormous Dornier Additionally, the rear engines suffered from severe cool-
DO X.10 ing problems.
Whilst Western Air Express, Universal Airlines (later One of F.32’s port engines was intentionally stopped
Braniff Airlines) and Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) all for the three-engine takeoff demonstration, but the other
expressed interest in the aeroplane, uncertain economic port engine quit immediately after take-off and the Fokker
crashed onto a nearby house. No one was killed, but the
pilot and a crew member were injured.
10 The Dornier DO X airboat was powered by twelve 455 hp. Curtiss
Conqueror water-cooled V12 engines carried up to 100 passengers
in regular multi-stop transatlantic flights. Only three were built, but by
This episode ended four-engine airliners in the U.S. for
1932 and the onset of the Great Depression it was no longer regarded as a almost a decade, but by the end of the 1930’s the enormous
viable commercial aeroplane. One of this legitimate pride and wonder of success of DC-3 gave the entire airline industry an injection
Deutschland was thereafter displayed at Deutsche Luftfahrt-Sammlung at
Lehrter Bahnhof, a museum in Berlin, and was most unfortunately destroyed
of new optimism for further expansion, including larger
during an RAF bombing mission. aeroplanes.
This 1939 ad hardly

needs any sub-print.
The picture alone is
sufficient.
No, this is not a photo of a vastly over-booked Fokker F.32. Looking, however, like
something out of H. G. Wells’ “Things to Come”, this is one of the two Western Air Express
Fokker F.32s in service in and around 1929-31. Fokker’s trademark thick, cantilever wing
is evident as well as the notorious back-to-back engine arrangement. A behemoth of an
aeroplane, it represented the latest optimistic aeronautical advance of its time. Here we
see the passengers standing on top of it and the three-man crew and the stewardess, who
know better, standing below on terra firma. Such photos as this one were often used as
publicity to prove the strength of an aeroplane’s wing.
Far Left: Still photo from H. G. Wells’ “Things to Come”, a

1936 London Film Productions/ United Artists film produced
by the great Alexander Korda and directed by the great
William Cameron Menzies.
Left: In the 1930’s, advertisements showing the availability
of Pullman-style sleeping, as well as
china plate/silver service dining accommodations in airliners
was considered a very effective way to increase public
acceptance and preference for air travel over rail. Undeniably
much faster, if one could travel as comfortably pampered by
air as by rail…

Dornier DO X Flugschiff ("flying ship") about to make its first flight. Suffering from
the same inefficient back-to-back engine arrangement as the Fokker F.32, even
with twelve engines it was woefully underpowered with a truly anemic rate of
climb (less than 250 fpm), absolute ceiling (1,650’) and top speed (105 mph). Set up
in every way more like a ship than an aeroplane, three were built and successfully
proved that commercial transatlantic flights were feasible.
In the late 1930’s, even In the late 1930’s DC-3

when the advertised was the latest thing in
product was, as here, not measuring the extent
at all aviation related, the of human technical
use of aviation images progress.
particularly where a
female aviator, not-so-
subtly referencing Amelia
Earhart were pictured,
was seen to be a helpful
sales device.
Sikorsky S-42 was The emphasis of women

generically known in aviators in advertising
its time as “The China was a way to boost
Clipper” as were all of the aviation in general by
other trans-pacific flying tacitly saying to men:
boats, likely because of “If a ‘mere’ woman
dramatic advertisements can do it, well then,
like this one in all of the how about you?” Such
popular magazines and casual, antediluvian,
newspapers as well as sexist attitudes were
the popular 1936 Warner “de rigueur” and were
Brothers film “China unapologetically publicly
Clipper”, starring Pat expressed in days past,
O’Brien and Humphrey and are hopefully long
Bogart. “The China gone.
Clipper” in the film was
not, however, Sikorsky’s
S-42; it was Martin’s
M-130.

31
Sikorsky Ilya Muromets shown

during WWI with its crew of
manual engine starters.
Above, Top: Sikorsky’s Russky Vityaz (Le Grand) the world’s first four- engine aeroplane and first airliner. Yes,
that is an open walkway in front of the cockpit for passengers to step out onto for a really good, if a bit windy, view
whilst in flight. Russky Vityaz had two comfortable cabins for up to seven passengers, a saloon and a washroom and designed, but never built a
– in 1913! six-engine flying boat planned
Above, Bottom: Sikorsky’s 1913, 97’ 8” wingspan Ilya Muromets, the world’s first four-engine bomber. Maybe it’s
a Russian thing, like sitting backwards on the sill of an open window on an upper floor and bending backwards for Pan Am.
towards the outdoors whilst drinking an entire bottle of rum. (see/read: “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy - Chapter Igor Sikorsky, who despite
IX), but here again there are people standing on the fuselage whilst in flight without any apparent railing or
popular opinion did not invent
support. These three in the foreground seem to be easily keeping up with the less-than-swift Ilya Muromets.
the helicopter, was the first to
develop it as a practical aircraft.
He designed and built Sikorsky
U.S. MANUFACTURERS TAKE THE R-4 the concept upon which most later helicopters have
FOUR-ENGINE PLUNGE been based. Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is best known
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (Russian: ИИ горь ИваИ нович today as a leading manufacturer of helicopters.
СикоИ рский ) was born in Kiev, Russia on 25 May 1889.
Sikorsky was a bold and very forward-thinking avia- BOATS THAT FLY, OR AEROPLANES THAT FLOAT?
tion pioneer, designing and flying the Russky Vityaz (Le The reason that the flying boat was the most practical type
Grand) in 1913, with an upper wingspan of 91’ 10,” It was of aircraft for travel to the Asian East was that in the 1930s
the world’s first four-engine aeroplane and the world’s there were very few airports in that part of the world, par-
first airliner. Only one was built; however, it flew success- ticularly few near the large coastal cities to which tourists
fully and set Sikorsky on his way to design an even bigger, wished to go, and none at all which were of sufficient size
“grander” aeroplane. In the same year, most spectacu- to handle large and heavy aircraft. On the other hand, it
larly, Sikorsky designed the first four-engine bomber, Ilya was no problem for a large Flying Boat to land and takeoff
Muromets, which was the largest aeroplane in the world in the limitless span of open water near these cities; and
in its day. additionally, docks were a lot less expensive to build than
After WWI (The Great War), and more significantly airports with long, paved runways. Flying Boat passengers
the Russian Revolution, Igor Sikorsky, a devoted capital- were also surely much calmed in their minds when flying
ist/industrialist at heart, emigrated to the United States over such vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean in an aeroplane
in 1919. He founded the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in that could, if needs be, float.
1923 or 1925 (sources differ) and set up shop at Stratford, The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (today a Lockheed
Connecticut (present day Sikorsky Memorial Airport) in Martin Company) literally took the four-engine “plunge”
1929. In July of that year Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation with its S-42, a long-range commercial flying boat11 which
became a part of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation
(now United Technologies Corporation) and soon there-
after became a part of Vought Aircraft which, along with
Chance-Vought which designed and built the famous F4U
11 S-42 was more appropriately a “Flying Ship,” although it and none
of its type have ever been called anything other than “Flying Boats.”
According to hoary seafaring lore, a ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot
carry a ship. S-42s and other “Flying Boats” (sic) carried life rafts, i.e. boats,
“Corsair,” one of the most effective WWII naval fighters.
so QED, they are ships. True, an S-42 might be carried aboard an aircraft
In the 1930’s Sikorsky designed and built two successful carrier (at least a modern one), but that would be the exception that proves
four-engine flying boats, S-42 and VS-44 “Excalibur” (the the rule. Also, more practically, a ship’s captain always gets rather annoyed
if you refer to his vessel as a boat, but a boat’s captain never gets annoyed if
name of King Arthur’s legendary, magic-infused sword ), you refer to his vessel as a ship.

Sikorsky Aircraft created to meet Pan Am’s 1931 specifi- Excalibur’s provisions for passenger comfort were not
cations. The aeroplane had to include wing flaps, vari- only splendidly Babylonial, the aeroplane was a great aero-
able-pitch propellers, and a full-length hull with the tail nautical performer as well with a cruise airspeed of 160 mph
attached. It took three years to get it right and the first S-42 and a whopping range of over 4,000 miles when fitted with
had its maiden flight 29 March 1934. During its testing the additional fuel tanks. Its chief competitor was Boeing’s
S-42 prototype quickly established ten world records for 74 day passenger 314 Clipper, a larger and more power-
carrying the most payload to the highest altitude. A total of ful aeroplane than Excalibur but not, apparently, so much
ten were built, the most famous two of them being “Flying more superior a design. Even with 1,600 more total horse-
Clipper” and “Pan Am Clipper.” power, 314 Clipper was 5 mph slower fully loaded and with
Powered by four 660 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet a range 315 miles shorter. Even so, in 1939 Pan Am was
supercharged radial engines, with accommodations for 37 more impressed with the larger and uber-luxurious 314
seated passengers or 14 sleeping berths, a maximum air- whose passenger capacity which was almost twice that of
speed of 188 mph, a range of 1,930 miles, S-42 was the the Sikorsky. Passing on the Sikorsky, Pan Am purchased
most advanced airliner of its day and proved to be very six Boeing 314s, and later six 314As to augment its three
commercially successful. “Flying Boats” were aptly so- aerodynamically advanced Martin 130s. This was a serious
named because they were aeroplanes whose fuselages were economic blow to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation almost went
essentially large boat (ship) hulls. S-42s operated in the bankrupt when it was unable to recoup Excalibur’s develop-
Caribbean, from the continental U.S. to Central and South ment costs. As a result, the spectacular Excalibur was the
America, and across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans until last fixed-wing aeroplane that Sikorsky ever produced.
WWII made such operations impractical. During WWII the U.S. Navy impressed AEA’s three VS-44s
VS-44 “Excalibur” was designed in 1940 by Sikorsky and put them into service as transatlantic military transport
Aircraft whilst it was a part of Chance-Vought, and was aircraft between New York City and Foynes, Ireland, desig-
primarily intended for transatlantic passenger crossings. nating them JR2S-1. The Excalibur crashed in 1942 and the
Powered by four 1,200 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S1C3-G Exeter was sold to a Uruguayan airline and crashed on 15
radial engines it had the same horsepower as a B-17. August 1947.
VS-44 carried more than 40 passengers in luxury. Four However, the fate of the Excambian is a wild and twisted
were built, three of them for American Export Airlines (AEA), tale that a maser fiction writer could not improve upon. In
a part of the American Export Lines steamship line. AEA 1949 the Excambian was sold to Brazilian Tampico Airlines
collectively called their VS-44s “Flying Aces,” intentionally but it was left stranded in Ancon Harbour, Peru. This very
similar to the steamship line’s ships called the “Four Aces.” well might have been the end for the Excambian, but it was
Individually the AEA VS-44s were named Exeter, Excalibur not. She was purchased by two Americans in 1958 and fer-
and Excambian, which were also the names of three of ried to Long Beach, California where she was refurbished,
American Export Lines’ four ships. VS-44 was the last of renamed “Mother Goose,” and used to ferry tourists to
the great Sikorsky flying boats and was fitted out with all and from the island of Santa Catalina, “26 miles across the
of the elite, first-class accoutrements of a luxury ocean sea” until 1967. In that year, Actress Maureen O’Sullivan’s
liner. On board of the fully heated and ventilated cabin were husband, aviator par excellance Charlie Blair, the owner
full-length double sleeping berths, separate private dress- of Antilles Air Boats at Charlotte Amalié (Amal-yay), St.
ing rooms, a full gourmet galley, a bar/lounge, a smoking Thomas, bought the Excambian and used her to take pas-
lounge, a dining room and a snack bar. sengers to and from the various Virgin Islands.
Sikorsky VS-44A
Excambian as JR2S-1
in better days, seen
here in U. S. Navy
Blue-Grey/Light Gull
Grey camouflage
with American Export
markings rather than
Naval military markings.

33
On 3 January 1969, whilst landing in Charlotte Amalié Company, anxious to join the ranks of the manufacturers
Harbour, the Excambian hit some hidden rocks and was of large flying boats, designed and submitted M-130, which
damaged beyond repair. I am sad to say that in 1972 the featured a clean, lower drag airframe and four 830 hp,
Excambian was beached at St. Thomas and shamefully later 1,200 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S2A5G Twin Wasp
converted into a hot dog stand for too long a while (any 14-cylinder radial engines, driving Hamilton-Standard
while was too long). In 1976, Blair gave the aeroplane to the “Hydromatic” constant-speed propellers.
National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida. Accommodating 36 day seats and 19 sleeper berths, with
The Naval museum permanently loaned Excambian to the a cruise airspeed of 130 mph and a range of 3,200 miles,
New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport M-130 satisfied Pan Am’s specs. Three were built, China
in Windsor Locks, Connecticut who had her trucked 67 miles Clipper (the real one), the Philippine Clipper and the Hawaii
west to Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Connecticut Clipper. A single, larger, twin-tail M-156, called Russian
for restoration. Once there, she was hangared no more than Clipper was built for the Soviet Union.
300 hundred yards from where she had been born. It took Most likely because of magazine and newspaper adver-
ten years to restore the Excambian to its former glory and tisements announcing flights to China such as Sikorsky’s
in 1997 she was returned to the New England Air Museum, for its S-42 (below), as well as the release of the popu-
reassembled, painted and put on permanent exhibition, a lar 1936 Warner Brother’s film, “China Clipper,” the public
fitting end to the noble “Excambian,” ironically the last began to generically refer to all transpacific flying boats,
remaining American-built commercial transoceanic, four- Martin M-130, Sikorsky S-42, and Boeing 314, as “China
engine flying boat. Clippers,” although it was only Martin’s M-130 which was
featured in the film.
MARTIN Operating across the Pacific Ocean from 1938 through
In 1934 Pan Am published a set of specifications for a flying 1945, both in civilian and U.S. Navy guise, all three Martin
boat that they wanted to purchase. The Glenn L. Martin Clippers were lost in fatal crashes, Pan Am’s “Hawaii
Clipper” in July 1938, the U.S. Navy’s
“Philippine Clipper” in January 1943,
and “China Clipper” in January 1945.
DOUGLAS
As early as 1936 and even before the
DC-3 had flown, Douglas Aviation
had been toying with the idea for a
four-engine airliner. What they came
up with was called DC-4 (the next
number design from the company and
also for its four engines). It was later
and more commonly called DC-4E, the
“E” for experimental. It had capacity
The streamlined and efficient early model
for 42 (later 52) seated passengers or
Martin M-130 made the most of its total 3,800 16 sleeper berths as well as a number
hp whilst its competitors required 4,800 hp of “firsts” for a large airliner: a nose-
and more to perform the same task. Photo
circa 1940 wheel, power-boosted flight controls,
a pressurized cabin, air conditioning,
internal auxiliary power units, a low
triple-tail, an A/C electrical system. It
was powered by four 1,450 hp. Pratt
& Whitney R-2180-A Twin Hornet
14-cylinder radials mounted on the
wing with distinct toe-out, particu-
larly the outer two engines.
One was built. United Airways did
the test evaluation flights during 1939
and found that this early DC-4E would
be expensive to operate and maintain
This is the actual M-130 1936 Warner Brothers flyer for “China
“China Clipper” in late-war Clipper”. Note the rough and highly and in its 52-seat incarnation, did not
U. S. Navy camo., overall inaccurate drawing of what is supposed perform nearly up to what Douglas
Sea Blue. Photo taken in to be a Martin M-130 which is featured in
had hoped.
its last days as a U. S. Navy the film. Also note Humphrey Bogart’s
transport, circa 1944. name placed low in the credits. A redesign reduced the aeroplane’s

size and simplified much of the complex systems, elimi- pressurized, 33-35 seat, 241 mph top airspeed, 215 mph
nating the pressurized cabin. This new aeroplane was also cruise Stratoliners. Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA,
called DC-4, the larger original aeroplane now re-named later to be called Trans World Airlines) pre-ordered five.
DC-4E in an attempt to avoid confusion which attempt has, This was sufficient for Boeing to begin production of the 307.
for the most part, miserably failed. In late 1939 the lone A forward-thinking design by any standards, it was not
DC-4E was sold to Imperial Japanese Airways who was then as well thought-out as it should have been. While virtu-
buying as many different U.S. aeroplanes as it could for the ally every other manufacturer of large aircraft was turn-
purpose of reverse engineering and technology transfer for ing to tricycle undercarriage as the new “standard,” 307
the Japanese military aviation establishment. A fraudulent Stratocruiser had an anachronistic tail wheel.
Japanese press release said that the DC-4E had crashed into This was not 307’s the only design flaw. The first produc-
Tokyo Bay, but it was actually hidden away and was being tion 307 had a successful maiden flight 31 December 1938;
carefully studied by the Japanese aircraft manufacturer, however, it crashed during a two-engine operation dem-
Nakajima. What the Japanese learned from the big Douglas onstration flight on 18 March 1939, killing all ten on board.
was used to design the Nakajima G5N bomber which was no The pilot found that he had to use full rudder-deflection to
more a successful design than the DC-4E itself had been. counter the yaw when only two engines were running on
Douglas Aviation left the four-engine concept alone for one side. This caused aerodynamic rudder-lock, prevent-
a few years and wisely heavily concentrated on developing ing the rudder from being returned to centre when all of the
what became DC-3. Douglas Aviation never again designed engines were once again running. Accordingly, this inad-
a triple or even a double-tail airliner. vertently crippled 307 went into an unrecoverable spin.
A long dorsal fin was added to the existing one (and
BOEING was also added to all existing B-17s as well) and this was
Boeing, which had eschewed building any more small shown to prevent 307’s fatal rudder lock problem. Boeing
aeroplanes earlier in the 1930s, had a four-engine air- 307 Stratoliner was introduced 8 July 1940 as the Battle of
liner design of its own on the boards. Having already gar- Britain was raging in the southern English skies.
nered much valuable experience in 1935 with their Model The first actual customer for Boeing 307 Stratoliner was
299, which became the venerable B-17, in 1937 Boeing took none other than Howard Hughes. In late August 1939 he had
the already well-proven wings, tail, rudder, undercarriage, it fitted it out with enormous fuel tanks in preparation for
engines and their nacelles from B-17C and put them on a an attempt to break his former ’round-the-world record set
newly-designed fuselage of a circular cross-section in order in a Lockheed Super Electra in July 1938.
to facilitate cabin pressurization, a feature which would be a Hughes was all ready to set out on the first leg of his flight
first for a large U.S. airliner. The new Boeing would be pow- on 1 September 1939 when breaking news flashed all around
ered by four 1,100 hp. Wright GR-1820-G102A radial engines the world: Nazi Germany had invaded Poland. Europe was
and called 307 “Stratoliner.” in shock and chaos and everyone understood that the war
Still unflown, Pan Am placed a pre-order for eight of the that virtually all the nations had dreaded but had not done
enough to prevent, had commenced. Hughes had the extra
fuel tanks removed from the aeroplane, fitted it with much
more powerful 1,600 hp. Wright R-2600 engines, and cre-
ated an ultra-luxurious “flying penthouse.” As it turned
out, Hughes hardly ever used it and in 1949 sold it to oil
tycoon Glenn McCarthy.
Ten 307s were built and nine were delivered in March
and April 1940. TWA received five 307s (Comanche, Navajo,
TWA Boeing 307 in flight. Rare color
Zuni, Cherokee and Apache) flying routes with three stops
photo. circa 1940.
between Los Angeles and New York, Pan Am received three
307s (Clipper Rainbow, Clipper Flying Cloud and Clipper
Comet) flying regular scheduled flights from Miami to
Central and South America and, as mentioned, one 307 went
to Howard Hughes.
Came 7 December 1941, and the next day the U.S. was in
the war. Aeroplanes of all kinds were immediately required
by the USAAF and any useful-looking civilian aeroplane was
Boeing 307 as C- 75 fair game. Pan Am was permitted to continue its 307 flights
in USAAF colors: Olive to Central and South America with its own crews under the
Drab 41/Neutral Grey. A
screenshot from FS9 of Jens B. strict control of the U.S. State Department. TWA’s five 307s
Kristensen's Boeing 307 with some were purchased by the USAAF for transport aircraft and des-
mods by Glenn "Ozbeowulf" Duncan
ignated C-75; however, their revolutionary pressurization
into a C-75 with appropriate panel.
systems were removed to reduce weight.

35
found Excalibur to too small for its
Painting by Ron Cole of Pan Am’s 314, “Pacific Clipper.”
purposes.
By 1936 Boeing was well-experi-
enced with ultra-large (for that time)
aircraft having developed and flown
its prototype B-17 in 1935. Determined
to win Pan Am’s contract Boeing
designed and submitted a 152’ wing-
span 106’ long Flying Boat that could
accommodate 74 daytime passen-
gers and 36 sleeping berths. This was
the Boeing 314, the largest of the U.S.
flying boats with passenger accommo-
dations almost twice that of its near-
est competitor, Sikorsky’s 40-passen-
ger “Excalibur.”
Powered by four 1,600 hp. Wright
Twin-Cyclone radial engines, Boeing
314’s total of 6.400 horsepower made
it the most powerful commercial aero-
plane in the world at is introduction
in 1939. Boeing’s engineers incorpo-
rated short, airfoil shaped, lift-pro-
ducing Dornier-style sponson water-
stabilizers beneath the wing instead
of heavy outboard wing floats which
would have had to be retracted by
heavy motors to reduce their drag
The immense Boeing in flight. These sponsons were also
314, the largest of
the U. S. flying boats.
used as the passengers’ entry/depar-
Photo circa 1941. ture ramp. 314 was the first successful
U.S. airliner with a triple-tail which it
required to balance yaw stability, off-
setting the enormous side surface of
In 1944 the USAAF returned these now very weary five the forward fuselage.
307s to TWA. Essentially worn out, TWA sent them back to 314’s performance in the air, cruising at a maximum of
Boeing for a complete re-build. The wings and horizontal 188 mph, but only 155 mph when fully loaded, was almost as
stabilizer of the latest B-17G, new, more powerful engines fast as Sikorsky’s VS-44 and faster than Martin’s 130, which
and a new B-29-type electronics system were installed and was not surprising given 314’s thousands more horsepower.
passenger accommodations were increased to 38. Whether In addition to this, 314 outshined all other competition in
the cabin pressurizing system was re-installed is not known its passenger accommodations. Rivaling and in some ways
to this writer, although it is likely that it was. TWA began to even besting many ocean-going liners, 314’s one-class
fly their new 307s and continued to do so even after it had accommodations featured luxury staterooms, huge lounges
purchased an entire fleet of new Lockheed Constellations. and dining rooms available at all hours, the galleys were run
TWA’s old 307s soldiered on for five more years and were by chefs and staff from some of Europe’s finest four-star
retired in April 1951. hotels and restaurants, there were separate dressing rooms
Pan Am was a major player in the Flying Boat industry and lavatories for men and women, six-course meals were
of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Its enormous economic served by a huge staff of experienced waiters, Damask linen
power meant that U.S. aircraft manufacturers gave it more table cloths, bone china plates, Waterford crystal goblets
than serious attention. In 1936 Pan Am published notice that and sterling silver service adorned each table with service
it was seeking to purchase six flying boats that could meet it available at virtually any hour. The standard of luxury on
strict specifications which included having sufficient range Pan American’s Boeing 314s has never been matched by any
to cross the Pacific and Atlantic oceans with few stops or heavier-than-air-transport.12
preferably, non-stop. As mentioned above, among the aero-
planes considered was Sikorsky’s VS-44 Excalibur, but Pan
Am was trying to both raise the bar of ultra-luxury air travel 12 Possibly only the L Z 129 Hindenburg hydrogen-filled dirigible
had equally luxurious passenger accommodations to Boeing’s 314.
However, the Hindenburg’s cabins were reputed to be somewhat cramped
and carry more passengers on each flight. Accordingly, it while 314’s were not.

The U.S. War Department purchased Pan Am’s 314s simpler and more operationally economical aeroplane was
during the war and used them for special long-range trans- designed, one that hopefully would not scare off potential
port duty designating them C-98. One such famous flight purchasers. This was the forty + passenger DC-4.
was the one in which President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eastern Airlines and United Airlines, the most prolific
his entourage traveled in a C-98 which had been Boeing purchasers of Douglas’s DC-3, were particularly interested
314 “Dixie Clipper” to the Casablanca Conference to meet in a new, four-engine airliner from Douglas and were ready
with Britain’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill and The to make large orders for same. Naturally encouraged by
Free French Government leader, Gen. Charles De Gaulle on this, Douglas lost no time in getting the DC-4 design off the
12-24 January, 1943 at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French drawing boards and into a flying prototype.
Morocco in North Africa. Some of DC-4E features were retained, such as the tri-
Three of the U.S. War Department’s 314s were sold to the cycle undercarriage, a cylindrical cabin similar to Boeing’s
British Overseas Airways Corporation for special transatlan- 307. This, as it turned out was quite the best choice as a cyl-
tic flights. PM Winston Churchill was initially opposed to inder is most fluently amenable to lengthening and pres-
this purchase, but after he flew in two of them during the surizing which later made DC-6/7 an easy upward transi-
war, he was effusive in his praise for the 314 and, it may be tion. Like DC-4E’s cabin, DC-4’s cabin was originally going
well-assumed, particularly for its more-than-comfortable to be pressurized; however, in the interest of economy and
accommodations. simplicity this feature was not made standard but was only
Some of the U.S. government’s 314s were returned to Pan available by special order, which was never ordered.
Am near the end of the war, but by then the huge flying That which was most saliently abandoned from DC-4E
boats were no longer required for long-distance over-water was its size and its expensive-to-build, aerodynamically
travel. During the war the Allies had built many large, new inefficient triple-tail. A single, more efficient vertical tail
airports for bomber operations in the Far East and else- topping at 27’ 6,” only two feet taller than DC-4E’s triple-
where with long runways, and by then a new breed of fast, tail, was designed for DC-4.
long-range, inter-continental airliners had been born. One We all know of Robert Burn’s often quoted bromide, “The
of these was Lockheed’s Constellation. best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft a-gley” (go
often awry) was never more apt than in the situation facing
DOUGLAS DC-4, CONSTELLATION’S both Douglas and Lockheed in 1941. Just as DC-4 was ready
EARLIEST COMPETITOR (AND ALSO NOT) for production and the expected virtual certainty of plenti-
The failure in the late 1930’s of Douglas’ DC-4E to reach ful sales to every major U.S. airline was about to become a
production (See above) did not mean that the four-engine reality, the United States found itself embroiled in a new
concept was not still being pursued at the Douglas Aircraft world war.
Company. By the late 1930’s and early 1940’s Douglas, as Douglas’s DC-4 and Lockheed’s L-049 “Constellation”
well as every other manufacturer of large passenger aircraft were developed literally at the same time; however, DC-4
well-understood that the four-engine airliner was the fore- flew first on 14 February 1942, two months and seven days
seeable future of all long-distance, transoceanic and world- after Pearl Harbor, beating Constellation’s first flight on 9
wide commercial air-transport. Given the major air carriers’ January 1943 by five days less than eleven months. Orders
strong negative responses to DC-4E, Douglas realized that from the government were that DC-4s were to be built as
perhaps it had indeed been a bit too ambitious with regard fast as possible and every one was to go to the USAAF as
to its size and complexity. Accordingly, a new, smaller, C-54 “Skymaster” or to the USN as “R5D.” Between 1942
and 1947 1,170 C-54s were built for
use by the U.S. and foreign military
services.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
PM Winston Churchill and General
Restored USAAF C-64 “Skymaster” in early-war markings and Douglas MacArthur were frequent
colors: Olive Drab ANA 613 above and pre-ANA Neutral Grey QMA
#43 below, at Chico, California in 1982.
flyers on C-54s during WWII. The RAF,
French Air Force and more than thirty
other nations used C-54s for long-
distance air-transport. The United
States Air Force (USAF) was created
by the signing of the National Security
Act of 1947 by President Harry S.
Truman whilst he was appropriately
on board his personal C-54, “Sacred
Cow.” During “The Berlin Airlift” (26
June 1948-12 May 1949), more than
300 USAF C-54’s flew thousands of

37
sorties carrying food, medicine, heating fuel, etc. to the iso- and Constellation’s service ceiling is 25,300. This may not
lated people of West Berlin. seem to be much of a difference until it is realized that
During WWII Douglas Aircraft Company began to develop DC-4 cannot legally fly above 8,000’ with passengers as it
a DC-4 for commercial use after the war; however, after the is an unpressurized aeroplane, whilst the pressurized L-049
war ended in 1945 many hundreds of military C-54s were Constellation can fly with passengers at 20,000 whilst
surplused and bought cheaply by U.S. air carriers. This cut maintaining the legal maximum cabin altitude with passen-
deeply into the sales of any newly built DC-4s; however, gers of 8.000’. Later and improved pressurization systems
Douglas’ unsettled and unsettling bottom line was some- permitted Connie to fly much higher whilst maintaining the
what assuaged by the hundreds of C-54s and R5Ds which legal cabin altitude.
the airlines who had bought them sent back to Douglas In the immediate post-war era, Lockheed’s L-049 (intro-
for extensive re-fitting and re-equipping to civilian DC-4 duced 5 Feb. 1946) and Boeing’s 377 Stratocruiser (intro-
standards. duced 1 April 1949) ruled the long-distance, high-altitude
Airlines which bought re-civilianized DC-4s include: commercial skies. DC-4 was used mostly for charter and
Western Airlines, Pan American Airways, Northwest Airlines short distance routes. In all, only 78 commercial DC-4s were
and National Airlines and in the U.S., as well as Iberia Airlines built as compared to 1,162 military C-54 “Skymasters,”
(Spain), Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) , Sabena World many of which were converted to civilian specifications
Airlines (Belgium), Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM), Swissair, after the war.
Air France, Avianca (Colombia), Cubana de Aviación, South It was not until DC-6 (April 1949), a lengthened, pres-
African Airways, Aerolíneas Argentinas and Aeropostal surized and more powerful version of DC-4, eventu-
(Venezuela). Soon newly built Douglas DC-4s were used fly ally powered by four, super-reliable Pratt and Whitney
regularly scheduled transatlantic flights from cities in South R-2800s, and more particularly the later DC-7 (November
America and Cuba to cities in Europe. The first airlines to do 1953) with four Wright R-3350’s that Douglas finally found
this include: Aeropostal, Aerolíneas Argentinas and Iberia the correct formula with which to truly compete with
Airlines in 1946, and Cubana de Aviación in 1948. Connie which had already been flying commercially for
In some ways DC-4 was a direct competitor of Constellation, twelve years. To match the devilishly swift Constellation,
but in some ways it was not. L-049 Constellation has seat- Douglas DC-7 pilots were required to use very high power
ing capacity for 60, twenty more passengers than DC-4 in settings on those Wright R-3350s which resulted in many
its normal civilian configuration and L-049 Constellation’s engine failures due to overheating the rear bank of cyl-
payload is 7,188 lb. greater. Constellation’s cruise airspeed inders. It was said that “A DC-6 is a four engine airplane
is 313 mph compared to DC-4’s cruise airspeed of 227 mph, with three-bladed props, while a DC-7 is a three-engine
a full 86 mph difference. DC-4’s service ceiling is 22,300’ airplane with four-bladed props.”
TWA DC-4. Photo circa 1956. Note

the utilitarian lines and proportions
of DC-4 which were carried over
to DC-6/7. Compare them to
Constellation’s graceful curves
(below).

The progressive but strange-looking,
slow, heavy and deeply flawed Bell XFM-1
“Airacuda” was labeled a “heavy fighter”
before wartime experience turned that
phrase into an ironic oxymoron.
LOCKHEED RISING AND THE could create such an aeroplane. Much encouraged by the
BIRTH OF CONSTELLATION overwhelming success of the militarization of their Model
As we have seen, there was a great leap forward in com- 14 Super Electra into Hudson Bomber, they started to draw
mercial aviation in the middle to late 1930’s. The day of the some designs.
long-distance four-engine airliner had come in the form Doing some initial calculations, the math told them that
of both land and sea based aeroplanes. With the exception a conventional two-engine design (with which they were
of the huge flying boats which were not in any event built much experienced) would be too heavy and would produce
in large numbers, the major U.S. airlines, pleased with the too much drag to meet the Army’s specs regarding the per-
easy maintenance and low-cost operations of two-engine formance that the Army required. Many interesting shapes
aircraft, were reluctant to support the new, larger, four- and arrangements were drawn until they hit upon one that
engine designs. Rejecting outright Douglas’s DC-4E and they thought would work.
barely accepting Boeing’s 307, the writing, however, was
clearly on the wall — as the decade waned, a new age of air
travel had begun which would surely have flourished then,
but for WWII.
In 1937 Lockheed was in a period of unaccustomed
hectic and most profitable business with the commercially
and critically hugely successful Electra and Super Electra/
Hudson Patrol Bomber. In that same year, the USAAC pre-
sciently published Circular Proposal X-608, a list of perfor-
mance goals for a twin-engine, high-altitude “interceptor”
which was to have “the tactical mission of interception and
attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude.”
Lockheed had submitted a design to the USAAC for a two-
engine fighter in 1936 but had lost to the progressive but
awkward Bell XFM-1 Airacuda. Disappointed by that expe-
rience, when Hall Hibbard and Clarence “Kelly” Johnson,
Lockheed’s top engineers, read that the Army’s specs called
for a maximum airspeed of at least 360 mph at 20,000’, This is a copy of some of what Clarence “Kelly” Johnson’s scribbled whilst trying
to find a suitable form for the proposed Lockheed Model 22 which became
and a climb to 20,000 ft. within no more than six min- P-38. Note that two designs (2 and 3) included engines mounted in the fuselage
utes, they wondered if even their fertile and creative brains turning outboard propellers on the wings.

39
Going with an unusual layout for a fighter of twin-beams
Restored P-38. I’m not sure
for the main undercarriage wheels, engines, radiators, tur- of the variant, but most likely
bochargers13 and vertical tails, a central pod for the pilot a later one, possibly an “L”
and guns and a tricycle undercarriage, Lockheed Model 22, as they tend to survive to
today in greater numbers.
which the USAAC designated P-38 “Lightning,” was born. Note the highly tapered wing
Investing over $600,000 of its own money in the XP-3814 planform and its similarity to
Constellation’s wing.
prototype Lockheed built Model 22 and it exceeded all of
the USAAC’s specifications. Part of P-38’s success was its
efficient airfoils and wing planform which permitted it to
perform so well at high altitudes. This excellent wing was
not forgotten at Lockheed with regard to future designs as
we shall see.
All of the components of an aeroplane’s structure are
designed with the understanding that compromises must
be made. What benefits the aeroplane in one place, is taken
away from it in another, and so on. Sometimes, however, a
particular design feature fortuitously resolves more prob-
lems than it creates. After hitting upon the twin-beam
design for P-38, it was soon discovered that a number of
solutions to the usual design problems were solved.
When Hibbard and Johnson were contemplating the wing
design for P-38, they realized that as long as the twin beams
contained the large main undercarriage wheels, turbo-
chargers, retract motors and mechanisms that those things,
which are usually contained in the wing, they would have
leave to design a thinner, cleaner, and simpler wing. Only
on-board fuel tank capacity remained as an issue.
The broad-chord inner sections of the wing from the
fuselage to the twin beams were designed to be thick
enough so as to contain large fuel cells, have a deep enough
spar to carry the beams and be aerodynamically efficient.
Accordingly, the planform and airfoils selected for P-38 engine design which would be larger than the Electra
made it one of the cleanest and fastest aeroplanes of its era. Model 14 to compete with the industry-dominating DC-3
When it later came time to design a wing for Constellation, and Boeing’s new, four-engine, pressurized 307. Lockheed
Hibbard and Johnson looked to P-38’s basic wing planform Model 44, soon to be called “Excalibur” (apparently a popular
and airfoils: high aspect-ratio, sharply double-tapered, aircraft name) was intended to be an improved “Lodestar”
NACA 23016 airfoil at the wing root and the NACA 4412 air- potentially capable of carrying 38 seated passengers (six
foil at the wing tip. more than DC-3 and the same as 307) and cruising at 268
In 1938, during the same time that P-38 was being mph at 12,000’ (61 mph faster than DC-3 and 53 mph faster
designed and tested, Lockheed was contemplating a four- than 307). “Excalibur’s” range was initially expected to be
better than DC-3’s but not quite as good as 307’s, however
13 The difference between a turbocharger and a supercharger is that a

turbocharger’s compressor wheel is spun by hot exhaust gases which
are compressed and sent back to the manifold and a supercharger’s compres-
ways of expanding its range were well within the range of
possibilities.
sor wheel is spun by a mechanical connection to the engine which com- Lockheed’s talks with executives from Pan Am about
presses incoming air and sends it to the manifold. Both send compressed
gasses or air and pass them back to the engine manifold to allow higher
“Excalibur” made it clear that they would not be willing to
manifold pressure when at high altitudes where the available outside air is purchase a new four-engine land-based airliner that did not
rarefied
have capacity for at least 30 passengers and have a cruis-
ing speed of at least 270 mph. This was soon increased to
14 The XP-38 was Lockheed’s sole example of the new aeroplane and it
was developed in deep secrecy for a while, but the Army decided to test
its speed and range. A transcontinental flight with two refuelling stops, from
36 passengers and 300 mph, 112 mph faster than the latest
March Field, California to Mitchell Field, Long Island, New York was arranged Boeing 314A Clipper, though carrying 38 less passengers,
to commence on February 11, 1939. All went well, the average airspeed of and 115 mph faster than Boeing 307 with approximately the
the XP-38 being clocked at 340 mph. However, on the approach to land at
Mitchell Field, one engine suddenly quit, the aeroplane sank and hit the tree
same amount of passengers. Pan Am’s specs reflected the
tops before reaching the runway and crashed, totally destroying Lockheed’s common belief in the late 30’s that land-based transconti-
sole prototype. Test pilot Lt. Benjamin S. Kelsey was seriously injured but
nental airlines could not fill more than thirty to thirty-five
survived. Despite the tragic crash the Army was duly impressed with the
XP-38 and ordered 13 YP-38s. It went on to become one of the Allies’ finest seats on a regular basis, if that many, as well as the under-
and most versatile combat aircraft. By the end of WWII 10,037 P-38s had been standing that passengers naturally wanted to get to their
built. The top two U.S. WWII aces, USAAF Major Thomas B. McGuire (38 kills)
and USAAF Major Richard Bong (40 kills) flew P-38s. destinations as quickly as possible.

P-38’s tricycle undercarriage15 was a first for Lockheed. It est aviation minds in the U.S. They come up with
worked out so well that it was planned that “Excalibur” would the highly innovative Hughes H-I racer which,
have a nosewheel as well. Full-scale mock-ups and test models on 13 September 1935 and flown by Hughes him-
were built in contemplation of the commencement of produc- self, set a new aircraft speed record at 352.39 mph
tion of “Excalibur” for Pan Am. However, in 1939, before pro- before crash landing in a farmer's field. Hughes
duction could get under weigh, a man who had just bought con- became, for a while, the fastest man in the world.
trolling stock of a certain major airline and had taken charge of
it, as was mentioned before, had an idea for an airplane. • 1936 — Hughes set the speed record in a
The major airline was TWA (standing then for Trans Northrop “Gamma” for non-stop flight from
continental & Western Air) and the man, Howard Hughes. New York City, New York to Los Angeles,
Here is just as a short reminder of what Mr. Hughes’ avi- California in eight hours and twenty minutes.
ation related records and influence were as of the late 1930s:
• On 19 January 1937, in his H-1 modified with longer
• 1927-30 — Hughes produced the film “Hell’s Angels” wings called H-1B, Hughes broke his own previ-
starring the incendiary 18-year-old Jean Harlow. ous record for a transcontinental non-stop flight
One of the earliest partially-talking films, it also from Los Angeles, California to Newark, New
included a scene in Technicolor. The late and great Jersey in seven hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
Paul Mantz, was the principle stunt pilot. Hughes
himself flew in the film and was seriously injured • On 14 July Hughes completed a record setting ‘round-
in a stunt that Mantz had warned him was too dif- the-world flight in a modified Lockheed Model 14
ficult to pull off safely. It was. Hughes spared no Super Electra in three days, nineteen hours and sev-
expense on the production, temporarily assembling enteen minutes, beating Wiley Post’s 1933 record.
the world’s largest collection of authentic WWI-era
fighter aircraft that time. “Hells Angels” is con- • Hughes received numerous awards as an aviator,
sidered to be one of the great aviation films. some of the more notable being: the Harmon Trophy
in 1936 and 1938, the Collier Trophy and the Bibesco
• 1932 — As “Charles Howard,” Hughes worked Cup of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
anonymously as a Co-pilot for American Airlines. (FAI) in 1938, a special Congressional Gold Medal
He wanted to learn about the airline busi- in 1939 and the Octave Chanute Award in 1940.
ness from the ground up.
• 1933 — Specially modifying a

Boeing Model 100A (civilian ver-
sion of the USAAC’s P-12E fighter),
Hughes set a speed record of 212
mph at Los Angeles Airport.
• 1934 — Created “Hughes

Aircraft Company,” essen-
tially a think-tank of the great-
15 The period starting in 1939 and during the next

few years saw the coming of the tricycle (nose-
wheel) undercarriage both in civilian and military
aircraft. There was no turning back once the benefits
of having good visibility and handling whilst on the
ground as well as far less accident-prone takeoffs and
landings that a nosewheel afforded were understood
and experienced. The 1936 Douglas DC-3 and the 1940
Boeing 307 were the last major U.S. airliners with tail
wheels. The 1939 B-17 and the 1941 Lockheed B-34
“Ventura”/”Harpoon” series were the last USAAC-F
bombers with tail wheels. The 1941 Consolidated
B-24 “Liberator,” North American B-25 “Mitchell”
(a good name), Martin B-26 “Marauder,” Douglas
A-20 “Havoc” and A-26 “Invader,” as well as the 1944
Boeing B-29 “Superfortress” all had nosewheels. As
for the fighters, the 1940 Lockheed P-38 “Lightning,” Looking like a movie star himself, this is Howard Hughes on 13 September 1935, two months before
the 1941 Bell P-39 “Airacobra,” the 1943 Bell P-63 his 30th birthday, and the day that he broke the world’s speed record by flying 352.39 mph in this
“Kingcobra” and Northrop P-61 “Black Widow” all remarkable and influential aeroplane, the Hughes H-1, on its first flight. Republic P-47, Focke-Wulf 190
had nosewheels. Once the jet age dawned, tail wheels and Mitsubishi “Zero-Sen” have all been said to have been highly influenced by the H-1 and all of their
quickly became a thing of military aviation’s, and designers have denied it. However, many find that there is more than a coincidental look about all of
soon also civilian aviation’s past. these aeroplanes.

41
As the new majority stockholder of TWA and enjoying a them, much impressed and excited about what he saw.
good relationship with Lockheed having had a good deal of When he asked the name of this new aeroplane, he was told,
success in their Super Electra (See above), Hughes became “Constellation.” Hughes inquired what the price of each
interested in Lockheed’s latest airliner design, the Model 44 Constellation was estimated to be, Robert Gross unhesitat-
“Excalibur” which was announced in April, 1939. Hughes ingly told him. Hughes did not blink.
had a great deal of respect for Lockheed’s engineers as well Contrary to myth, whilst Howard Hughes did design a
as the company’s foresight and overall brilliance, but he was cantilever brassiere for actor Jane Russell, whom he deemed
not at all impressed with the “Excalibur’s” specs. to be apparently in need of such a device, he did not design
On 21 June 1939 Hughes invited Lockheed’s President nor did he actively participate in the actual day-to-day
Robert E. Gross, along with engineers Hibbard, and Johnson design of Constellation. However, there is no question or
and TWA’s President and experienced aviator Jack Frye to doubt that Howard Hughes influenced Connie’s design and
visit with him at his opulent private Hollywood Hotel bun- development significantly.
galow. Looking for a new, larger and faster airliner for However, what Hughes certainly did actively partici-
TWA, Hughes and Frye began discussions with Hibbard pate in was the funding for this new Lockheed re-design of
and Johnson about the range, speed altitude and capac- “Excalibur.” Configured to meet Hughes and Frye’s speci-
ity that they wanted the new aeroplane to have. It was to fications, L-049 Constellation was priced at no less than
be capable of flying non-stop, coast-to-coast at 100 mph $450,000.00 per aeroplane ($7,745,859.71 in 2016 given
faster than any airliner currently flying, above the weather, cumulative inflation since 1939 of 1,621.3%). This made
which required a pressurized cabin, and turbo/supercharged Constellation the most expensive land-based airliner to that
engines (Wright R-2600 was the most powerful engine at time. The problem was that TWA did not have anything like
the time until the R-3350 was announced), sleeper berths sufficient capital on hand to fund this project, so Hughes
for 20 passengers (which Hibbard and Johnson considered funded it with capital from The Hughes Tool Company,
to be too few), altogether a very tall order in 1939. Hibbard which he had inherited from his father.
and Johnson went to work. A contract between The Hughes Tool Company, TWA and
Around three-weeks after their first meeting, in mid- The Lockheed Corporation was drawn up. TWA was to be
August 1939, after having been informed by Lockheed that the exclusive purchaser of forty “Excaliburs,” as it was still
the old “Excalibur” design had indeed been wholly recon- called, as cover for what was already named “Constellation.”
figured and that, “if he was interested,” he could see Once “Excalibur’s” price and time of delivery, etc. was nego-
sketches, blueprints and specifications of it, Hughes invited tiated Hughes had two more clauses to add to the contract.
Gross, Hibbard and Johnson to bring them to his leased The new aeroplane’s development and existence was to be
“pleasure dome” of a mansion at 211 Muirfield Road , Los kept in strict confidence until TWA had received the thirty-
Angeles, California in the city’s Hancock Park area. The fifth Constellation, and no other airline which purchased the
men of Lockheed arrived with the papers and in a few min- aeroplane thereafter could use it for east to west to west to
utes initial design blueprints and drawings were immedi- east transcontinental flights for a period of two years after
ately laid out on the floor. Hughes literally crawled all over TWA received its fortieth Connie. In this way Hughes and
Frye hoped that they would steal the march on their chief
competitor (and good friend) Juan Trippe of Pan Am. The
contract, executed 10 July 1940, was the largest single order
Sultry Jane Russell, who
for aircraft by any U.S. airline to that date.
proved that diamonds
were not necessarily a As well may be imagined, when the other airlines heard
girl’s only best friends, is about the unusual terms of this contract they were not happy
seen here not necessarily
wearing the cantilever
but were grudgingly contented to get their Constellations
brassiere that Producer when they could. However, this was not the case with
Howard Hughes invented American Airlines (AA) which was so irate and incensed
for her star-making
performance in the by what it considered was an entirely unfair arrangement
1943 film “The Outlaw”. intended to foster TWA and do AA harm that they told
Russell has said that she
Lockheed (and the world) that they would never again pur-
never actually wore “the
ridiculous thing” in the chase another Lockheed aeroplane.
film, but told Hughes Accordingly, true to its word, AA did not purchase or
that she did. In any event,
both Hughes and movie
operate Connies…well, not exactly. After AA purchased
audiences were dually American Export Airlines (AEA), commonly known as Am
satisfied. Ex, on 5 July 1945, which AA renamed American Overseas
Airlines (AOA), AOA purchased seven L-049 Constellations
which it flew on transatlantic routes from 23 June 1946 until
August 1949, when AOA’s Connies were replaced by Boeing
377 “Stratocruisers.” By the time Lockheed’s next airliner,
the revolutionary 1959 turboprop L-188 Electra was put on

Lockheed’s next conceptual factory drawing of the proposed Model L-044
“Excalibur” which was shown to Howard Hughes in the spring of 1939. Note the
triple-tail of the later design, the conventional windshield design, “reverse-
flow”-style cowlings with large spinners and the larger radial engines (Wright
R-2600s) which were then contemplated to power the new aeroplane. Also note the market, AA had apparently somewhat cooled down and
that Lockheed expected that “Excalibur” would be purchased and operated
primarily by Pan American Airways (PAA), which must have rankled Hughes. This purchased forty L-188’s, becoming a primary user of the
is the true first ancestor of Constellation. aeroplane. Moral: Never say “never.”
Lockheed went to work on Connie’s design and built a
non-operational mock-up of the passenger cabin. Upon
inspection of it, Hughes and Frye were not at all pleased. It
was neat and utilitarian, but not at all what they expected.
What they had envisioned and thought that they had clearly
conveyed to Lockheed’s executives was that the passenger
cabin was to be, well…opulent. To make it so they hired one
of the most well-known and successful design engineers
of that time, the French-born American Raymond Lowery,
popularly known as “The Man Who Shaped America,
The Father of Streamlining and The Father of Industrial
Design.”16
Lowery had previously designed the luxurious interior of
Hughes’ personal Boeing 307 and knew what Mr. H liked. In
its turn, Lockheed was happy to have the services of such a
celebrated engineer to do the touchy detail work of design-
Lockheed factory conceptual drawing of early “Excalibur” design with ing the passenger cabin to Hughes liking.
Lockheed’s (Clarence “Kelley” Johnson’s) signature twin-tail configuration. A
third, central vertical fin and rudder was added later. Note the “reverse-flow”-
style cowlings with large spinners. THE NAME
Between 1927 and 1941 Lockheed named its aircraft after
stars: Vega, Sirius, Altair, Orion, and Electra. Ventura was
Early 1939 Constellation design study.
Four very popular, smaller and light- not named for the city in Southwestern California, but for
weight 1,200 hp Pratt and Whitney
Twin-Wasp R-1830 engines were
contemplated for a while, as drawn
here. Note the conical windshield
16 Raymond Lowery did indeed do much to shape the look of America
prior to WWII. He designed the Shell, Exxon, TWA and the former BP
logos, Coca-Cola vending machines, the Lucky Strike cigarette package, the
design that was Type I of six distinct Greyhound Sceni-cruiser bus, Coldspot refrigerators, and many train liver-
(and sometimes strange) design ies. Later Lowery designed the beautiful Studebaker Champion, Starliner and
concept candidates for Connie’s nose Starlight coupes and the unique and imaginative Studebaker Avanti automo-
(See page 49). bile as well as the Air Force One livery.

43
The magnificent L-049 Constellation in-flight

front view. One source of Connie’s speed and
efficiency is apparent from this view of her clean
aerodynamic lines.
its meaning in Spanish: luck or fortune. When the Model undercarriage had been planned for the unbuilt “Excalibur,”
049 “Excalibur” was rejected by TWA and completely re- such was designed into Model 49. The fully-cowled engines
designed, Lockheed kept the model number and felt that that Boeing had pioneered, the layout of Boeing’s B-17,
a new aeroplane deserved a new name — but what to call Northrop’s flat, centre wing stub, Douglas’s triple-tail on
it? There was surely no shortage of stars to choose from, the aborted DC-4E, and other similar ideas had all been pro-
however this new, larger, four-engine, pressurized airliner cessed through Hibbard’s and Johnson’s minds before they
project was the grandest, most expensive and most ambi- put pencil to paper to create the design of Constellation.
tious that Lockheed had ever embarked upon. It was as big
a venture as all of the other Lockheed “stars” put together, THE WING
and what is a group of stars put all together called ? A The high aspect-ratio18 wing (9.17:1) that was designed for
Constellation. Lockheed described Connie as “Model 049” Constellation was a very closely scaled-up P-38 wing. Seeing
during her initial stage of development. After that it was how well this wing planform had helped to give early P-38s
“L-049.” a blistering top airspeed of 413 mph at 20,000’, Hibbard and
Johnson wisely decided to use it for Model L-049.
DESIGNING THE L-049 CONSTELLATION Just a note regarding using the P-38 wing plan form:
Designing the new aeroplane that Howard Hughes Readers of A2A’s T-6 Manual may recall that when North
had suggested and which became Model L-049 (later
“Constellation”), Lockheed set forth to create the finest and aeroplanes would be used as civilian airliners before they were all grabbed
most advanced airliner possible. The basic layout of low- by the military services until the end of the war. After that, both aeroplanes
were extensively used in civilian and military service of one kind or another
wing, all metal, semi-monocoque (stressed skin) was not for decades.
revolutionary in 1939, but as with many things, the angels
(and the devils) are in the details. It is well to remember that 18 The aspect-ratio (AR) of a wing is its span divided by its mean (aver-
age) chord (the distance from leading to trailing edges). For a con-
unlike its competitors, Boeing, Sikorsky Martin, Northrop stant-chord wing the formula for aspect-ratio is: AR = b/c, where “b” is the
span and “c” is the chord. To determine AR of a tapered wing the formula
and Douglas, Lockheed had no prior experience designing is: AR= b2/S, where b2 is the wingspan squared and S is the wing’s area. All
and manufacturing four-engine aircraft. Lockheed’s suc- else being equal, a higher AR wing is more efficient than a lower AR wing as
drag-producing tip vortices are located farther away from the greater mass
cess had been with smaller aeroplanes such as the swift
of the wing. A higher AR wing also usually has better high-altitude perfor-
single-engine airliners, the twin-engine Electra series and mance both with regard to airspeed and ceiling. Some of the negative char-
the fabulous P-38. acteristics of a high AR wing are that it is more prone to bending and tor-
sional distortion, it will usually have a reduced roll rate compared to a lower
Like virtually all creative aeronautical engineers since AR wing due to its greater mass inertia as well as its greater aerodynamic
the Wright Brothers, Hibbard and Johnson were not at all damping. However, aileron response is likely to be increased due to the aile-
rons being located at a longer moment arm on the roll axis. Due to a high AR
above “borrowing” good ideas from other aeroplanes, even wing’s lower average Reynolds Number the useful range of angles of attack
those not designed by them17. Just as their P-38’s tricycle (Alpha) is reduced in proportion thereto, i.e. a higher aspect-ratio wing will
stall at lower Alpha than one with a lower aspect-ratio. Fowler flaps which,
as previously mentioned, extend rearward as they are lowered increase the
17 Douglas’s DC-4 was in development simultaneously with Constellation

but beat it into production by almost eleven months and so gets the
prize for being the first tricycle undercarriage airliner. The necessities of
local chord of the wing and thereby increase the local Reynolds Number as
well, permitting the wing to reach a higher Alpha before stalling. The only
negative aspect of the Fowler flap is that it requires a very complex system of
WWII that had just begun for the U.S. at that time meant that neither of these hinging, rails and motor to operate.

4412, the same as P-38. A laminar flow airfoil was con-
templated because of its reputation for low drag, but was
rejected early in the design phase for a proven non-lami-
nar flow wing shape that would be both a better lifter than
a laminar section and also gentler at slow airspeeds. This
was one of a few compromises not made towards increas-
ing airspeed.
Connie’s root airfoil -- NACA 23018. Note this airfoil’s exaggerated thickness Connie’s wing has no wash-out, which is wing twist
compared to its chord (leading to trailing edge). It is apparent that this airfoil slightly raising the trailing edge at the outer section to
was chosen, inter alia, for its ability to contain large quantities of fuel which reduce tip-stall tendency. This is generally a practical and
well-served both P-38 (which had a very similar NACA 23016 airfoil) and
Constellation. safe aerodynamic design practice; however, it does tend
to add drag to the overall wing profile. In its design phase
speed was king for Constellation and all (or nearly all as
above) that reduced it was anathema. In this it is clear that
Hibbard and Johnson, influenced by Howard Hughes’ not-
so-gentle urging, were leaning heavily towards high air-
Connie’s and P-38’s tip airfoil -- NACA 4412. A far sleeker and thinner airfoil as
one might expect. As P-38’s and Connie’s wing tapered from root to tip a very speed for Model 049 and were willing to compromise in
efficient, gradually diverging span-wise conflation of these two airfoils created that direction. As it turned out, Constellation, which came
an excellent and very clean wing profile. of Model 049 is both very fast and also most able to carry
great loads.
Connie’s cantilever wing’s leading edge is swept back
American Aviation engineers down-sized DC-3’s wing for 7.5º and the dihedral is also 7.5º. The ailerons and trim tabs
use on the much smaller T-6, they apparently overlooked were initially covered with fabric.
Aerodynamic Scale Effect (ASE) which caused numerous Each wing has three separate panels. The larger inboard
unsolvable problems for early model T-6s. Here, upsizing panel attached to the fuselage stub and was not intended
the smaller P-38 wing for use on Constellation did not have to be removable under normal circumstances. Each inner
a similar negative effect because increasing the size of a wing panel contains two engine nacelles, fuel tanks for
wing does not generally create ASE problems for complex same, one main undercarriage assembly and flaps. The
aerodynamic reasons that are beyond the scope of this dis- outer wing panel was intended for easy removal if required
cussion. ASE is a one-way phenomenon — take a smaller and each initially contained one fabric covered aileron which
wing and expand it, you’re alright; take a larger wing and after the twenty-third Constellation was metal covered. The
diminish it, watch out! wing tips contain the navigation lights and were also easily
The airfoils they chose were NACA 23018 for the wing root removable. Pneumatic Goodrich rubber de-icing units could
(just a bit thicker and very similar to that of P-38) and NACA be fitted to the leading edge of each of the outer wing panel.
Lockheed L-049 on display

at the Pima Air and Space
Museum, Tucson, Arizona.
This is very like the first view
of Constellation that I had
when my Mother and I took
our very first flight in June,
1954. The seating then was
not in rows but in individual
sections with four seats,
each pair of seats facing each
other with a table between.
I sat facing forward opposite
my Mom and I remember
accidentally spilling milk
across the table onto her
nice traveling dress. Whilst
cruising at altitude I looked
out of the window and
exclaimed that we must be
flying upside down! When
my Mom asked me why I
thought so, I told her that it
was because the clouds were
below us.

45
Early 1950’s TWA Constellation

seating arrangement, as I
remember it.
Three-view of Lockheed L-049 “Constellation”. Note

the circular shape of the fuselage and overall clean
aerodynamic lines.
L-049 Constellation
after takeoff with flaps
partially extended and
undercarriage almost
fully retracted.

The wing was constructed with
two full-span web-type aluminium
spars and with ribs of stamped alu-
minium. L-049 has four fuel cells,
two fuel cells located in each inner
wing panel between the spars and
ribs. Later Constellation variants had
fuel cells in the outer wing panels as
well, and some L-1049 Connies had
tip tanks. L-049’s total fuel capacity
is 4,690 U.S. gallons, 780 U.S. gal-
lons in the innermost cell and 1.555
U.S. gallons in the outermost cell. The
reason that the innermost fuel cell
has reduced capacity is that it is “H”
shaped to accommodate each main
undercarriage mechanism, as well as
the retracted strut and wheel.
The Connie’s Fowler flaps were in
six sections, one short section under
the fuselage and five sections linked
together to form one flap unit on each
inner wing panel. When lowered in “ANY LANDING THAT YOU
its first half the Fowler flap extends
mostly rearward and slightly down- CAN WALK AWAY FROM...”
T
ward to increase wing area and in its
his non-fatal accident took place at (just beyond) Chicago’s Municipal
second half lowers downward incre-
(Midway) Airport (MDW) on 18 December 1949. This TWA Lockheed L- 049-
mentally to 42º.
46 “Constellation” was returning to MDW after having turned around mid-
flight because of poor weather ahead. MDW weather service reported the local ceil-
THE FUSELAGE ing to be 300 feet, visibility at 1-1/2 miles with moderate fog and smoke, and a
The unique and sinuous shape of west- southwest wind variable at 8 mph. The pilot attempted two ILS approaches
Constellation’s fuselage is one of (ILS was something new in 1949) to runway 13R, and on the second try landed 3,200
this aeroplane’s most conspicuous feet beyond the approach threshold. The Connie then rolled down the remaining
points of identification. It has been 2,530 feet of runway 13R, plus an additional 875 feet beyond its end, going right
called “fish-like” or “dolphin-like,” through the airport’s substantial steel-wire boundary fence, skidded across a car-
which is another thing altogether as filled carpark, struck a wooden structure billboard as well as a thick stone column
a dolphin is not a fish but is a marine and knocked down a lamppost before finally coming to rest in the middle of a busy
mammal. Either way, Constellation’s local street across from the “Acme Drill Co.” (One of whose customers was a certain
fuselage beautifully and subtly swoops W. E. Coyote) Remarkably, there were no resultant injuries except to the Connie
downward at the nose an upward at Captain’s pride, reputation and employment. The official CAB report of this acci-
the tail. Some have called it an airfoil, dent ends by saying: “Contact with these structures extensively damaged the air-
lift-producing shape; however, this craft.” You think?
is only partially, possibly just coinci-
dentally correct.
Taking nothing anything away from
the felicitous beauty of Connie’s fuselage, its shape was bring the horizontal stabilizer and elevators out of the direct
determined by purely practical concerns. Some time well- propellers’ slipstream wash. (See the three-view drawing
after Connie began to amaze the world with its speed and above). The earlier, unsuccessful but revolutionary Douglas
beauty, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson and Howard Hughes both DC-4E (not to be confused with the very successful Douglas
posited that her curvaceous fuselage possibly added four or DC-4) also placed its horizontal stabilizer above the pro-
five mph over a conventional pointed tube design, but this peller’s wash. Connie’s swooped-up tail presented another
opinion was never tested for accuracy. That Connie’s fuse- problem as is often the case with design — solve one prob-
lage ended up looking great and perhaps is a bit slipperier lem and get another. (See below)
through the air may just simply be fortuitous kismet. The fuselage was built in eight sections which made later
Not intentionally trying to burst anyone’s aesthetic stretching fairly easy. Connie’s fuselage cross-section is a
bubble, but the nose swoops down to reduce the length of circle (not by coincidence the same as the first pressurized
the already very long nosewheel strut. The tail swoops up to airliner, Boeing 307) which gently tapers towards the nose

47
and tail from its widest point,
where the main wing spar crosses
the bottom fuselage quarter. The
circular shape was selected for a
number of reasons, perhaps the
foremost being that it is easier to
predict and control the stresses of
pressurization in a uniform, cir-
cular container rather than in one
that is ovoid, has sharp corners,
and/or varies widely. Additionally,
such a uniform structure usu-
ally presents far fewer com-
pound curves to build and sheet19,
although Connie’s beautifully
swooping fuselage presents many
compound curves and it was far
more expensive to build than, say,
a DC-6’s linear fuselage.
Republic “Rainbow” in the markings of the U. S. Army Air Force shortly before it became the independent U. S.
One area of fuselage design that Air Force. Proposed as a reconnaissance/aerial photography aircraft, “Rainbow” (USAAF designated XF-12, USAF
has always plagued aeronauti- designated XR-12) it had a top airspeed of over 470 mph at 45,000’, making it one of the fastest piston-engine
aeroplanes in the USAAF’s inventory. However, the prototype’s first problematic flight was not until 10 July 1947
cal engineers is the “windshield when even faster jet-powered aircraft such as RB-47 were already being used for this mission. Accordingly, none
step,” i.e., where the windshield, were ordered and only two were built. Quel dommage, it certainly is a beauty.
by necessity, suddenly pops up
from the otherwise nicely stream-
lined nose. Designers had initially
swept the windshield forward or straight up, as with Fokker XF2 “Rainbow,” considered by many to be one of the most
and Ford Tri-Motors, in an attempt to keep excess snow and beautiful aeroplanes of all time. This design concept pos-
ice off the windshield and to maximize visibility at night tulated that Constellation’s the nose would be an uninter-
when reflections often distorted the pilot’s view. In the early rupted continuous 360º cone. A mock-up of this arrange-
1930’s, aerodynamic cleanliness was not so much of a seri- ment was made, but it resulted in unacceptably poor pilot
ous factor regarding windshield design what with dozens of visibility. The result was as usual, a compromise, but one
other drag producing items including un- or semi-cowled that leaned towards clean aerodynamics whilst maintaining
engines, entire undercarriages and whatnot all protruding good visibility.
from the airframe. Lockheed’s engineers’ recent experience with the design
What was soon discovered was that the forward-sweep- of P-38, one of the cleanest aerodynamic designs of its day,
ing windshield reflected lights from the cockpit interior led them to take pains to carefully form as clean a wind-
and the ground, negating its usefulness in that regard. shield step as possible whilst maintaining good visibility for
Windshields thereafter tended to be upright or very slightly the pilot. This was done in the usual Lockheed fashion, by
swept back, which did little to create a more aerodynamic thinking literally “outside the box.” Six distinct versions of
“step.” In the middle-to-late 1930’s, Lockheed’s Electra the nose of Constellation were drawn and considered (see
series had the most swept-back windshields of any aircraft drawing below). The large, square pane, upright windshield
in its day and its sleek “windshield step” certainly added found on DC-3 and many large transport aircraft that had
to its superlative performance, a factor that was did not go come before offered no help in cleaning up the nose pro-
unnoticed by Lockheed itself as well as other manufactur- file and creating a better “step,” so Hibbard and Johnson
ers and designers. created something new, a wrap-around windshield made of
A “no step” approach was used for Boeing’s B-29, nine smaller panes.20
wherein it was expected that its smooth, rounded nose Never lacking for innovative thought, Lockheed engineers
would minimize drag. The same was contemplated for contemplated a novel (even for today) de-frosting method
Constellation, but in a design more similar to Republic’s for the windshield — infra-red rays. While this inventive
concept did not make it beyond an interesting discussion
19 Another early pressurised aeroplane, Boeing C-97 and its civilian ver-
sion, the extraordinary 377 Stratocruiser (which A2A has modeled)
from which it was derived shared the distinctive “double-bubble” fuselage 20 Boeing’s 307, which was developed simultaneously with Constellation
has a windshield made of ten small wrap-around panes. This is more
cross-section, resembling a figure-eight, allowing for pressurization of a likely a case of “brilliant minds think alike” than any kind of imitation in
large cabin with two passenger decks. The 377’s structure was enormously either direction. In any event, Boeing 307, which was the first pressurized
complicated and expensive to build which along with its complex engines’ airliner, was a tail-dragger like Boeing’s 1935 B-17. In this it was more than
poor maintenance record surely contributed to Stratocruiser’s small produc- a little anachronistic and not at all in keeping with the late 1930’s and 1940’s
tion total of 55. new wave of tricycle undercarriage aeroplanes.

and information about it is sketchy at best, it was not at ures, it was found after extensive testing that a major con-
all really such a strange idea. In another, similar appli- tributing factor was that under full cabin pressurization,
cation, since 1995 infrared airframe de-icing using huge, stress around the square windows’ corners, which stress
drive-through hangars have been built and tested at Buffalo was found to be much higher than expected, caused a major
and Rochester Airports in New York State, and are currently failure of the window panels. This, plus catastrophic air-
commissioned and in use at Newark International Airport in frame metal fatigue, was found to have lead to “Comet’s”
New Jersey, Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport, Wisconsin, explosive decompression at altitude. The tragedy of it is that
and Kennedy International Airport, New York. Lockheed had already figured this all out by 1939.21
L-049 Constellation’s passenger windows were also Constellation’s circular fuselage had an additional per-
rather small and were circular to even the stresses of pres- quisite, it granted generous passenger accommodations,
surization around their frames. Aircraft designer and man- something completely unknown to the mass of today’s air-
ufacturer, De Havilland, might have paid closer attention line travelers. It was a full 11’ 7 ½” wide, almost 2’ wider
to and learned something from Constellation’s window than Douglas’s DC-4 (but 4 ½” narrower than Boeing 307).
design when they built the jet-powered, pressurized DH 106 The cabin pressurization system was driven by number one
“Comet” which first flew on 27 July 1949, its first commer- and four engines which provided 4 psi. At 9,000’ the cabin
cial flight on 9 January 1951. was still at sea-level, at 15,500’ the cabin was at 5,000’ and
“Comet” was not the first jet-powered airliner; that at 20,000’ the cabin was at 8,000’.
honour goes to Vickers VC.1 Viking G-AJPH, which first flew L-049’s cabin heating and cooling were available and
on 6 April 1948; however “Comet” was the first jet airliner quite effective. A cabin temperature of 75º F could be
to go into regular service. Unfortunately, it was not as well maintained when the outside air temperature was 110ºF.
thought-out as one might have expected of such a vener- Similarly, a cabin temperature of 73º could be maintained
able firm as De Havilland. The fully pressurized “Comet” when the outside air temperature was -15ºF.
had passenger windows which were large and square. After The USAAF fitted its second C-69 and all others there-
a number of catastrophic in-flight “Comet” airframe fail- after with a fiberglass astrodome to the top of the cock-
pit over the Navigator’s compartment. The Navigator could
enter it for sun/ star sightings and such by standing on a
stool which tucked away when not in use. The USAAF also
installed “eyebrow” windows in C-69, above and behind
the windshield, ostensibly for extra pilots’ visibility when
in formation. However, Lockheed did not continue them on
the L-049s manufactured after the war.
THE ENGINES
Model 49 Constellation was, from the first, intended to be
powered by whatever was the most powerful radial engine
available. At the time of Excalibur/Constellation’s earli-
est development phase in 1938, Wright R-2600 (See below)
was the choice, however when the more powerful Wright
R-3350 eighteen-cylinder, supercharged, Duplex Cyclone
radial engine was announced, it became Connie’s engine for
all time.
Wright R-3350 was based upon Wright’s R-2600, the first
practical Wright twin row radial engine which was intro-
duced in 1937 and was produced until the end of WWII.
Initially a 1,500 hp. engine, R-2600 was continually refined
and by war’s end was producing 1,900 hp, nearly equalling
its closest competitor, Pratt and Whitney’s superb R-2800.
21 Actually, Lockheed had figured out practical cabin pressurization

in its XC-35. This was a modified, pressurized Electra Model 10, and
one was built at the specific request of the USAAC which first flew on 9
May 1937. It was so successful and reliable, not to mention comfortable at
high altitudes that Louis Johnson, Assistant Secretary of War in President
Lockheed Constellation’s six contemplated nose designs. Few, if any other Roosevelt’s Administration and Secretary of Defence in President Truman’s
aircraft manufacturers have been so willing to take the time to seriously Administration, used it as his personal official executive transport for many
explore so many possible optional designs of every component that goes years without incident. The knowledge about pressurization that was gleaned
into such a complex aeroplane as Constellation, even some that were, from this experiment served the development of Boeing 307, the first pres-
well… quite odd. Type I was similar to Republic’s beauteous “Rainbow” and surized airliner and B-29, the first mass-produced, pressurized bomber. The
Type VI is what was finally decided upon. (Just for fun I would have liked to very first pressurized aeroplane was the 1921 Engineering Division USD-9A, a
see Type III win. Imagine Connie with that sea-monster’s nose!) modified De Havilland DH-9.

49
Wright’s reliable R-2600s powered Boeing 314 Clipper, Wright’s announced test versions of R-3350 reported
North American B-25, Martin Baltimore, Douglas A-20 2,200 hp. at 2,800 rpm at sea level which was impres-
Havoc, Martin Mariner, Grumman TBF Avenger and Curtiss sive indeed in the late 1930’s. The new engine immedi-
SB2C Helldiver, among many other aircraft. ately caught the eyes of the military and of Howard Hughes,
Taking R-2600 up a notch or two, Wright R-3350 was both always anxiously searching for the latest advances in
intended to be the ultimate double-row radial engine. It aviation. When Hughes was actively lobbying Lockheed for
is essentially two rows of the old standby nine-cylinder, a new airliner for TWA in 1939, the engine that was first
1,000 – 1,200 hp. Wright R-1820 “Cyclone” 9 that powered chosen to power Constellation was Wright R-2600; but,
Grumman F-3-F (1-3), all variants of Boeing B-17 and 307, after many calculations Lockheed engineers found that four
Douglas SBD “Dauntless,” many variants of Douglas DC-3, of these would not produce sufficient power to meet the per-
General Motors FM-2 Wildcat, Lockheed Model 14 “Super formance specifications that Hughes and Frye demanded. It
Electra,” Lodestar and Hudson, as well as many of others. looked like the new airliner might not be able to deliver the
Prototypes of R-3350 had been tested at Wright since performance that everyone hoped for when the new, more
1936, but the less exotic R-2600 programme took prece- powerful Wright R-3350 was announced to save the day.
dence, delaying progress in the R-3350 for a few years. Always looking for a new idea that did not go down the
Additionally in 1939 Wright, having been duly impressed for well-trodden path, early in Connie’s development Lockheed
years with Rolls-Royce’s remarkable twelve-cylinder, liq- engineers came up with a novel way to sufficiently cool the
uid-cooled “Merlin,” was still trying to develop the latest in new double-row Wright R-3350s. The problem with the
a series of giant, liquid-cooled engines. Their latest venture usual front end air-cooling was that the back row of cylin-
was a super-complex, touchy, monster of an engine with, ders did not get their share of cooling air and ran hot.
count ‘em, forty-two cylinders (seven banks of six cylin- A reverse-flow engine cooling system was created that
ders each in a radial configuration)! This engine powered would take in cool air from open ducts in the leading edge
Lockheed XP-58 Chain Lightning, Vultee XP-68 Tornado, of the wing and then send it to the rear of the engines under
and the Republic XP-69 (a P-47 variant). Countless pre- natural pressure with the excess air exiting out of the front
cious engineering and manufacturing hours went into the of the engines between the cowling ring and the spinner.
development of this improbable, ponderous power plant, Special streamlined spinners were made for this system
and all pretty much for nought as it turned out, the jet age which looked much like those used later on Lockheed’s
having already begun by the time R-2160 was being tested. turboprop aircraft such as the 1957 L-188 “Electra.”
Meanwhile, the excellent and far more practical R-3350 In any event, this innovative but complex reverse-flow
project went a-glimmering until wiser heads at Wright system was abandoned when it was found that there was no
finally said “enough” to R-2160. significant gain in cooling or reduction of drag over conven-
Scale models of
Lockheed’s P-38
“Lightning”: and XP-58
“Chain Lightning” to
show comparative
sizes and designs. Both
of these aeroplanes
were considered
to be obsolete and
unnecessary after the
end of WWII.

tional front end cooling. engine produces its greatest amount of power at sea-level
From the outset, R-3500s had Chandler-Evans top- where it is breathing heavy, dense, high pressure air and
mounted carburettors which caused no end of trouble in its possible manifold pressure is at its optimum. However,
the form of in-flight engine fires. All during C-69’s (the as altitude increases and there is less and less atmosphere
USAAF’s designation for Constellation) initial testing period above, the weight, density and atmospheric pressure of
and well after that engine fires plagued C-69, grounding it the air decreases, i.e., becomes “rarefied. As the altitude
for a great deal of time. At the same time R-3350 powered at which a piston engine is operating increases above sea-
B-29s were also experiencing engine fires. level, the rarefied air which it is breathing becomes less and
C-69s and B-29s suffered with these carburetted R-3350s less sufficient to maintain sea level manifold pressure and
all through the war. Of course, the solution to this problem power gradually diminishes.
that was on Wright’s, Boeing’s, Lockheed’s and the USAAF’s In order for Constellation, or any pressurized piston
minds was fuel injection. However, while this basic tech- engine aircraft to take full advantage of its high-altitude
nology was known from the time of the early automobile capabilities, its engines must be capable of producing all or
and German engineers had advanced practical fuel injection at least a good percentage of its sea-level power when at
technology for aircraft engines as early as 1938; in the early higher altitudes. To do this the rarefied air that the engine
1940’s engine manufacturers in the U.S. had not yet per- breathes in must be returned to as close to sea-level weight,
fected a reliable fuel-injection system for a large, double- density and atmospheric pressure as possible at the mani-
row aircraft engines to the close tolerances required. fold. This is where super/turbo chargers come in.
Wright and the USAAF well-understood that under- A supercharger (see footnote 14) compresses the incom-
trained and inexperienced aircrews were mishandling their ing air and sends it to engine’s manifold to be mixed with
R-3350s, inadvertently causing serious, fire-inducing back- fuel so that the engine may continue to produce sea-level
fires. For some inexplicable reason no one thought that (or close to it) power at high altitudes. The supercharger in
such may be liable to occur in large, highly-supercharged the Wright R-3350’s that powered the first L-049 Connies
engines with enormous, unsophisticated, mechanically- was a simple, single stage, two speed unit, mechanically
carburetted induction systems containing many cubic yards driven by a transmission from the main crankshaft. In 1941,
of hot, compressed, explosive gasoline/air vapor. After all, Wright sought to improve upon the General Electric super-
what could go wrong? chargers that had been previously almost universally used
Realizing that re-training aircrews in the intricate nice- in big radial engines and the new unit proved to be satisfac-
ties of operating these fire-prone engines would take too tory. That is, except for the exhaust-gas inlet pipes which
long and/or ultimately be in vain, other solutions were had too sharp a bend in them for good efficiency and which
tried which were more or less (rather less than more) suc- were soon replaced with gentler curving conduits.
cessful. One idea was to use the newly developed Bendix- Later R-3350s had dual-stage superchargers, and in 1953
Stromberg pressurized carburettors to serve as fuel dis- L-1049C “Super Constellation” received the first 3,250-
bursement units, metering fuel to two nine-cylinder 3,400 hp. Wright R-3350-745C18BA-1R-3350, fuel injected
injection pumps in each engine. Yes, it was as complicated Duplex-Cyclone, “Turbo-Compound”22 engines, the last
as it sounds, but it worked after a fashion. At least the fre- and most dramatic advance in piston engines.
quency of R-3350 engine fires was vastly diminished, but For all of its teething problems, Wright R-3350 is a very
not virtually eliminated until further improvements were sturdy power plant. The recommended TBO (Time Between
made after the war. Overhaul) of the Wright R-3350 is 3,500 hours, consider-
After a fatal in-flight engine fire on a TWA Connie on ably more than its competitors (e.g., the TBO of Pratt and
11 July 1946, which was the most recent but only one of
many such fires on C-69s and B-29s during the previous
two years, all B-29s and Constellations were grounded until 22 The Turbo-Compound (TC) system (also called a”blow-down recovery
system”) adds 450-500 hp. by directly re-using exhaust gases which
the reason for the fires could be sorted out. After the usual are fed into a power-recovery system geared to the engine crankshaft via a
hydrodynamic, fluid transmission. It is not purposed for high-altitude power
thorough investigation, the source of the fires was traced, retention through increased manifold pressure as is a turbo/supercharger.
among other things, to the fuel delivery system (surprise!). The TC system increases horsepower at all altitudes and may be used along
with a turbo/supercharger. The TC system is different from the standard
Wright finally replaced the 3350s’ carburettors with a fuel
turbo/supercharger in that it does not utilise an air compressor; and accord-
injection system which ended the problem. After re-fitting ingly, does not feed compressed exhaust gasses or air to the manifold of the
every Wright R-3350 in every Connie, B-29 and the other engine. According to the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Wright Engine Division,
the Turbo -Compound System’s benefits are:
aircraft using this engine, the grounding was lifted on 23 • It offered a direct increase in engine power and economy over the complete
August 1946. operating range without introducing additional basic engine development
problems.
• Its simplicity eliminated the necessity of additional pilot or flight engineer
SUPERCHARGERS AND WHY attention at any time.
• The blow-down system could be designed for a weight to power ratio of .9
The air is heaviest and densest and exhibits the greatest lbs/BHP recovered, whereas the exhaust pressure turbine system consid-
natural atmospheric pressure at sea level because it is at ered required 1.3 lbs/BHP recovered.
• Compounding by a blow-down turbine appeared ideal for future develop-
the very bottom of the earth’s atmospheric sea and is being
ment, since a turbo-supercharger or even an additional pressure system
pressed upon by the entire atmosphere above it. A piston power recovery unit could be added at some later date.

51
One of L-1049C “Super

Constellation’s” four
Wright R-3350 745C18
BA-1R-3350 Duplex-
Cyclone engines.
“Rare Bear”, a much modified Grumman F-8-F “Bearcat”, seen here

on 21 August 1989 setting all the world a-blur when it set the official
speed record for a piston plane of 528.31 mph at Las Vegas, Nevada. It
is powered by a modified variant of a Wright R-3350 745C18 BA-1R-3350
Duplex-Cyclone, “Turbo-Compound” engine which in a slightly simpler
form also powered Lockheed L-1049C “Super Constellation.”

Whitney R-2800 is 2,500 hrs.). Run conservatively and This rough-running and degraded performance was
looked after, particularly during the first twenty-five hours caused by ice which was usually, but not exclusively, formed
of operation for a new engine and after overhaul/re-build, by droplets of super-cooled water which exist in highly
the fuel-injected R-3350 has proved, at last, to be a very humid air as well as in stratiform and cumulus clouds.
reliable engine. When the USAAF returned its C-69s to civil- These water droplets form into ice when they are struck by
ian use after WWII, they all had the latest, most refined a passing aeroplane, abruptly crystallize and build up on
(carburetted) version of these engines and they remained the wings and propellers’ leading edges, distorting and dis-
the only power plant used in the Constellation through rupting their airfoils. This ice does not form equally on all
every variant and model upgrade. of the propeller blades and thereby unbalances the propel-
Even in recent times Wright R-3350-745C18 BA-1R-3350 lers causing vibration and degraded performance. Observing
Duplex-Cyclone, “Turbo-Compound” engine , albeit much wing-icing was not a problem, but before propeller feather-
modified, is the engine of choice for Reno Air Race air- ing came into existence icing could not, of course, be seen
craft such as the greatly competitive “September Fury,” a on a spinning propeller. Even when pilots suspected that the
highly modified Hawker Sea Fury, and the world's fastest propellers had iced-up, they could not visually observe and
piston aeroplane, “Rare Bear,” a modified Grumman F-8-F confirm exactly where the ice was located on the blades and
“Bearcat” which on 21 August 1989 established the official how it had formed.
speed record for a piston aeroplane of 528.31 mph at Las The early method to remove suspected propeller blade ice
Vegas, Nevada. was an alcohol and glycerin mixture sprayed on the blades
through small nozzles at the base of each propeller blade
THE PROPELLERS to melt the ice. This was not effective because it was not
Each of L-049 Constellation’s Wright engines turned yet known just where the ice had started and where it had
Hamilton-Standard (H-S), three-blade “Hydromatic,” built up and the chemical spray hit the blades randomly
adjustable/constant-speed, full-feathering, (later revers- and flew off the tips. It was not until the propeller feath-
ible) propeller with a diameter of 15’ 2.” These were chosen ering system came into being for entirely other purposes,
in order to make the most of the engines’ power at a cruise that through fortunate coincidence it became possible also
setting at altitudes of over 30,000’ to maximize the effi- to learn more about propeller blade icing. If a propeller was
ciency of the large diameter of the propellers, they were suspected of having ice buildup, red-dyed de-icing fluid
geared sharply downward, turning them far slower than the would be sprayed on the blades as was usual, then the iced
engines’ rpm. This was necessary to avoid the tips of the up propeller would be feathered and photographed when
long propellers from approaching the speed of sound and still. The result of studying these photos lead to a greater
thereby creating a good deal of drag, losing a good deal of understanding of when, where, and how ice developed on
thrust and even producing negative (forward) thrust under propeller blades and eventually to an inflatable rubber lead-
certain conditions. A remarkable aeronautic breakthrough, ing edge boot on each propeller blade, similar to that which
the H-S “Hydromatic” propeller permitted a larger range is used on wings and tail surfaces, which when inflated,
of pitches and a closer tolerance of pitch control than any- cracks the ice which then flakes off before it can build up.
thing else in its class. Having developed and introduced the
world’s first controllable-pitch propeller in 1930, Hamilton
Standard continued to develop and refine its design
throughout the 1930s and 1940’s by placing a larger, multi-
direction, hydraulically-actuated piston located in a large
metal dome on the front of the propeller as well as larger oil
pumps and longer cams providing a wider range of pitches,
and a new feature, propeller feathering (where the propeller
sits at edge to the oncoming air).
By 1937, this new propeller was available and in previously
unheard-of diameters to get the most thrust out of the latest
and most powerful engines. The H-S “Hydromatic” propel-
ler was installed on the majority of U.S. military aircraft in
WWII and a significant percentage of all Allied aircraft.
In the late 1930’s, turbo/supercharged aircraft engines
were becoming more powerful and this, coupled with
improved aircraft design, began to permit aircraft to oper-
ate at above 30,000’ where the air temperature is -34.44ºC
(-30ºF). On many occasions, particularly where there were
clouds and/or high humidity at altitude, the engines would
seem to suddenly run rough and vibrate. It was not, however,
A simplified diagram of the Hamilton-Standard
the engines that were causing this, it was the propellers. propeller pitch-control system.

53
peller shafts’ bearings had to be
re-designed to take the negative
load when the props were in beta
mode, but this was not much of a
problem.
It was soon proved that the
landing roll could be shortened
by as much as 40% with both
wheel brakes and reverse thrust
U. S. Marine
applied as compared to only
Corps’ North wheel brakes.
American PBJ-1J
“Devil Dog”. The
USAAF designated TRIPLE-TAIL
this type B- 25J-2. That signature Constellation tri-
Note the “capped” ple-tail which had been originally
horizontal
stabilizer. a part of “Excalibur’s” design was
inspired by Douglas’s unsuccessful
DC-4E (See above). Hibbard and
Looking at a front-view of
Constellation we see how
Johnson knew that a large single
carefully the entire matter of tail would be more efficient, lighter
the position of the tail surfaces and simpler to build, and would
vis the propeller wash was
planned: produce less drag than a triple-
The horizontal stabilizer is tail but they were not wedded to a
positioned above the propeller single-tail design. It was Johnson,
discs and each of the outer
fins/rudders are positioned after all, who had so brilliantly
between the propeller discs. conceived and designed the twin-
This was done in an attempt
tail for Electra 10. However, the
to minimize the influence of
direct propeller wash-induced top of the vertical tail surface(s)
turbulence on the tail surfaces. sit necessarily much higher on air-
craft with a tricycle undercarriage
than on aircraft with a tail wheel.
If Constellation had a single vertical tail surface it would
have had to be quite tall in order to handle the yaw of its
powerful Wright R-3350s in the event of an engine fail-
This photo clearly ure and the hanger doors of the late ‘30s- early ‘40s would
shows how
have been too low to accommodate it.23 By dividing the rear
Constellation’s
outer fins/ side-load between three vertical tail surfaces, each could be
rudders are much smaller and lower than a single tail, thus solving the
mounted inboard
of the horizontal hanger problem.
stabilizers’ tip. Each of Constellation’s vertical fins are complete verti-
cal stabilizer and rudder units and are unique. Their shape
is a dual ellipse, somewhat pointed at the top and rounded
below. Other twin-tail designs of that time and later such
During the 1940’s, another life saving feature was added as North American’s B-25 and Consolidated’s B-24 have the
to the Hydromatic propeller — reverse pitch. After WWII, two vertical tail surfaces “capping” off the horizontal sta-
as aircraft became larger and heavier, adequate wheel bilizer, that is, the vertical tail surfaces are located at the
breaking after landing was a serious problem. Many acci- very ends of the horizontal stabilizer. Lockheed’s design
dents wherein a large aeroplane would land a bit long on for Electra, Ventura and P-38, and Constellation (but not
the runway and roll through the opposite airport fence had
occurred. (See above). The solution was not simply better
brakes. Some more powerful way of shortening the roll- 23
Boeing’s 1938 B-17, 1940 307 “Stratoliner” are single-tail aircraft with
powerful engines necessitating a large vertical tail surface. However,
307s have tail wheels so their large vertical tail surfaces could still (just) fit
out of heavy aircraft was necessary to be found. H-S engi- through normal hangar doors. Boeing’s 1949 377 “Stratocruiser” is powered
neers studied the problem and ingeniously re-designed the by four 3,500 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-4360-B6 Wasp Major 28-cylinder radial
engines, turning four-bladed propellers. Accordingly, it requires a very large
Hydromatic propeller so that after landing the pilot could
tail surface. As it has a tricycle undercarriage its necessarily tall single verti-
push the blades past feather and into beta (reverse) pitch cal tail surface tops at 38’ 3,” far higher than the hangar doors of its time.
that with a concurrent moderate increase in power produced Boeing’s hanger-door solution for this aircraft was to have the entire fin and
rudder swing down parallel to the horizontal stabilizer for hangaring and
a powerful reverse-thrust braking force. Of course, the pro- raised again for flight.

Harpoon which had “capped” vertical tail surfaces, see with each other but not with the center vertical tail sur-
photo above) has the two outer vertical surfaces extending face. The elevators are also interchangeable, but must be
below the horizontal stabilizer to which they were attached, flipped over in order to exchange them so that the inner
with a sub-rudder also below and the short, round tips of and outer elevators’ sides, trim tab positions and main
the horizontal stabilizer extending beyond the outer verti- hinge points properly line up. This creates the strange
cal tail surfaces. necessity of initially placing the left elevator’s trim tab
It is an axiom of fluid dynamics, which includes aerody- hinge at the top and the right elevator’s trim tab hinge at
namics, that interference drag is generated when the flow the bottom so if the elevator is flipped they remain in their
across one solid component moving in a fluid (air, which original places.
is a gas and not a liquid, is treated as a fluid by engineers
because of its peculiar properties) is forced to mix with the THE UNDERCARRIAGE
flow across an adjacent or proximal component wherever Lockheed had planned all along for Constellation to have a
two surfaces meet. If the angle where they meet is rela- tricycle undercarriage even whilst still called “Excalibur.”
tively acute, i.e., approaching 90º or less, interference drag The only other airliner at that time which had such an
increases exponentially and in proportion to the acuteness undercarriage was Douglas’ DC-4E, the tri-tailed experi-
of the angle. Accordingly, good aerodynamic practice dic- mental aeroplane that was rejected by the major airlines as
tates that aircraft’s surfaces be designed, if possible, with too big, too complex and too expensive. Douglas’ redesign
as few places of intersection as possible, that where they of DC-4E which became DC-4 which was designed concur-
occur they meet at as moderate an angle as possible, and rently with Constellation, also has a tricycle undercarriage.
that fairing be provided when possible to additionally mod- Whilst both Constellation and DC-4 have two wheels on
erate the angles at the places of intersection. With this in each main strut, only Constellation has two wheels on the
mind we can see that Lockheed’s unique arrangement of tail nose strut.
surfaces as described above will necessarily generate addi- Constellation’s brakes are hydraulic as is the retraction
tional interference drag. system. The main struts retract forward into the inboard
In a single-tail arrangement, also called “cruciform,” engine-nacelles and the nose strut retracts rearward into
there are only four places of intersection where interference the bottom of the fuselage. When retracted all wheels and
drag may occur. A “capped” twin tail, such as seen on North the wheel wells are fully enclosed, covered by streamline
American’s B-25 has the same number of places of inter- doors.
section as a single-tail design (four). In Lockheed-designed If a hydraulic-system failure or simply a nose undercar-
twin-tail aircraft there are eight such places of intersection, riage strut failure occurs in Connie, the forward-extend-
and in Constellation, with its two outer and one central ver- ing nose undercarriage strut cannot be as reliably extended
tical tail surfaces, there are ten. and locked down by the usual gravity-fall operation, as
Additionally, by Lockheed carrying Constellation’s, etc. may the rearward extending main undercarriage struts.
horizontal stabilizer past the vertical tail surfaces and This is because the force of the oncoming air may tend to
ending it with the usual tips, the vortex that is always pro- hinder the forward extending nose undercarriage strut but
duced at an aerodynamic surface’s tip occurs. Because wing, will tend to aid the rearward extending main undercarriage
stabilizer and to a lesser degree rudder tip vortices produce struts. Accordingly, if all else fails, the nose undercarriage
drag, eliminating tips when possible also eliminates their struts can be securely extended and locked by an auxiliary
vortices and their drag. This is one important reason that electric hydraulic pump and the main undercarriage strut
so many designers who wish to use a twin-tail arrangement can be extended and locked by a manual override extension
cap off a horizontal stabilizer with vertical fins.24 system.
It is a mystery why Lockheed, always so careful and so The nose undercarriage strut has two 33” tires, a first for
often brilliantly informed in its designs, created a tail sur- this kind of aeroplane. They are toed outward for directional
face arrangement in so many of its aircraft that produced stability at high speed on the ground. This is a true redun-
extra, unnecessary drag when it would have been a sim- dant system in that if one tire should go flat, Connie is fully
pler (if less stylish) solution to cap off the horizontal stabi- capable of carrying on with only the other.
lizer with the two outer vertical surfaces. In any event, P-38 Each main undercarriage consists of two 49” wheels with
and Constellation certainly did not suffer for want of speed separate and independent brakes on each wheel. Similarly
despite their unnecessarily draggy tail surface arrangement; to the nose undercarriage, if a tire on any main strut should
but how much more speed might have been possible if that go flat, the aeroplane can operate safely on the other tire.
drag had been eliminated? Connie sits high on its long undercarriage struts, higher
Connie’s outer vertical tail surfaces are interchangeable in fact than most similar aircraft because Lockheed wanted
to insure good ground clearance for Connie’s 15’ 2” pro-
pellers’ tips (particularly the inboard propellers which sit
24 You may notice that many long-distance jet airliners have small, non-
moving, aerodynamic projections at their wing-tips. These projec-
tions are call “winglets” and are there to smooth out wing tip vortices. This
considerably lower than the outboards) and thereby reduce
pitting and other damage caused by loose ground debris,
reduces drag and permits jets so equipped to fly farther and faster at lower
power settings, thus consuming less fuel for a given flight. stones and the like.

55
THE FLIGHT CONTROLS When banking an aeroplane, unless otherwise corrected
To manipulate Constellation’s enormous ailerons, elevators for, the ailerons’ equal displacement at the outer sections of
and multiple rudders, a hydraulic boost system was utilized the wings will produce what is called “adverse yaw.” Yaw
with a manual override in the event of a hydraulic failure. is the turning of an aeroplane about its vertical axis (top to
Of course, the pilot’s own force was to be multiplied, but by bottom). Adverse yaw is a force that pulls the nose of an
much? Lockheed’s engineers, who were pioneering this type aeroplane in the opposite direction of the bank. Bank left,
of boosted control system, began to inquire amongst pilots nose goes right, and vice versa.
as to what might be optimum. Of course, opinions varied Adverse yaw occurs because when one aileron displaces
and they were, at best, merely guesses. downward, the angle of attack (Alpha) at that part of
Guesswork goes against the engineer’s grain. Facts, num- the wing is increased. In most instances increased Alpha
bers, ratios, formulae and such are his or her métier. After increases lift. This increase in lift causes that wing to rise
much study and experiment Connie’s control boost forces and to bank the aeroplane around its longitudinal axis. The
were finalized at 9.33 x 1 for the elevators, 26 x 1 for the problem is that when lift occurs, there is a simultaneous
ailerons, and 23 x 1 for the rudders. The pilot’s/co-pilot’s and proportional increase in a type of drag called “induced’
control wheel/column and rudder pedals were connected to drag” (drag that is brought about by the creation of lift).
the hydraulic actuators by long cables such as had always Induced drag pulls the aeroplane in the direction of the
been used. The cables were, in turn, attached to the hydrau- rising wing and opposite the direction of the bank.
lic actuator’s motors located at each individual control sur- At the same time, the aileron on the opposite wing
face and to the control surfaces themselves in the event (inside wing) displaces upward, the angle of attack (Alpha)
that manual override became necessary. These hydraulic at that part of the wing is decreased and lift is therefore
actuators moved the controls in a manner something like decreased causing the wing to lower, also banking the aero-
power-steering in an automobile. An artificial force-return plane around its longitudinal axis. This decrease in lift also
system on the control cables provided the “feel” that the decreases the induced drag at that part of the wing, making
pilot and co-pilot required in order to properly fly the aero- the lowering wing want to speed up and move forward and
plane. Whilst at first rather crude and mechanical feeling, in thus adding to the adverse yaw.
a short while this system was refined until the pilot’s/co- Since the downward displacement of an aileron causes
pilot’s sense of the aeroplane felt more natural. most of the trouble, the fix for adverse yaw is called “aile-
In order to bank an aeroplane, that is, to produce a roll- ron differential.” This is created by rigging the ailerons so
ing motion along its longitudinal (nose to tail) axis, hinged that each ailerons’ upward displacement is more than its
ailerons located on the trailing edge of the outer sections of downward displacement.
each wing move (are displaced) by operation of the control Aileron differential does not completely eliminate adverse
wheel in the cockpit. Both ailerons work together moving in yaw in every case, however it does diminish it to a large
opposite directions to bank the aeroplane. To bank left, the extent. Connie’s ailerons are differentially rigged to displace
left (or “inside” because that is the direction towards the 25º up and 10º down, the elevator displacement is 40º up
turn) aileron must displace upwards, reducing lift and low- and 20º down, and rudders displace 30º to each side.
ering the left wing, and the right (or “outside” because that
is the direction away from the turn) aileron must displace FLIGHT DECK
downwards, increasing lift and raising the right wing. The Constellation has always been thought of as a comfort-
opposite is the case for a bank to the right. Aileron down able, even roomy aeroplane for its passengers and this is
= wing up, aileron up = wing down; or wing up = aileron so (except perhaps for the stretched L-1649 in high-den-
down, wing down = aileron up. sity mode with seating for ninety-nine). Unfortunately,
The three axes of an aeroplane. How adverse yaw is produced. Differential Ailerons

cal, mechanical and hydraulic plus
the operation and control of the four
engines and their systems (throttles,
propeller pitch, mixture, carbure-
tor air, superchargers, fuel manage-
ment, oil supply, magnetos, starters,
cabin pressurization, heat, air condi-
tioning, lighting, etc.) sits behind the
Co-pilot facing outward to starboard.
His complex main panel and the
attendant controls for all of that for
which he is responsible fills the space
in front, above and to the left of him.
The Radio-Operator sits behind the
Pilot facing aft and handles all com-
munications with the ground.
L-049 forward cockpit. The optional Navigator (mostly a
The white pitch trim throwback position to WWII bomb-
wheels could have been
ers as navigation became more and
larger, though.
more electronically monitored and
controlled by Pilots) sits in a separate
section on the port side, separated
from the main cockpit by a bulkhead,
wherein the various necessary navi-
gational equipment are located. He
also sometimes has a clear, Plexiglas
dome above for taking sun and star
readings.
Every available space from the
floor to the walls to the ceiling of
the cockpit is filled with radios,
switches, controls for various sys-
tems functions and the like, often
without any seeming regard for
ergonomic concerns or even basic
logical layout. If there is a Navigator
in the crew there is no room in the
cockpit for a “dead-head” seat,
that is, one usually occupied by a
Got enough stuff? With the Co-Pilot’s seat removed for clarity, the Flight Engineer’s station on the
right in the foreground and he Co-Pilot’s switch panels on the right forward side of the cockpit are just crew member of a different crew,
a part of all that the crew of piston-engine airliners in the 1950’s had to deal with. Jets are so much an employee or guest of the air-
simpler. Note the plethora of engine controls under the main panel at the Flight Engineer’s station.
line (the “dead-head”) who needs
a ride but does not participate as a
crew member on the flight. If the
crew does not include a Navigator, a
the cockpit was apparently not similarly designed for the dead-head may sit at his station.
comfort of the flight crew. It would be generous to call it
“tight.” Cramped, cluttered and overcrowded would be THE “SPEEDPAK”
more accurate. The last twelve L-049s and every Connie after had the option
In the days of Connie’s intercontinental flights a four- to carry an aerodynamically-shaped appendage called a
person flight crew (Pilot, Co-pilot, Radio-Operator, Flight “Speedpak” which is attached under the fuselage for car-
Engineer) was the norm with an occasional fifth crew rying extra baggage and such. Adding 349 cubic feet and
member (Navigator) on board as well: up to 8,300 lb. of usable cargo the Speedpak only reduces
The Pilot (left seat) and Co-pilot (right seat) sits facing Connie’s airspeed by twelve mph. Lockheed had received a
forward at dual controls and instruments, of course, but no request by Eastern Airlines for this additional cargo capac-
one else in the cockpit does. ity and it was tested on a USAAF C-69. Loading and unload-
The Flight Engineer, who looks after everything electri- ing operations were facilitated by Speedpak’s built-in elec-

57
A Speedpak ready to be attached under this Western Airlines

Connie L-749, the third major variant of Constellation.
Photo circa 1958
tric hoists. To facilitate moving it on the ground, recessed build. Whilst this might seem to be rather dictatorial and per-
wheels were located under its front and back. Used mostly haps even unconstitutional, U.S. aircraft manufacturers did
on shorter routes, Speedpaks were usually only carried not protest, no lawsuits were filed and no actions were com-
when the weight of the passengers and fuel-on-board were menced in the Federal Courts. U.S. aircraft manufacturers all
low enough to permit the extra cargo load. realized that: One, half the world was already at war and the
other half, including the U.S., was about be drawn into it:
CONSTELLATION BEFORE PEARL HARBOR Two, that given the world situation, a strong U.S. military
Even with war raging in Asia and just beginning to gin up was necessary and that included lots more aircraft; Three,
in Europe, commercial life in the U.S. in 1940-41 went on as more practically, the War Department and the individual mil-
usual. Howard Hughes and Jack Fry placed their order with itary services had the power to choose what they wanted and
Lockheed for the first batch of nine L-049 Constellations from whom they would obtain it; and Four, the government’s
in February 1940. At the same time, Lockheed was very money was as good or better than anyone else's.
busily manufacturing its Model 18 “Lodestar” for commer- No aircraft manufacturer wanted to be seen as unpatri-
cial purchasers; however, most of these were impressed otic, and even more importantly left out of this lucrative and
into military service and designated C-60 by the USAAC and expansive program. And so they meekly went along with
R50 by the USN. In February 1940 the RAF, well-pleased what would surely have been seen in another, more peaceful
with Lockheed’s Hudson patrol bomber, ordered 188 of the time as Fascistic a programme as anything that ever existed
larger, more capable militarized Model 18 Lodestars which in the Axis nations.
they named “Ventura.” Commercial airliners such as Douglas’s DC-3 and 4 and
In early 1940 Lockheed began to build L-349, a longer Lockheed’s Constellation as well as various long-range flying
range variant of L-049. TWA increased its order to forty boats and such were “drafted” into military service. Sometimes
L-049s as Hughes had promised, and Pan Am ordered ten the experienced civilian airline crews of these special aero-
L-049s and thirty L-349s. Had not the rest of the world planes were also drafted to operate them for the military. All of
not already been plunged into war all of this civil avia- this and what followed prevented the commercial debut of both
tion commerce would have been just peachy, but the war DC-4 and Constellation until after the war. As of 4 May 1941
in Europe and Asia gave the U.S. government other ideas the plan was that the USAAC would take possession of all of the
about aircraft production. The Commercial Aircraft Priority 40 L-049s that were to go to TWA, all ten of the L-049s and all
Committee (CAPC), a powerful, bipartisan, Congressionally thirty L-349s that were to go to Pan Am, initially designating
created authority was formed in 1940 to oversee the produc- the L-049’s as C-69, and the L-359s as C-69A. A further 180
tion of aircraft in the U.S. and to apportion to the military L-049s were to be built by Lockheed to be designated C-69B.
services that which might be required. Somewhat typically for the military, such a simple and sensible
By January 1941 the CAPC was busily informing U.S. air- plan did not have a long shelf life and so Connie began her long,
craft manufacturers what and how many aircraft they were to convoluted and checkered WWII military “career.”

CONSTELLATION DURING WWII THE THIRD PLAN
THE FIRST PLAN Still with the maiden flight of Constellation/C-69 still in
In December 1941, just after the U.S. was attacked at Pearl the future, a new USAAF procurement programme for
Harbor and was thus launched into WWII, the USAAF made C-69s was instituted in September 1942. It was decided
provisions for Lockheed to obtain both design drawings and that only eleven C-69s would be purchased by the USAAF
material from Douglas so that Pan Am’s L-349s (C-69As) which included the nine L-049s that were to go to TWA
and the newly Lockheed-built C-69Bs (which were also would be converted to C-69s. Because of confusion regard-
L-349s) could be converted into military cargo and troop- ing multiple overlapping contracts, these nine would not
carriers with capacity for up to 100 soldiers and their gear. be purchased from Lockheed, but would be purchased from
The floor was to be reinforced and large cargo-type double TWA. The other two would be purchased from Pan Am. All
doors installed where the passenger door had been and totalled, 251 C-69s, C-69As and C-69Bs were now planned
a second cargo door installed forward of the wing on the to be purchased by the USAAC at an average price of approx-
port side. imately US$650,000.00 (US$9,541,082.82 in 2016 with a
In order to carry this load plus full fuel, Connie’s gross cumulative rate of inflation of 1367.9%); however, by the
weight was to be increased from 67,000 lb. to 86.000 lb. end of 1942 only eleven C-69s were actually purchased by
This enormously increased both the wing loading (wing the USAAF.
area/gross weight) and power loading (horsepower/gross
weight) to the point that it was considered by many that CONNIE’S FIRST FLIGHT
Connie would be markedly unsafe to fly when fully loaded As noted before, all of these feverish financial negotiations
to the new gross weight. and government plan changing took place before the first
Also, and most absurdly, metal gun aiming grommets Connie ever took wing. Such wide-eyed, trusting optimism
were proposed to be built into all passenger windows (as that there would be little or no major problems with the
in the windows of USAAF’s DC-3 derivative, C-47) so completely untested, unfledged aeroplane, particularly one
that the troops on board could fire with their rifles at any so complex and innovative is rarely to be found in such cir-
attacking aircraft (Apparently, pressurization in C-69, cumstances. In any event, the first flight of Constellation
which had been one of Connie’s most attractive features, was scheduled to take place on 31 August 1942 but that date
was now completely “out the window,” so to speak). was passed by more than four months until on 9 January
One may, with considerable humour, contemplate and 1943 Constellation/C-69 flew for the first time. It would be
picture dozens of infantrymen in such a C-69, entirely neat history indeed if it could be reported that everything
untrained in aerial gunnery with their M-1s poking out went perfectly after that and that no problems of any import
of the passengers’ windows and all firing away with great surfaced, etc. Unfortunately, the real history is, as usual,
enthusiasm but with little to no effect on whatever other not so neat.
aeroplane, friend or foe, might have ventured too close.
Fortunately for all involved, this plan was never insti-
tuted. It might have been effective in combat after all as
an attacking enemy pilot might have laughed himself to
death at the sight.
As it turned out, confusion and disagreement amongst
USAAF planners cancelled this plan and a new one
was made.
THE SECOND PLAN

On 14 June 1942, the Constellation procurement program
was changed again. At that time Lockheed had only begun
to build the first twenty-two Connies of which the USAAF
only accepted fifteen. All of this may seem strange in that
the first flight of any Constellation had not yet taken place.
This new plan provided that 313 C-69, C-69A, and C-69Bs
were eventually to be purchased by the USAAF; however,
during the intervening six months after 7 December many
in the higher offices of the USAAF had changed their minds
and re-thought this plan. It was now decided that for the
This is the first USAAF Lockheed XC-69 prototype, which had is first flight on 9
time being it would be better for Lockheed to concentrate January 1943. It is easily identified as such because it is reliably reported that
on building P-38s in its main Burbank plant and B-17s in was painted in full USAAF camo (Olive Drab 41 on top, Neutral Grey underneath),
its nearby Vega plant in addition to those B-17s being built had the white star in blue circle with no red centre circle insignia, no Army
serial numbers on the tail, and most unusually, large Lockheed logos on the tail
by Boeing, and Douglas, rather than enter into such a large and nose. This C-69 was a USAAF aeroplane at this time and as such would not
C-69 building programme. ordinarily be marked with civilian factory logos, especially not so prominently.

59
The first USAAF XC-69 prototype on the day of its first flight, 9 January 1943. It
carried a civilian serial number - NX25600 and Lockheed logos. The beautiful,
sinuous fuselage, unique to Connie, is clearly shown here.
For Connie’s maiden voyage, Lockheed borrowed Edmund were the camera aircraft. After an hour or so of flight test-
T “Eddie” Allen, a civilian engineer from Boeing who was ing which included hands-off trim, steep turns, slow flight,
fully a familiar with large four-engine aeroplanes such as stalls and mock landing approaches, Allen opened up the
B-17 and the new XB-29 project for which he was a test throttles and performed multiple speed runs which proved
pilot. Allen also had experience with the new problematical in reality what Hughes, Fry, Hibbard and Johnson, suspected
Wright R-3350 which was the engine which also powered all along; that Connie was the fastest aeroplane in its class.
the XB-29. After flying to Muroc Dry Lake (now Edwards AFB) in
Lockheed, having never before built a four-engine aero- record time Allen landed and commenced a series of five
plane or one as large and heavy as Constellation, had no takeoffs and landings before returning to Burbank. The test
such experienced test pilots of its own. However, Lockheed’s flight was reported to have proceeded as expected and with-
chief test pilot Milo Burcham, who had tested the P-38 out incident.
prototype, was the Co-pilot on Connie’s first flight; get-
ting in some four-engine right seat time, I suppose. Highly FURTHER TESTING, TESTING,
unusual if not rash, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, Dick Stanton TESTING... AND GROUNDING
and R. L. Thoren, Constellation’s principle engineers, flew Satisfied with the initial test flights, the USAAF returned
as Connie’s crew, Thoren as the flight engineer. the XC-69 prototype and three others to TWA for further
High-speed taxi tests were made on the Burbank Airport testing. TWA stripped them of the USAAF camo and painted
runway, after which a plume of flame shot out from one of them in TWA’s familiar red livery but with USAAF serial
the engines when the throttle were retarded to idle, surely numbers on the tail between the TWA’s red stripes. Another
making all present once again a bit nervous about the choice few XC-69s went back to Pan Am for the same purpose.
of engines25. Once all settled down, Eddie Allen opened the What they did about their paint is not known to this writer.
throttles and Connie took wing for the first time. Allen left Once C-69/Constellation began to fly on a more regu-
the undercarriage down as he twice circled Connie around lar basis, Lockheed became less and less satisfied with its
the Lockheed Plant to give all of those who had built her and Wright R-3350 engines. The early version of the engine had
who had assembled to watch on the hangar roofs and in the a carburettor with an air intake that had a 90º turn in it
parking lot, a good look at what they had wrought. which intermittently restricted airflow, causing an over-
Heading north from Burbank Allen retracted the under- rich mixture and power reductions without warning. Also,
carriage and climbed for altitude. A B-17 and a Lodestar the rear row of cylinders tended to seriously run hot in
flight, and the entire engine was prone to overheating when
operating for even a short period on the ground, not unlike
25 Before C-69’s first flight, B-29s which used the same Wright R-3350
engine as C-69 had been reported to have had a number of engine
fires, some of which destroyed the entire aeroplane.
Rolls Royce/Packard “Merlin” engines.
When Boeing’s XB-29 project reported that it was having

similar problems with this engine, Lockheed asked the trolled the allocation of Wright engines, grounded all fur-
USAAF if they could switch C-69’s engine to the reliable ther C-69 tests after that fatal crash. This halt in the C-69
and well-vetted Pratt and Whitney R-2800 which was only project was said to be necessary because of the many prob-
slightly less powerful than the Wright. Studies were autho- lems associated with R-3350; however, at the same time,
rized which proved the P&W engine to be a better bet, but hundreds of already built R-3350s were being sent to Boeing
nothing came of them. The USAAF was determined that for installation in B-29s which, understandably, had a much
C-69’s (and B-29’s) engines would be the Wright R-3350, higher Army Air Force priority than C-69.
and that was the end of the discussion. It was not until mid-May 1943 that C-69 received its new,
During longer distance tests it was discovered to every- modified R-3350s. Even so, it was not until 18 June 1943
one’s definite pleasure (but not a surprise to Lockheed, that C-69 testing resumed, but at first on the ground only.
Hughes and Frye) that sweet C-69/L-049 Connie had a top Exhaustive structural pressure tests and intricate weight
speed of at least 365 mph (see spec chart below), faster than and balance tests were performed including tests with sev-
many first-line fighter aircraft at the time and particularly enteen water tanks installed within the fuselage which could
faster than the latest model P-40 Tomahawk (357 mph at be filled and emptied with thousands of gallons of water to
15,000’) and Mitsubishi A6M5 “Zero-Sen” (345 mph top represent various troop/cargo configurations. Weeks later
and long-range cruise airspeed of only 230 mph). This first flight testing resumed with takeoffs and climbs on three
Connie had a published cruise speed at 65% power of 313 and even two engines, various loads fore and aft explored
mph (although many pilots claimed far faster cruise air- the centre of gravity envelope. The engines which, after all,
speeds) and a service ceiling of 24,000 ft. which it could had been the real problem with C-69 were extensively mea-
take partial advantage of because of its pressurized cabin. sured for cylinder-head temperature and for incipient fires.
However well C-69’s slick airframe performed, during In addition to on-board flight engineers, four “Automatic
this extended test period further engine problems arose and Observers” (AO’s),similar to today’s “black box” were set
a bitter relationship arose between Lockheed and the Wright up to photograph and measure all of the aeroplanes’ sys-
Engine Division of the Curtiss-Wright Corp. Lockheed tems’ performance in flight. After a typical test flight some-
claimed that Wright’s underdevelopment and pre-mature times as much as 1,600 feet of film were reviewed and ana-
introduction of the R-3350 was the cause of the engine fires lyzed. In July 1943 fuel tank leaks were investigated for
and other power-control problems. Boeing might well have three months and in September maximum gross weight
felt the same way as the R-3350s in the first batch of B-29s tests up to 90,000 lb. were experimented with, resulting in
were giving their crews and Boeing nothing but trouble, increasing the flight controls’ hydraulic power boost.
some of which resulted in fatal accidents. As the weeks and months of 1943 passed, C-69s were per-
During the TWA/Lockheed tests the Wright engines con- mitted to fly only in fits and starts with multiple ground-
tinued to plague the entire project. First, the whole ignition ing orders issued by AMC. The result of this was that during
system and harness was found to be faulty and Lockheed all of 1943, C-69s were actually flown during no more than
accused Wright of not having properly tested it before three months and during those underwent exhaustive test-
installing it in the R-3350. After a number of severe back- ing. The fact was that while it was certainly helpful and
firing and in-flight engine fire incidents it was discovered informative to learn the aircraft’s physical limits, little to
that, incredibly, after only a few dozen hours of operation nothing that had to do with C-69’s airframe had actually
a number of cylinder heads were actually unscrewing from been cause for much, if any, concern. C-69’s groundings
the base of the cylinders. Another area of concern was the were caused almost exclusively by serious problems with its
overly-long break-in period before the R-3350 would calm R-3350s. The delay caused by testing and retesting those
down and perform according to the spec. charts. matters which were not truly problems in the first place
Upon receiving these reports Wright went right ahead was, to say the least, a severe setback to the C-69 program.
with the necessary changes and re-designs. To its credit, 1944 saw more revised plans for C-69 and as a result
Wright’s efforts eventually turned R-3350 into a more reli- the USAAF had only three examples of the aeroplane in its
able and durable engine, but unfortunately all of their fixing inventory that entire year. The excuse given for the lack of
and tweaking took a great deal of time and the USAAF’s progress in the C-69 project was that Constellation/C-69
far-from-unlimited patience with the XC-69 project was was, after all, a new design, and notwithstanding the
beginning to wear thin. major problems with the Wright engines as mentioned,
Less than two weeks after the first XC-69 flight tests, on it still required that the bugs which are always attendant
23 February 1943, Eddie Allen was flying the second XC-69 regarding new aircraft designs be discovered and worked
when an engine caught fire during the flight. Applying fire out. Accordingly, C-69 was not permitted to fly beyond the
suppressor to the burning engine, Allen thought that he had shores of the continental United States. By June 1944 the
put the fire out but it had already spread inside the wing and USAAF “found” 486 separate problems requiring modi-
the spar was burning. When the wing structure failed, the fications of their C-69s, including a collapsed right main
aeroplane crashed into a meat-packing plant, killing all on undercarriage strut on 12 July which required new under-
board as well as many on the ground. carriage forgings to be designed, manufactured and retro-
Air Material Command (AMC) at Wright Field which con- fitted into all existing aircraft.

61
However frustrating as it must have been to Lockheed
and Hughes, etc, all of the seemingly never-ending tests of
C-69 which delayed its entry into USAAF’s inventory as an
operational aircraft also had some positive value. No other
aircraft before had been so minutely and carefully scruti-
nised and measured. When it came time for Connie to fly as
it had been intended there was nothing of any importance
about her that had not been fixed, tweaked and modified
into virtual perfection.
Whilst all of these seemingly endless delays in the C-69
project were occurring, Douglas’s DC-4, which had been
modified for military cargo and transportation duties with
little effort or anxiety in 1943 became the USAAF’s main
air-lifter, with 1,162 of them built during WWII. DC-4 was
powered by four 1,459 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-2000 radial Orville Wright in the cockpit of C- 69/
Constellation, 26 April 1944.
engines which, whilst far less powerful than Wright R-3350,
were reliable, had few, if any problems and did not tend to
catch on fire. Constellation/C-69 was obviously a far more
capable aeroplane than DC-4 in every important way, but
all of that was of little importance whilst she remained in
an unending testing and tweaking phase. As is always true,
that which is wasted may not be recovered.
CONNIE SHAAAAKES THE WORLD AND USHERS

IN THE MODERN AGE OF AIR-TRANSPORT
Meanwhile, Howard Hughes (remember him?) had a Connie
to use for his own amusement when the USAAF gave back
their few for civilian testing. However, with regard to how
things were going with the USAAF’s C-69 project, he was,
however, not at all amused. In fact, Hughes and Jack Frye
as well as everyone at Lockheed were understandably upset,
perhaps furious with the wasteful, negligent and incom-
petent treatment that the USAAF had given their “baby.”
They certainly felt that the USAAF had little understanding Life Magazine photo and caption: “Jack Fry lands and taxi’s Constellation #2 at
as to what a precious resource and asset C-69/Constellation Washington, D. C. April 17, 1944. The Historic flight of the Connie.”
Note the distinctively civilian livery of this C-69. It was Hughes and Frye’s idea
could be to them. Accordingly, they set out to teach the
to embarrass the Army for so carelessly and negligently handling the whole
USAAF a lesson. C- 69 project by painting it in TWA’s colors as if to say: “We know what a great
Working feverishly with Lockheed and quickly putting all aeroplane this is even if you don’t.”
in order in the second USAAF C-69, they set out to prove
that the aeroplane was what they knew it to be, the finest
air-transport aircraft in the world, and to embarrass the
USAAF for their myopia as well. As it happened, the USAAF anyone was that they intended to deliver not only the aero-
was expecting this particular C-69 to be delivered to them plane, but a big surprise as well.
at the National Airport in Washington, DC. on 17 April 1944. At 3:56 am Pacific Standard Time, on Monday morn-
Mr. Hughes prepared the second USAAF/TWA C-69 for ing, 17 April 1944 Hughes lifted the Connie off from
the flight. First of all, he striped off all of the dull, Army Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank (now Bob Hope Airport/
camo paint and repainted the Connie silver with TWA logos Hollywood Burbank Airport) on a flight of 2,297.5 miles to
and stripes, and with “The TRANSCONTINENTAL Line” Washington, D. C. The USAAF was advised of the departure
painted bold above the passenger windows. Then he, TWA and Washington National Airport control tower person-
President Jack Frye, a crew of five, plus twelve distin- nel expected Connie to arrive some time later that evening.
guished passengers, including Constellation’s Chief Design Imagine their surprise when Hughes called in before 2:00
Engineer, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, USAAF Lt. Col. Clarence PM to report that they were approaching the airport, and
A. “Shoopy” Shoop, a Mr. Solomon of the Air-transport imagine the Army’s surprise when their C-69 landed and
Authority and no less than Hughes’s latest girlfriend, taxied up to the ramp, not painted in the usual olive drab/
actress Ava Gardner. neutral grey of a military aeroplane, but in full TWA regalia.
Hughes and Frye were going to proceeded to deliver As a further and surely the most stinging embarrass-
this Connie to the USAAF alright; but what they didn’t tell ment for the USAAF, Hughes, Frye and all had just shattered

Howard Hughes (left) and Jack Frye (right) in the cockpit of the record-breaking C-69.
sitting in the Co-pilot’s seat took over the controls from

Hughes and was barely able to recover before crashing.
As a sweet note: When Hughes, Frye and all flew the
TWA-painted USAAF C-69 back from D.C. to Burbank they
Life Magazine photo and caption: “Jack Frye (left) and Howard Hughes did a very thoughtful thing. After having made the appro-
(right) disembarking the Constellation after its historic flight.” priate press arrangements, they landed at Wright Field just
east of Dayton, Ohio on 26 April 1944 to commemorate the
first landing of a C-69/Constellation there. Whilst still in
the transcontinental flight record by making the non-stop Washington they had also made special arrangements to
crossing of 2,297.5 miles in 6 hours 58 minutes at an aver- meet none other than Orville Wright himself, who still
age airspeed of 331 mph. lived in his old home in Dayton, and take him for a flight
Jack Frye later said that they didn’t exceed 65% power, in Connie.
except during takeoff and climb, to conserve fuel so that Aged 72, the usually very reclusive and shy Orville Wright,
the flight would be non-stop. Connie flew more than 116 the co-inventor of the first practical aeroplane and the first
mph faster than Boeing’s contemporary 307 “Stratoliner” aeroplane pilot, was excited to fly once again. It is reported
which cruised at 215 mph. More to the point, in 1944 no that Hughes and Frye left Orville alone in the cockpit and
other nation had a four-engine transport aeroplane that let him fly the Connie by himself for a while. Afterwards
was nearly as fast or had the range of C-69 Constellation. Orville told reporters. “I guess I ran the whole plane for a
Hughes and all had shown the world what Constellation minute, but let the machine take care of itself. I always said
could do and also tacitly, but most pointedly for that, that that airplanes could fly themselves if you let them alone.”
the USAAF had let this aeroplane, capable of such spectacu- It is often apocryphally reported that Orville ironically later
lar performance, languish unused and neglected. also said that Constellation’s wingspan was longer than the
This may be as good a time as any to mention that Howard distance of his first flight. Well, even if he didn’t say it,
Hughes’ ability as a pilot has often come into question. Was it’s true.
he a truly skilled pilot or just a publicity-seeking playboy? Of Here’s something that Orville Wright, who died on 30
course there is nothing that says he couldn’t be both, and he January 1948, but who lived to see the early emerging jet
surely was the latter. The great Clarence “Kelley” Johnson, age and to see the sound barrier broken on 14 October 1947,
who was on board when Hughes first tested Connie and then really did say in the last years of his life:
later on the record beating Burbank to D.C. flight, was no “We (he and his brother Wilbur) dared to hope we had
admirer of Howard Hughes’s ability as a pilot. He once stated invented something that would bring lasting peace to the
that, “He (Hughes) damned near killed us both.” earth. But we were wrong ... No, I don’t have any regrets
The incident that Johnson referred to occurred during the about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no
initial Constellation testing. According to Johnson, Hughes one could deplore more than I do the destruction it has
was at the controls at around 10,000’ and cruising at just caused. I feel about the airplane much the same as I do in
under 300 mph when he suddenly fully lowered the flaps. regard to fire. That is, I regret all the terrible damage caused
This put the Connie into a deep stall which Hughes was by fire, but I think it is good for the human race that some-
unable to recover from. Falling precipitously and out of con- one discovered how to start fires and that we have learned
trol, Lockheed’s Chief test pilot, Milo Burcham, who was how to put fire to thousands of important uses.”

63
Hughes felt that the aeroplane was now finally and B-29 was Wright’s R-3350 engine was inevitable as it was
wholly vindicated. From the day of that record flight, the most powerful engine available at the time, and also was
“Constellation” became a household name as the world’s most unfortunate for Lockheed’s Connie.
“Star Airliner.” Connie was widely heralded in the press as In April 1944, the same month that Hughes and Co. made
the biggest, fastest and most beautiful airliner ever built. the USAAF and the world sit up an take notice of Constellation
Newsreels of it played in movie theatres all over the (See above), the first Boeing B-29s were flown to India. On
country and newspapers and magazine published countless 5 June 1944 they flew their first combat mission, bombing
articles and stories with photos about the record-breaking Japanese rail yards near Bangkok and at other locations in
flight. As Clarence “Kelley” Johnson, Hall Hibbard, all at Thailand. This was a test of the aeroplane and its crews,
Lockheed, Howard Hughes and Jack Frye had always known both of which passed with high marks.
it would, their Connie captured the public’s imagination as The first bombing raid of the Japanese homeland since the
a super-sleek, super-quick leap into modernity, ushering in Doolittle raid on 18 April 1942 took place on 15 June 1944.
a new age of air-transport. 68 B-29s took off from Chengdu, the provincial capital of
For the first time people understood that all of the world Sichuan (Szechwan) province in Southwest China and hit
could be reached by air in luxurious comfort and at speeds the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yahata, Japan. Whilst
previously unimaginable for such a large and capacious not a particularly effective bombing mission, the lessons
aeroplane.26 learned were soon put into effect and B-29 based at Chinese
The public’s appreciation and admiration for airfields thereafter bombed Japan eleven times, with occa-
Constellation’s spectacular performance capability (for its sionally as many as 90 B-29s participating in one raid.
time) was surely greatly enhanced by its glamorous, ultra- The war in Europe is considered to have ended on 8 May
modern shape and overall appearance. I do not think it is 1945, and on 7 May 1945 in the Commonwealth. With Hitler
too much to say that with this flight that the modern age of and the Nazi threat out of the way, all Allied efforts were
air-transport as we know it today was established both in now trained directly on Japan. I wonder what the Japanese
the public’s mind and in reality. government and military must have been thinking when
Germany surrendered. Did they perceive that Japan still had
THE TIME OF B-29 any chance of winning or even fighting to draw with virtu-
In April 1939 the USAAC published a formal specification ally the entire world now focused without any other distrac-
for a bomber capable of delivering 20,000 lb. of bombs to a tion upon defeating them? Vainglory and an utter failure to
target 2,667 miles away and capable of flying at a speed of see reality for what it was, I suppose.
400 mph. Once the islands of Tinian, Saipan and Guam were secured
Douglas, Lockheed and Consolidated, went to work on by August 1944, and not without with the shedding of much
designs to satisfy it. Boeing’s pressurised, nose wheel- U.S. Marine Corps, Army and Navy blood, air bases for B-29s
undercarriage version of B-17 had been in the works for a were built by the Naval Construction Battalions (Seabees)
while which gave it a head start. Douglas did not submit and on 28 October 1944 the first B-29s from island bases
an entry, and Lockheed, which had created a preliminary bombed the Japanese homeland. As the Japanese Navy and
design proposal for a “Constellation Bomber,” Model 249- Air forces were essentially taken out the war by the time
58-IO, the XB-30, dropped out of the competition after of and at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23 to 26 October 1944,
Boeing’s superior XB-29 was announced. Consolidated islands even closer to Japan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, were
submitted Model 33, a larger, pressurised version of its taken at great human cost and B-29s based there and now
B-24 to be powered by Wright R-3350s. This became B-32 much closer to Japan were able to bomb at will with little
“Dominator” which was ultimately much less than a suc- opposition.
cess. Boeing’s Model 345, submitted on 11 May 1940 was the It just may be that Hughes and co. actually did embar-
winner, becoming B-29 “Superfortress.” rass the USAAF to do something with their C-69s. In the
After 7 December 1941 the USAAC turned its attention spring of 1945 there was a last gasp attempt by the USAAF
almost exclusively towards developing B-29 to strike Japan to finally put C-69 to good use. The large cargo doors and
from bases in China and later from Japan’s inner islands. reinforced floors that had been proposed years before were
As predicted, the “sleeping giant” had indeed been awak- finally about to be installed. Whilst this further delayed the
ened. The B-29 project was now well on its way, but C-69, project, the virtual destruction by this time of the Japanese
Connie’s military designation for the Constellation, an obvi- Army and Naval air forces meant that Lockheed’s P-38 was
ously less strategically important project, fell behind. That now a much lower priority, and with the coming of B-29,
the choice of engine for both Lockheed’s C-69 and Boeing’s B-17 programmes were over. In the summer of 1945 the war
in the Pacific was rapidly coming to a victorious end and it
looked as if Lockheed would now have the resources, man
26 The long-range “Flying Boats” such as Boeing 314 “Clipper” at 188
mph, Sikorsky VS-44 “Excalibur” at 160 mph and Martin M-130 at 130
mph, and even Boeing 307 at 215 mph and Douglas DC-3 at 207 mph seem
and womanpower, and plant space to really go to town with
C-69 production as had always been promised. C-69 might
perfectly antique in comparison to Constellation’s blinding 300+ mph cruise finally get its chance.
(often published as a conservative 313 mph) with non-stop cross-continental/
oceanic range. Well, you may know or guess that this did not happen; but

this time it wasn’t the fault of the USAAF. The blame must
go to Lockheed itself in the form of P-80, the first practi-
cal U.S. jet fighter. The concept for a jet fighter began at
Lockheed in 1943 and was encouraged by the U.S. military
establishment after having received secret intelligence con-
cerning Germany’s Me-262 jet interceptor. The first XP-80
flew on 8 January 1944 and testing began in earnest. The
new technology was exciting but also something of a leap
into the unknown. Design errors, broken turbine blades,
faulty fuel pumps, etc. caused the deaths of test pilots Milo
Burcham (who had also test flown Connie) and USAAF top
ace Major Richard Bong, and caused serious injuries to the
great Tony LeVier. All was eventually sorted out and by July
1945 80 P-80 were in USAAF service although none saw
actual combat before the war ended.
Once again the C-69 project was put on low priority from
which it never recovered during the war. After Germany’s
Announced March 1942 by “Skyliner Magazine”. Note the underestimation
surrender 7 May 1945, all military resources available were of Connie’s actual airspeed and ceiling. The aeroplane model is probably a
sent to the Pacific to finish the war there, leaving the C-69 promotional model and not a wind- tunnel model. Wind-tunnel models do
project completely bereft of any support in the USAAF. not carry livery, do not have un-powered propellers and are only (rarely)
painted to test the viscosity of a particular paint finish.
In August 1945 the war was just about to end with the
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima (6 August) and Nagasaki
(9 August). On 4 August, however, a single C-69, the
USAAF’s third, was permitted to fly non-stop across the
Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris for the first time.
This it did, and in grand style as well. This Constellation
made the crossing in 14 hours and 12 minutes, setting a new
world’s record. This flight further glorified Connie, but on
19 September this same C-69, whilst being operated by a
TWA crew, crashed in a corn field near Topeka, Kansas after
an engine fire that could not be extinguished. There were
no injuries, but the aeroplane was completely burned. Once
again a problem with its R-3350 caused the grounding of all
C-69s. Fifteen additional modifications were made to every
existing C-69 before they were allowed to fly again.
By the time of Japan’s signing of the surrender on 2
September 1945, the USAAF had only eleven C-69s in its
inventory and had permanently cancelled any further
orders. Almost all of those that the USAAF had, plus those
that it had purchased which were still in the factory in vari- She certainly
ous states of completion, were either sold back to Lockheed is a sexy
at a discount or given back to the airline companies who had beauty…
and the
owned them. All of this was roundly applauded at TWA, Pan stewardess
Am, United and the rest. They knew what to do with these looks nice,
too. Attractive
gems even if the USAAF had demonstrated that it did not.
Stewardesses
have been a
POST-WAR CONNIE FINALLY SHOWS HER STUFF selling feature
in airline
In September 1945 the few remaining USAAF C-69s were travel since
hurriedly re-designated ZC-69 to indicate an obsolete air- the 1930s.
craft. Obsolete indeed. The era of the Constellation was only
just beginning.
The first C-69 which Lockheed purchased from the
USAAF in 1945 became a test aeroplane, at first in the hands
of Howard Hughes and then back to Lockheed’s pilot/engi-
neers. It was Lockheed’s prescient decision to convert every
C-69 it had to L-049 airliner status with the deluxe cabin
appointments that Raymond Lowery had designed in 1940

65
How lovely it must have been to fly in such spacious comfort, especially
when compared to today’s sardine-can airliner environment.
Even though Wright did eventually get the

R-3350 “right”, one may well-expect that
given the many headaches that this engine
gave to them, Lockheed was not amused at
their taking any credit for Connie’s success.
Still, it’s a nice ad.
at Howard Hughes’ behest. Each of the L-049’s cabin pres- converted to extra seats, or a lounge with a card table. For
surization systems were refurbished and enabled. By doing long-distance flights this compartment could contain fold-
this, Lockheed got the jump on Douglas’s pressurized DC-6 up bunks for off-duty crew. Two lavatories were located at
by two years. the rear of the cabin and there was a coat closet as well.
In early October 1945, the second C-69 returned by the For emergency evacuation, a very difficult-to-use rope
USAAF which was converted to civilian use was sent to the ladder was to be attached at the rear passenger door and to
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), the immediate pre- the left side crew door. Since very few Connie passengers (or
decessor to the current Federal Aviation Administration crew for that matter) were trained acrobats or trapeze art-
(FAA), for certification inspection. The CAA was particularly ists, this was not a practical device. After a while, inflatable
concerned with in-flight engine fires because of the long, chutes, similar to those used today, were installed for both
less-than-stellar history of Connie’s and B-29’s Wright the passengers’ and the crew’s emergency exiting.
R-3350 engines. New fire detection and extinguishing sys- It is well to remember that this was the dawn (or perhaps
tems were installed. The CAA also insisted upon even more the birth) of the modern airline industry. There was much
cabin insulation, heating and air conditioning. Lockheed yet to learn and despite all of these earnest improvements.
added more passenger windows and a galley located between It took a lot of experience and experiment in the coming
the Navigator’s compartment and the main cabin for pre- years before all important matters were sorted out.
paring hot meals. The Navigator’s compartment could be Approved Type Certificate (ATC) #A763 was awarded to

Note the empty “Speedpak” behind the right wing, looking like some kind of boat.
Very early advertisement encouraging the

public to fly, and to do so in a Connie.
I’m not sure what this ad as means by “surplus horsepower”. In

aeronautical terms any quantity of power beyond that which
is required for level flight at a given airspeed (reserve power) is
what is available for climbing. Did the public understand this bit
of aeronautical jargon? Not bloody likely.
Lockheed Model 49 on 14 October 1945. Constellation was They enjoyed smoother flights due to flying above most
now, for the first time, officially a commercial airliner. All weather and shorter flights as well due to the high altitudes
later original-style Connies (L-649, L-749), would be added at which Connie could cruise which enabled higher true air-
to this certificate; however, the stretched-body, long-wing speeds and direct routes that did not have to fly to avoid
Connies (L-1049, L-1649A) would require their own cer-
tificates. In late 1945 and for more than three years there- The pressurized Douglas DC-6 did not begin regular commercial opera-
tions until February 1948 after having been grounded because of engine fires.
after Connie’s passengers were the only ones who enjoyed
In April 1949, American, Delta, Braniff, National and United and began flying
fully-pressurized comfort, travelling in a U.S. airliner27. DC-6s within the United States. Overseas DC-6 operations included Braniff
to Rio de Janeiro, United to Hawaii, and Panagra from Miami to Buenos Aires.
At the same time, SAS, Sabena and KLM, and flew DC-6s from New York to
27 TWA’s five pressurized Boeing 307 “Stratoliners” which had been

drafted by the USAAF for the duration of the war as 75s were returned
in 1944 and were sent back to Boeing for rebuilding. Boeing replaced the
Europe.
As a personal note: In my younger days I often flew on a number of
DC-6Bs from New York to Miami and back. What I remember most about
wings and horizontal tail with those from B-17G, installed more powerful these flights was that those four R-2800s and their Hamilton-Standard props
engines as well as the electrical system used on B-29 Superfortress. However, were so horribly loud and the aeroplane vibrated so much that normal con-
the USAAF had entirely removed all pressurization equipment. TWA resumed versation was quite difficult.
307 service in 1946 with the pressurization equipment not re-installed. On 1 April 1949 Pan Am began flying the pressurized Boeing 377
Pan Am’s three Boeing 307s which had similarly been drafted and similarly Stratocruiser on scheduled commercial operations from San Francisco to
returned were not again put into service. It was not until 1 April 1949 that Honolulu. By December 1949 Northwest was flying numerous scheduled 377
Pan Am’s pressurized Boeing B-29-based 377 “Stratocruiser” flew its first routes in the United States and transatlantic 377 service was provided by
commercial flight from San Francisco to Honolulu. BOAC, AOA and Pan Am.

67
mountains or bad weather. It is a curious fact that whilst
the Constellation had a most sleek, streamlined airframe,
this feature was entirely unnecessary to attain high speed
flight in the rarefied air at higher altitudes where parasite
drag is of little issue.
As more and more former C-69s and newly built L-049s
came into commercial service further modifications were
made. The USAAF had re-located their C-69’s landing
lights from the nose to the long nose-wheel strut. Airline
pilots did not like the way that the lights on the nose-wheel
strut focused in a very concentrated pattern. The landing
lights were therefore installed in the wings on all L-049’s
and later models.
A more serious conversion was required with regard to
steering. All of the C-69s that the USAAF had purchased
had free-castering nosewheels. This meant that to turn the
Connie on the ground, differential braking was required. As
long as the aeroplane was taxiing this was not too much of
a problem, but when standing still it was extremely diffi-
cult to pivot Connie, a maneuver that tight civilian ramps
often required.
Also, it was unhealthy for the nose wheels and tires
to pivot when the aeroplane was not moving forward.
Lockheed redesigned the nose undercarriage to provide for
This ad commemorates C-69s record-breaking flight hydraulic steering by the pilot with a small steering wheel.
which was the first C-69 flight permitted beyond the
However, this conversion was not installed until the 83rd
borders of the continental U .S., although it doesn’t
mention that. (See above for details) Incidentally, the L-049 Connie was delivered.
Wright R-3350’s Chandler-Evans carburetors were The USAAF had installed a retractable tail skid for use
the chief source of the engine fires that were such a
problem with this engine. Once they were replaced
when a C-69 pilot was a bit too enthusiastic about pulling
with fuel injectors, the problem was solved. the nose up when landing. This was removed from all civil-
ianized C-69s as airline pilots were expected not to be so
careless as to need such an embarrassing device.
All through the late summer/early autumn of 1945
Lockheed was busily getting its assembly lines in order.
Now that the former USAAF C-69s were accounted for and
well on their way to civilian conversion, new Connies were
about to go down the assembly lines, past Lockheed’s con-
struction stations and emerge as they had always been
intended. By November 1945 Lockheed was able to announce
that it would take 89 orders for newly-built L-049s from
commercial airlines such as TWA, Pan Am, Eastern, and
American Overseas Airlines. Foreign orders came in from
the newly liberated and free European nations of Holland
(KLM) and Air France.
So, Lockheed was ready to sell Connies to the world’s air-
lines except for one little problem. Remember that contract
that Lockheed signed with Hughes Tool Co. /TWA before the
war? Oh yeah, that one.
The development of Constellation was to be kept in strict
confidence until TWA had received the thirty-fifth aero-
plane, and no other airline that purchased the aeroplane
could use it for west-to-east or east-to-west transcon-
tinental U.S. flights for a period of two years after TWA
received its fortieth Connie. Well, the cat was indeed well
out of the bag as far as Constellation’s existence was con-
cerned, but the west-to-east or east-to-west transconti-
nental clause still had full effect and TWA insisted that it

be honoured.
This meant that any airline which
wished to purchase a four-engine
airliner before TWA received its for-
tieth Connie had to purchase a dif-
ferent aeroplane from a source other
than Lockheed. Accordingly, Douglas
sold a lot of DC-4s to these air-
lines by default; but as mentioned,
the unpressurized DC-4 really could
not compete with Connie’s spectac-
ular performance. This led directly
to Douglas’s pressurized DC-6, an
enlarged and more powerful DC-4,
ultimately powered by Pratt and
Whitney R-2800s.
However, airlines such as Pan
Am, Eastern Airlines and the short-
lived American Overseas Airlines had
routes that did not compete with
TWA and were not subject to the
said contract. On 3 February 1946
Pan Am flew one of Lockheed’s first
civilianized C-69s from New York to
Bermuda, a north to south-east flight
that did not violate Lockheed’s con-
Y
tract with TWA. This was Connies’
first commercial flight. es, Frankie rode, er, flew on Connie. This is not a Lockheed or a TWA ad
TWA began non-stop Constellation
(although one might expect that a product-placement deal might have
been arranged) but Capitol Records’ album designer apparently thought
service from New York to Paris on
that at showing the elegant, sophisticated Sinatra with the elegant, sophisticated
6 February, 1946, and followed this
Constellation was a good match.
with the first Los Angeles/New York
Possibly the world’s greatest music producer/arranger, Sir George Martin, wrote
regular service on 1 March 1946.
in his autobiography All You Need Is Ears, that whilst he was in Los Angeles visit-
These flights took an average of nine
ing the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood he witnessed some of the recording
hours and fifteen minutes with one sessions for the “Come Fly With Me” album. He wrote that he spoke with Sinatra
stop. The flight from New York to on numerous occasions and that on one of them Sinatra told him that he hated
Los Angeles took an average eleven the album cover when producer Voyle Gilmore first showed a paste-up of it to him.
hours, twenty-five minutes also with Sinatra said that he thought that it looked like an ad for TWA.
one stop. The only direct connection between Hughes and Sinatra I could find, aside
For the first time people, cargo from when Hughes took over ownership of “The Sands” casino in Las Vegas and
and mail could travel across the U.S. would no longer permit Sinatra free markers for gambling, is that they both
in less than ½ a day. Occasionally, loved Ava Gardner (at separate times) who reportedly drove each of them mad
cargo/passengers were reduced and (at separate times).
TWA was able to make non-stop
transcontinental flights. Regular
non-stop coast-to-coast flights
commenced in 1953 with the advent of L-1049 “Super offered Constellation to purchasers with three differ-
Constellation,” a redesigned and stretched Connie. ent engine alternatives: the Wright R-3350, the Pratt and
In short order, Eastern Airlines began flying Connies up Whitney R-2800 and the similar British Bristol Centaurus.
and down the U.S. east coast, to the Caribbean Islands and Despite the problems that had occurred with the Wright
further south. Eventually, American Overseas Airlines and engine, thanks to the crucial B-29 project which used the
Pan Am flew Connies across the Atlantic to many European same engine, R-3350 had been much improved by the end
cities whilst TWA’s early Connies covered the U.S. with of the war; accordingly, every airline purchased Connie with
dozens of routes, connecting all of the major cities and the Wrights.
introducing truly modern airline transportation to the U.S. The gross weight of L-049s gradually increased as the need
and to the world. to carry more passengers, cargo and fuel became necessary
Lockheed, once free of military rules and supervision, for commercial reasons. To accommodate these increases

69
various structural “beefing up” occurred in the wings and that which already existed, assigning an interior
fuselage. As each weight increase was approved, a suffix designer, approving its basic conception, and not
letter was added to the basic L-049 model designation: insignificantly, paying for it. Perhaps Hughes’ greatest
contribution to Constellation was in his willingness
• L-049 — 86,250 lb. and ability to widely and spectacularly publicise
• L-049A — 90,000 lb. it (and himself), bringing Connie to the public’s
• L-049B/C — 93,000 lb. consciousness and imagination in a way that had
• L-049D — 96,000 lb. not been accomplished with any other aeroplane.
• L-049E — 98,000 lb.
2. CONSTELLATION WAS THE FIRST
Suffix letters used on later Constellation models such as PRESSURIZED AIRLINER
“L-749A” and “L-1049B” do not indicate the gross weight Myth: Boeing’s 1937 307 Stratoliner was.
of these aeroplanes but only incremental model variants
as usual. 3. CONSTELLATION WAS THE FIRST TRICYCLE-
Both the Lockheed’s and the FAA’s original 1945 official UNDERCARRIAGE AIRLINER
designation for Constellation was “49,” but it has become Myth: Douglas’ tricycle undercarriage DC-4,
more common to see “049” or “L-049” in photo cap- which was developed simultaneously with
tions and in publications in more recent years, perhaps to Connie, flew first on 14 February 1942.
more clearly differentiate the first Constellation from the Connie’s first flight was 9 January 1943.
later ones.
4. A CONSTELLATION STILL HOLDS THE RECORD FOR
L-049 AIRLINE OPERATORS A NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON FLIGHT FROM LIFT
Nine airlines operated the eighty-eight Lockheed L-049s OFF TO TOUCH DOWN
and converted C-69s which were built, TWA and Pan Am Fact: An Eastern Constellation L-749 flew from
having the bulk of them. LaGuardia Airport, New York to Washington
National Airport in just over 30 minutes,
• TWA — 31 takeoff to landing. This record was set prior to
• Pan Am — 20 the FAA speed restriction below 10,000 ft.
• American Overseas Airlines (AOA) — 7
• British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) — 6 5. A CONSTELLATION HOLDS THE RECORD
• Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) — 6 FOR THE LONGEST-DURATION, NON-STOP
• Intercontinental U.S. Airlines — 4 PASSENGER FLIGHT
• Air France — 4 Fact: During TWA’s inaugural London-to-
• Capital Airlines — 2 San Francisco flight on 1-2 October 1957,
• Lineas Aereas Venezolanas (LAV) — 2 its L-1649A stayed aloft for 23 hours and 19
minutes flying approximately 5,350 miles
FACTS, LEGENDS AND MYTHOLOGY at an average speed of 229.4 mph.
Perhaps, like a beautiful woman, it is Connie’s uniquely
gracious curves and proportions that tend to cause people 6. CONSTELLATION’S CURVACEOUS FUSELAGE IS
to revere, venerate and esteem her… and to occasionally AIRFOIL-SHAPED TO ENHANCE OVERALL LIFT
exaggerate her accomplishments. Also, like many a beauti- Myth: The aquatic shape of Connie’s fuselage is
ful woman, many of the things that are “known” about her not traditionally airfoil-shaped and has nothing
are simply myths, mis-truths and mendacities, created and at all to do with adding lift. Connie did not require
passed along from decade to decade, not in Connie’s case such as her P-38-style, high-aspect wings were
with asperity, but with affection and admiration. Connie already more than adequate. Connie’s forward
seems to have attracted legend and myth like no other aero- fuselage curves just a bit downward to reduce
plane of its kind, or perhaps of any kind. the length of the already long nose undercarriage
Here is some of what is fact and what is myth: strut and its aft fuselage curves upward to put the
horizontal stabilizer/elevators and those three fins
1. HOWARD HUGHES DESIGNED LOCKHEED’S and rudders up and out of the turbulent propeller-
EXCALIBUR/CONSTELLATION wash. A look at the front view of Constellation will
Myth: Mr. Hughes was no doubt an inventive bear out the execution of this design concept.
and creative genius. Jane Russell’s brassiere, yes;
but his contribution to Constellation was that 7. CONSTELLATION WAS THE FIRST
of great influence which whilst significant was “AIR FORCE ONE”
limited to requesting (suggesting) an aeroplane Fact: President Dwight D. Eisenhower used three
with certain capacity, range and speed beyond Constellations at different times, but only one of

President Eisenhower’s
Lockheed L-749/VC-121A
Columbine II when it was
in storage and essentially
neglected at a depot in
the Sonoran Desert of
southern Arizona. It was later
displayed flying at various
airshows and then stored
at Marana Airport, Arizona
where was restored to flying
condition. It is currently
completely restored
in its “Air Force One”
condition and is on display
at Bridgewater Air Park,
Bridgewater Virginia.
A most precocious TWA

Connie landing at Los
Angeles six months before
it entered commercial
service. (Photo from “The
Godfather”)
them was designated “Air Force One.” Because of a 9. ANACHRONY

traffic-controller’s mix-up of identical call numbers, In “The Godfather,” Don Vito Corleone sends his
“8610,” between an Eastern Airlines flight and adopted son, attorney Tom Hagen, to Hollywood
President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s personal L-749/ to negotiate with a movie producer for a movie
VC-121A Constellation, Columbine II (named for role for his godson, singer Johnny Fontane, in
Colorado’s, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower’s home the summer of 1945. The on-screen image of
state, official flower, the “Columbine”) in 1953, Hagen arriving in a TWA Constellation to the
an in-flight collision nearly occurred. Thereafter, strains of “Manhattan Serenade” by Louis Alter,
the Air Force designation for any aircraft carrying is iconic, but wrong. Commercial Constellation
a U.S. president was to be identified as “Air service did not begin until 5 February 1946.
Force One.” President Eisenhower also upgraded
Air Force One’s communications technology by THE STORY OF THE THREE-
adding a telephone and a teletype machine. ENGINE CONSTELLATION
The most famous (or infamous) story surrounding Connie
8. CONSTELLATION IS THE FASTEST becoming known as “the fastest tri-motor”* occurred on 18
TRI-MOTOR PISTON AIRLINER June 1946. The Pan Am “Clipper America,” one of the L-049
Fact: On 25 July 1946 Pan Am’s L-049 “Clipper Constellations that Pan Am had purchased for its transat-
America” became the fastest three-engine piston lantic routes, took off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport
airliner by flying 2,453.89 miles at a cruise at 5:00 PM and was in its initial climb-out on a northeast
airspeed of 213 mph with only three engines course to Gander, Newfoundland, then on to Ireland and
attached. How this came about is related below. London.

71
Pan Am’s “Clipper
On board and returning home were no less than Laurence America” which
Olivier, his wife Vivien Leigh and members of the Old Vic Captain Miller
Repertory Company who, with Olivier, had just finished a bellied in for a
perfect landing on
triumphant and history-making six-week Shakespearian 18 June 1946.
season on Broadway. At 5,000’ and near Willimantic,
Connecticut, a small town east of Hartford, Captain Samuel
H. Miller noticed that the right-outboard engine was emit-
ting smoke, then flame and was, in fact, on fire. Very quickly
thereafter, the motor mount burned through and the engine So, what of the Connie? Back at Windham a team of experts
ripped off of the Connie, landing on a farm in Plainfield, from the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), an officer of the
Connecticut but causing no serious damage or injuries. Connecticut Department of Aeronautics arrived to inspect
Captain Miller immediately turned around and headed the scene of the accident and the aeroplane. Mysteriously,
for Brainerd Field, at Hartford, planning to land on Runway two Federal Customs Agents also came to take a top-secret
20, a 4,417’ long, 150’ wide asphalt runway. En route, he package from the Connie’s baggage compartment, the con-
noticed that the drag made by the big hole in the empty tents of which remaining undisclosed.
and mangled right-outboard engine nacelle was causing Of course, officials from Pan Am arrived at Windham to
his Connie to lose altitude very rapidly. Spotting Windham look after their expensive asset lying wounded on Runway
Airport in Willimantic below, he prepared to land on runway 27. Pan Am was justly nervous about the crowd taking
27, a 4,271’ long, 100’ wide asphalt runway (not a grass strip “souvenirs,” i.e., essentially anything that could be pried or
as has been occasionally erroneously reported. Willimantic’s yanked off of the aeroplane. They hired local military vet-
runway 27 had been lengthened and paved in 1938). erans to circle and guard their Connie from the crowd until
Because the Connie’s right-main undercarriage had been a solution as to what was going to be done with her was
damaged when the engine ripped away and would not lower, decided.
Captain Miller could not land on the undamaged remain- The next day more than 3,000 people came to Windham
der of the undercarriage and had to make a belly landing. to see the aeroplane that Olivier and Leigh had flown on
Calling Willimantic on the radio he informed the tower of and perhaps to get a glimpse of them as well, although they
the emergency and that he intended to land there. He suc- were long gone by then.
cessfully accomplished a flawless belly landing at 6:10 PM, In later times, I think that an aeroplane as large as a
using only 3,000’ of Runway 27 (the bare belly of a Connie Constellation and especially one with only three engines
is a good brake) with no injuries to anyone onboard and that had just bellied into a landing would be disassembled
no further serious damage to the aeroplane. Olivier and Co. and trucked back to Pan Am’s repair facilities at LaGuardia
rightfully applauded the landing. They knew a good perfor- Airport. This was 1946, however, and Americans were justly
mance when they saw one. flushed with having just won the war (with some help, of
The passengers safely and calmly disembarked and were course). It was perhaps a less conservative time, a time of
met by numerous ambulances and sixty Connecticut State more bravado and daring. It may also be that Pan Am, not
Troopers who were alerted for the impending crash at at all looking forward to the ultra-expense of disassem-
Windham. As the famous actors assembled at the nose of the bling, transporting and re-assembling this Constellation,
stricken Connie, the press arrived. Windham Airport’s man- pulled a few of its well-known political strings and con-
ager, Arthur Kuhn told the reporters that he had never seen vinced the deciding powers (CAA and Connecticut Dept. of
anything like the perfect wheels-up landing that Captain Aeronautics) that she should be minimally repaired right
Miller had made. When interviewed, Olivier said that it was there at Windom, and then be permitted to take off and fly
the closest escape of his life, including his wartime experi- to LaGuardia to be closely looked at.
ences in the RAF He praised Captain Miller extravagantly Pneumatic bags filled with compressed air lifted Connie
and said that all of the passengers owed their lives to him. so that the still-operating left-main and nose undercarriage
Vivien Leigh said that she became very frightened when could be lowered and a special rolling truss arrangement
she saw the engine catch fire and depart the aeroplane. She put under the right wing in the place of the damaged right-
admitted to disliking flying, preferring sea and rail travel main undercarriage. As there was no hangar large enough
instead, but wanted to accompany her husband on the for Connie at Windham, she was towed to a special area near
flight. “After all…tomorrow is another day,” she sighed. No their maintenance hangar and repaired there. The right-
she didn’t, but she might have been thinking it. outboard engine was not replaced and the empty nacelle
Three buses arrived and took the renowned thespi- was smoothly covered over. The preliminary inspection dis-
ans to Brainerd Field where they had a meal and waited covered that the fire had started with the right-outboard
for a replacement aeroplane to arrive. Mr. and Mrs. Olivier engine’s drive-shaft’s take-off used to power the cabin’s
reportedly ate creamed chicken and mushrooms at the air- pressurization system. This system was disconnected for
port restaurant and over 1,000 people watched them and the the time being as it would not be needed for the low-alti-
company of Old Vic board the aeroplane which had come to tude, 108 mile flight back to LaGuardia.
take them home. Over the next 37 days new propellers were installed, the

engines and all systems checked, the right-main under- The USAF designated Connie to be C-121 with various pre-
carriage repaired, the airframe gone carefully over and fixes and suffixes added. U.S. Navy Connies were designated
all else done, inspected and passed for temporary, con- a variety of numbers and letters from R7V-1 to VC-121J.
ditional airworthiness. Another large crowd watched the In fact it was the U.S. Navy that is responsible the Turbo-
still three-engine Connie “Clipper America” take off from Compound system that upgraded the Wright R-3350s to
Windom’s Runway 27 at 4:30 PM on 25 July 1946. Even much higher horsepower. (See above) The Navy intended
with three engines, she only used 2,000’ of the runway for the Turbo-Compound R-3350s for their Lockheed P2V-4
to lift off. Once back at LaGuardia Airport the Connie was “Neptune” patrol bomber, but Lockheed, which needed a
thoroughly checked out in Pan Am’s maintenance hangar. more powerful engine for their planned civilian L-1049
The missing engine was not replaced. Pan Am felt that the “Super Constellation,” a larger variant of the original
replacement of the right-outboard engine and any other Connie, happily incorporated this new, more powerful ver-
serious repair would best be done at Lockheed in Burbank, sion of R-3350 into the programme.
California. The following is a non-comprehensive list of military
Accordingly, to prepare Connie “Clipper America” for Connies:
the 2,453.89 mile flight back to California, what was left
of the right-outboard nacelle was completely removed from Air Force Constellations
the right wing and any holes, gaps, connections, etc. were • C-121A
smoothly faired with aluminium plates to reduce as much Initial variant, based on the civil
of the drag which that part of the right wing might gener- L-749 Constellation. Nine built.
ate. The three-engine Connie took off from LaGuardia and
landed at Burbank Airport eleven and one half hours later • VC-121A
without incident. At understandably reduced average cruise Six C-121A transports converted to VIP use.
airspeed of a bit over 213 mph, this Constellation L-049 Originally designated PC-121A. President Dwight
became the fastest tri-motor airliner until Boeing’s three D. Eisenhower’s official transport aircraft called
jet-engine 727. Columbine II and was the first “Air Force One.”
Captain Samuel H. Miller became Chief Pilot for Pan Am’s
Atlantic division and on 26 October 1958 he flew a Pan Am • VC-121B
Boeing 707 to Paris from then Idlewild International Airport, Similar to the VC-121A, but with the cargo door
now Kennedy International Airport, commencing Pan Am’s replaced by a smaller passenger door. One built.
regular jet service between New York and Paris. He later
became Pan Am’s Vice President for Operations, retiring • C-121C
from that position in 1977. Captain Miller died on 31 August Initial variant based on the L-1049
2001 at age 84 in Bradenton, Fla. where he lived. Super Constellation. 33 built.
*Boeing 377 “Strat” pilots may wish to dispute this, but
I’m not referring to four-engine piston aircraft with one • VC-121C
engine inoperative. I am not aware of a 377 or any other VIP conversion of four C-121C aircraft.
aeroplane which flew over 2,400 miles with only three of
its usual four engines attached to it. In any event, I love • VC-121E
Boeing’s “Strats,” too (and also Fender’s). Ordered by the United States Navy as a R7V-1
but modified before delivery as a presiden-
MILITARY CONNIES tial transport for the United States Air Force.
No L-049 Constellations served in the U.S. military after President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s per-
WWII; however, variants of two Constellation models, sonal VC-121E, was called Columbine III.
L-749 and L-1049, did serve extensively in the USAF and
U.S. Navy from 12 November 1948, when the military finally • YC-121F
came to its senses about her, to 1982. Only a brief men- Two former United States Navy R7V-2s with
tion of this important part of the Constellation story will be Pratt & Whitney T-34 turboprop engines
told here as our focus is on L-049, and also that the story transferred to the United States Air Force.
of Connie in the military is, in itself, worthy of an entirely Designated L-1249A by Lockheed.
separate history.
So, now that peace had come on 2 September 1945 (in • C-121G
the U.S.) and vast fleets of B-29’s and such were no longer Re-designation of 32 R7V-1 transports trans-
required, the new USAF took a long look at Constellation. ferred from the USN to the Air Force.
The U.S. Navy also took an interest in her and the upshot
was that until the end of Constellation production in 1958, • TC-121G
of the total of 838 Constellations of all variants built, the Three C-121Gs converted to airborne warn-
U.S. military services purchased 332 (almost 40%) of them. ing and control system (AWACS) crew trainers.

73
• VC-121G Neglected and under-appreciated in her infancy, the spe-
One C-121G converted to a VIP transport. cial and superior qualities that Connie had always possessed
shone through brightly when she was finally given leave
Navy Constellations to do that for which she was created. Constellation would
• R7O/R7V-1 evolve into four further major civilian models throughout
Initial Navy version based on the L-1049. the 1950’s: L-649, L-749, L-1049 and the ultimate Connie,
50 built. Originally designated R7O. L-1649A “Starliner,” plus numerous military versions of
each of these, including an experimental turbine/propel-
• R7V-1P ler engine powered version (L-1249) for the Navy in 1954
One R7V-1 modified for Antarctic service. and for the USAF in 1955. L-049 would be pulled, stretched
and enlarged to meet the ever-growing demand to provide
• R7V-2 seats for more and more passengers, to go faster, higher,
Two transport aircraft similar to the YC-121F. carry heavier loads and go farther until Connie became what
Also designated L-1249A. Two built. Howard Hughes, Jack Frye, Clarence “Kelley” Johnson, and
Hall Hibbard always knew she was, the ultimate piston-
• C-121J engine air-transport aeroplane. However, the aeroplane
18 remaining R7V-1s redesignated. that began it, the simpler, smaller and in this writer’s opin-
ion, most gracious and beautiful of them all is L-049.
• TC-121J
Electronic testbed. One converted.
• PO-1W / WV-1
Two L-749As equipped with radomes and
radar similar to the later WV-2s. In 1952
they were Redesigned WV-1 from PO-1W.
• EC-121K / WV2
In 1954 the US Navy begin receiving the first of
142 Super Constellations designated as WV-2
“Warning Star” which was the last Connie to
serve in the military. It was retired in 1982. SPECIFICATIONS
Wing span 123 ft 0 in (37.49 m)
• NC-121J
Length 95 ft 2 in (29.00 m)
Four C-121J aircraft converted to television and
radio broadcasting aircraft for use in Vietnam. Height 23 ft 8 in (7.21 m)
“Project Jenny” (Blue Eagles) OASU/VX-8/VXN-8
Wing Area 1,650 ft² (153.28 m²)
• VC-121J 55,345 lbs (25,104 kg)
Empty Weight
Four C-121J aircraft converted for VIP use.
One operated with the Blue Angels. Loaded Weight 86,250 lbs (39,122 kg)
Max. Speed 365 mph (587.41 km/h) @ 20,000’

Travel by air is generally taken for granted today. We
have come to expect to be able to travel at any hour and Cruising Speed 313 mph (503.72 km/h) @ 20,000’
every day of the year to virtually any inhabited place on the
Service Ceiling 25,500 ft (7,770 m)
planet, quickly and in relative comfort. Only 80 or so years
ago when this story began, a mere flash in the timeline of 3,680 miles (5,920 km) with
Max Range
history, the reality of modern air travel and airliners would 7,800 lb (3,538 kg) payload
have seemed to be the fevered imaginings of science fiction. Range Max 2,290 miles (3,685 km) with
I think that it is not too much to give Constellation and Payload 18,400 lb (8,364 kg) payload
L-049 in particular a good part, perhaps the major part
Four Wright Cyclone R-3350-
of the credit for the development of modern air travel. Powerplant 745C-18BA-1, engines rated
Swift, capacious, long-legged, and beautiful, Connie stands @ 2,200 hp (1,640 kw) each
out as one of aviation’s inimitable and most recognizable A note about published aircraft specifications: Physical items
achievements. Of the 856 Constellations of all types built, such as wingspan, weight, etc. are consistent, easily measured
only fifty-six Connies of all types still exist in one form or and are therefore not controversial matters. However,
performance items such as top and cruising speed, range, etc.
another, few of them flyable and some poor few which have are variable, changing with density altitude, load, pilot technique
become restaurants, bars and other non-aviation displays. and from one identical-looking aeroplane to another.

One of the unfortunate Connies which
ended up as a display/restaurant, or
whatever. This one was put up as a rather
spectacular if sad display in Florida in the
late 1970s.

75
DEVELOPER’S
NOTES
hroughout the making of this this proj- was as if an artist was tasked to create the most beautiful
T
ect, the knowledge that there are only four-engine airplane, and this was his first creation. The
four examples of the original model 049 lines flow perfectly from the tip of the nose, to the wing
Constellation left in the world today tips, to the tip of the tail. It even looks gorgeous when
admittedly bothered me. When exam- the landing gear and flaps are deployed.
ining its history however, the reason The very first Connie produced had a single speed
for their scarcity is explained; there supercharger, while within the first year of it’s service,
weren’t many original models made and as time passed, these engines were upgraded to dual speed superchargers.
most of those in service were upgraded to the next ver- The upgrades just kept coming in; eventually cutting up
sion. It’s such a shame considering it’s importance that the beautifully perfect body and adding more space, more
nobody placed just one of these airframes in a museum power, and more weight. Since we did not want to touch
to preserve since the Constellation has had an enormous the body of the original design, we did the very latest ver-
impact on aviation. sion of the original model 049 airplane, which included a
Prior to this project when we were researching what dual speed supercharger.
model to make, it was clear that the vast majority of One of the most significant features of the Captain of
available information was on the Super Constellation. But the Ship Connie is its engine sound modeling. Since there
when our lead artist on this project Robert Rogalski and are no flying examples of this model, we used an available
I got together to discuss the different models, we both Douglas Skyraider that has the same engine and exhaust
already concluded that, from an aesthetic point of view configuration as the Connie as our engine source. We also
alone, the original model 049 was the ultimate beauty. It used some very advanced audio techniques to model the

reverberations in the cabin that occur especially when all less trouble transitioning, but first time Connie pilots will
four of these beastly, 18-cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex- have a bit more challenge flying the Stratocruiser due to
Cyclone engines come roaring to life. From the first time it’s size, power, and high wing loading.
I heard the sound we were able to create in the simula- We are so proud to have added this historic icon to our
tion, with the new modeling techniques, I couldn’t wait to collection from both a simulation point of view and a pure
share it with our community. I’m so happy to finally get historical perspective. A2A Simulation’s Captain of the
this four engine beauty into your hands. Ship Constellation stands as a one of a kind virtual peek
For our existing Boeing 377 Stratocruiser veteran cus- into what it was like operating this legendary, but now so
tomers soon to be flying the Connie, take a moment to rare, unmistakable beauty. Thank you for being an A2A
go through the features list in this manual to see what customer, which allowed us to dive deeply into develop-
has changed in the latest Captain of the Ship release. We ment and create another Captain of the Ship airplane.
hope to incorporate some of these new features in our
existing Stratocruiser down the road, but keep in mind
that both the Stratocruiser and the Constellation are two Scott Gentile
very deep, organic, living beasts in their own right. We
must approach their designs individually even though, on
the surface, you may see similar things, beneath critical
numbers, the tolerances, and behaviors are very differ-
ent. In general, the Connie is a more forgiving airplane
to operate. This means Stratocruiser pilots should have

77
FEATURES

▶▶ HISTORY COMES ALIVE: Experience a timeless ▶▶ DEEP COCKPIT LIGHTING: Flood,
legend brought to life inside a simulation. Fluorescent, and gauge lighting modeled.
Every aircraft is unique: Don’t expect all gauges
to read the same values, just like the real ▶▶ DUAL SPEED SUPERCHARGERS: Proper
airplane. And each airplane is persistent. supercharger physics and each engine can
independently run in either high or low blower.
▶▶ FOUR CREW POSITIONS: pilot, co-pilot,
flight engineer, and navigator. Fully modelled ▶▶ NEW SLIP AND BALL CODE FROM THE
and functioning positions constructed T-6: Enjoy smooth, custom physics in this
with down to the rivet detail. critical gauge during turning maneuvers.
▶▶ INTELLIGENT CREW AND ▶▶ AUTHENTIC FLIGHT STABILITY:The Connie

RESPONSIVE PASSENGERS: was known for being a little less stable in
pitch than other aircraft, which requires
• Your engineer can manage all the systems on
a little more finesse and attention.
the fly, responding to various conditions
• Copilot calls out critical info ▶▶ PISTON COMBUSTION ENGINE MODELING:
Real-world conditions affect system
• Navigator observes and posts findings
conditions, including engine temperatures.
• Flight attendant tirelessly works for
both you and the passengers (just like ▶▶ FULLY CLICK-ABLE COCKPITS: with
the real world counterparts) authentically working systems and gauges.
▶▶ UNEXPECTED EVENTS POSSIBLE: Engines ▶▶ 3D LIGHTS ‘M’(built directly into the model)
along with other systems including heating, air
conditioning, and pressurization can be problematic. ▶▶ PURE 3D INSTRUMENTATION
• Natural 3D appearance with
▶▶ CAPTAIN’S CAREER: Your performance exceptional performance.
is remembered and can get better, worse,
or stay consistent based on your flying • Smooth movements.
abilities and flight management.
▶▶ FIRE EXTINGUISHER SYSTEM with fully
▶▶ REAL TIME LOAD MANAGER: with the functioning overheard panel and controls.
ability to load individual passengers,
cargo, and fuel or select presets. ▶▶ GROUND POWER UNIT (GPU) to power systems
with engines off and not drain the battery.
▶▶ CUSTOM NAVIGATOR’S MAP: Zoomable map can
be customized to show the desired information. ▶▶ CABIN PRESSURIZATION SYSTEM CONTROLS:
Accessible via keystroke or the Navigators station. You control the target altitude and the rate of
pressure change and the system authentically
▶▶ DEFAULT AND HISTORIC SPERRY AUTOPILOT: displays and manages cabin pressure.
You can select either autopilot in the sim.
▶▶ THREE DIFFERENT LIVERIES: including
▶▶ AUTHENTIC FUEL DELIVERY INCLUDES PRIMER TWA, BOAC, and a C-69 cargo paint.
ONLY STARTS: You can start the engines properly by
using primer with the mixture in the OFF position. ▶▶ A2A SPECIALIZED BUMP MAPPING AND
SPECULAR LIGHTINGon all models.
▶▶ AUTO-MIXTURE that actually performs as
intended. Now you can set for “auto-rich” or ▶▶ CREW REPORTS pop-up 2D panel keeps
“auto-lean” and the aircraft fuel to air ratio will be important information easily available.
automatically determined and set by the carburetor
▶▶ MANAGE TEMPERATURES WITH ENGINE
based upon various factors such as altitude.
COWL FLAPS AND OIL COOLER FLAPS: High
▶▶ CUSTOM COCKPIT SYSTEMS AND GAUGES temperatures can adversely affect engine
for the ultimate in realism taken far performance, Serious overheating can cause scoring
beyond what is available by default. of cylinder head walls including ultimate failure
if warnings are ignored and overly abused.
▶▶ INERTIA STARTERS: Start these big beautiful
engines by the book using authentic inertia ▶▶ SPARK PLUGS CAN CLOG AND EVENTUALLY
wheel energizing and engagement. FOUL if engines are allowed to idle too low for
too long. Throttling up an engine with oil-
▶▶ FEATHERING PROPS AND AIR STARTS: soaked spark plugs can help clear them out.
Custom physics allows for realistic feathering
and air starts without using the starter. ▶▶ EXPERIENCE AUTHENTIC ASYMMETRICAL DRAG
when operating various flap systems in flight.

79
QUICKSTART GUIDE
hances are, if you are reading this should have been given a link to download after purchase, is
C
manual, you have properly installed an executable (.exe) file which, when accessed, contains the
the A2A L-049 Constellation. However, automatic installer for the software.
in the interest of customer support, To install, double click on the executable and follow the
here is a brief description of the setup steps provided in the installer software. Once complete, you
process, system requirements, and a will be prompted that installation is finished.
quick start guide to get you up quickly Important: If you have Microsoft Security Essentials
and efficiently in your new aircraft. installed, be sure to make an exception for Lockheed Martin
Prepar3D as shown on the right.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The A2A Simulations L-049 Constellation requires the fol- REALISM SETTINGS
lowing to run: The A2A Simulations L-049 Constellation was built to a very
• Requires licensed copy of Lockheed Martin Prepar3D high degree of realism and accuracy. Because of this, it was
developed using the highest realism settings available in
OPERATING SYSTEM: Lockheed Martin Prepar3D.
• Windows XP SP2 The following settings are recommended to provide the
• Windows Vista most accurate depiction of the flight model. Without these
• Windows 7 settings, certain features may not work correctly and the
• Windows 8 & 8.1 flight model will not perform accurately. The figure below
• Windows 10 depicts the recommended realism settings for the A2A
L-049 Constellation.
PROCESSOR:
2.0 GHz single core processor (3.0GHz and/or multiple core FLIGHT MODEL
processor or better recommended). To achieve the highest degree of realism, move all sliders to
the right. The model was developed in this manner, thus we
HARD DRIVE: cannot attest to the accuracy of the model if these sliders are
250MB of hard drive space or better. not set as shown below.
VIDEO CARD: INSTRUMENTS AND LIGHTS

DirectX 9 compliant video card with at least 128 MB video Enable “Pilot controls aircraft lights” as the name implies
ram (512 MB or more recommended). for proper control of lighting. Check “Enable gyro drift” to
provide realistic inaccuracies which occur in gyro compasses
OTHER: over time.
DirectX 9 hardware compatibility and audio card with “Display indicated airspeed” should be checked to pro-
speakers and/or headphones. vide a more realistic simulation of the airspeed instruments.
INSTALLATION ENGINES
Included in your downloaded zipped (.zip) file, which you Ensure “Enable auto mixture” is NOT checked.

FLIGHT CONTROLS
It is recommended you have “Auto-rudder” turned off if you
have a means of controlling the rudder input, either via side QUICK
swivel/twist on your specific joystick or rudder pedals.
FLYING
ENGINE STRESS DAMAGES ENGINE
(Acceleration Only). It is recommended you have this TIPS
UNCHECKED.
▶▶ To Change Views Press

DISPLAY SETTINGS
A or SHIFT + A.
Under Aircraft, “High Resolution 3-D cockpit” must be
checked.
▶▶ Keep the engine at or above 800
RPM. Failure to do so may cause
SUPPORT AND QUESTIONS?
spark plug fouling. If your plugs do
Please visit us and post directly to the A2A support and com-
foul (the engine will sound rough),
munity forums; https://a2asimulations.com/forum/index.php
try running the engine at a higher
RPM. You have a good chance of
blowing them clear within a few
seconds by doing so. If that doesn’t
work, you may have to shut down
and visit the maintenance hangar.
▶▶ On landing, once the airplane

settles slowly pull back on the yoke
for additional elevator braking
while you use your wheel brakes.
Once the airplane has slowed
down you can raise your flaps.
▶▶ Be careful with high-speed

power-on dives (not recommended
in this type of aircraft), as you can
lose control of your aircraft if you
exceed the max allowable speed.
▶▶ For landings, take the time to line

up and plan your approach. Keep
your eye on the speed at all times.
▶▶ Using a Simulation Rate higher than

4× may cause odd system behavior.
▶▶ A quick way to warm your

engine is to re-load your
aircraft while running.
▶▶ In warm weather, use reduced

power and higher speed,
shallow climbs to keep
engine temperatures low.
▶▶ Avoid fast power reductions

especially in very cold weather to
prevent shock cooling the engine.

81
ACCU-SIM AND
THE L-049
CONSTELLATION

ccu-Sim is A2A Simulations’ grow- and sometimes not so subtle, unpredictability of it all. The
A
ing flight simulation engine, which is end result is when flying in an Accu-Sim powered aircraft,
now connectable to other host simula- it just feels real enough that you can almost smell the avgas.
tions. In this case, we have attached our
L-049 Constellation to Microsoft Flight YOUR AIRCRAFT TALKS
Simulator X and Lockheed Martin’s We have gone to great lengths to bring the internal physics
Prepar3D to provide the maximum of the airframe, engine, and systems to life. Now, when the
amount of realism and immersion possible. engine coughs, you can hear it and see a puff of smoke. If you
push the engine too hard, you can also hear signs that this is
WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND ACCU-SIM? happening. Just like an actual pilot, you will get to know the
Pilots will tell you that no two aircraft are the same. Even sounds of your aircraft, from the tires scrubbing on landing
taking the same aircraft up from the same airport to the to the stresses of the airframe to the window that is cracked
same location will result in a different experience. For opened.
example, you may notice one day your engine is running
a bit hotter than usual and you might just open your cowl BE PREPARED – STAY OUT OF TROUBLE
flaps a bit more and be on your way, or maybe this is a The key to successfully operating almost any aircraft is to
sign of something more serious developing under the hood. stay ahead of the curve and on top of things. Aircraft are not
Regardless, you expect these things to occur in a simula- like automobiles, in the sense that weight plays a key role
tion just as they do in life. This is Accu-Sim, where no two in the creation of every component. So, almost every system
flights are ever the same. on your aircraft is created to be just strong enough to give
Realism does not mean having a difficult time with your you, the pilot, enough margin of error to operate safely, but
flying. While Accu-Sim is created by pilots, it is built for these margins are smaller than those you find in an auto-
everyone. This means everything from having a profes- mobile. So, piloting an aircraft requires both precision and
sional crew there to help you manage the systems, to an respect of the machine you are managing.
intuitive layout, or just the ability to turn the system on or It is important that you always keep an eye on your oil
off with a single switch. However, if Accu-Sim is enabled pressure and engine temperature gauges. On cold engine
and the needles are in the red, there will be consequences. It starts, the oil is thick and until it reaches a proper operat-
is no longer just an aircraft, it’s a simulation. ing temperature, this thick oil results in much higher than
ACTIONS LEAD TO CONSEQUENCES

Your A2A Simulations aircraft is quite
complete with full system modeling and
flying an aircraft such as this requires
constant attention to the systems. The
infinite changing conditions around you
and your aircraft have impact on these
systems. As systems operate both inside
and outside their limitations, they behave
differently. For example, the tempera-
ture of the air that enters your carbure-
tor has a direct impact on the power your
engine can produce. Pushing an engine
too hard may produce just slight damage
that you, as a pilot, may see as it just not
running quite as good as it was on a pre-
vious flight. You may run an engine so
hot, that it catches fire. However, it may
not catch fire; it may just quit, or may
not run smoothly. This is Accu-Sim – it’s
both the realism of all of these systems
working in harmony, and all the subtle,

83
ACCU-SIM AND THE L-049 CONSTELLATION
normal oil pressure. In extreme cold, once the engine is
started, watch that oil pressure gauge and idle the engine
as low as possible, keeping the oil pressure under 100psi.
PERSISTENT AIRCRAFT
Every time you load up your L-049 Constellation, you will
be flying the continuation of the last aircraft which includes
fuel and oil, along with all of your system conditions. So be
aware, no longer will your aircraft load with full fuel every
time, it will load with the same amount of fuel you left off
when you quit your last flight. You will learn the easy or the
hard way to make, at the very least, some basic checks on
your systems before jumping in and taking off, just like a
real aircraft owner.
Additionally, in each flight things will sometimes be dif-
ferent. The gauges and systems will never be exactly the
same. There are just too many moving parts, variables,
changes, etc., that continuously alter the condition of the
airplane, its engine and its systems.
NOTE: Signs of a damaged engine may be lower RPM (due to

increased friction), or possibly hotter engine temperatures.
SOUNDS GENERATED BY PHYSICS

Microsoft Flight Simulator X and Lockheed Martin’s
Prepar3D, like any piece of software, has its limitations.
Accu-Sim breaks this open by augmenting the sound

system with our own, adding sounds to provide the most tems and therefore Accu-Sim requires these to behave
believable and immersive flying experience possible. The authentically.
sound system is massive in this L-049 Constellation and
includes engine sputter / spits, bumps and jolts, body LANDINGS
creaks, engine detonation, runway thumps, and flaps, Bumps, squeaks, rattles, and stress all happens in an air-
dynamic touchdowns, authentic simulation of air including craft, just when it is taxiing around the ground. Now take
buffeting, shaking, broken flaps, primer, and almost every that huge piece of lightweight metal and slam it on the
single switch or lever in the cockpit is modeled. Most of pavement. It’s a lot to ask of your landing gear. Aircraft
these sounds were recorded from the actual aircraft and this engineer’s don’t design the landing gear any more rugged
sound environment just breaks open an entirely new world. than they have too. So treat it with kid gloves on your final
However, as you can see, this is not just for entertainment approach. Kiss the pavement. Anything more is just asking
purposes; proper sound is critical to creating an authentic too much from your aircraft.
and believable flying experience. Know that when you hear Accu-Sim watches your landings, and the moment your
something, it is being driven by actual system physics and wheels hit the pavement, you will hear the appropriate
not being triggered when a certain condition is met. There sounds (thanks to the new sound engine capabilities). Slam
is a big difference, and to the simulation pilot, you can just it on the ground and you may hear metal crunching, or just
feel it. kiss the pavement perfectly and hear just a nice chirp or
scrub of the wheels. This landing system part of Accu-Sim
GAUGE PHYSICS makes every landing challenging and fun.
Each gauge has mechanics that allow it to work. Some
gauges run off of engine suction, gyros, air pressure, or YOUR TURN TO FLY SO ENJOY
mechanical means. The RPM gauge may wander because Accu-Sim is about maximizing the joy of flight. We at
of the slack in the mechanics, or the gyro gauge may fluc- A2A Simulations are passionate about aviation, and are
tuate when starting the motor, or the gauge needles may proud to be the makers of both the A2A Simulations L-049
vibrate with the motor or jolt on a hard landing or tur- Constellation. Please feel free to email us, post on our
bulent buffet. forums, or let us know what you think. Sharing this passion
The gauges are the windows into your aircraft’s sys- with you is what makes us happy.

85
ACCU-SIM AND THE
COMBUSTION ENGINE
The piston pulls

in the fuel / air
mixture, then
compresses the
mixture on its way
back up.
The spark plug ignites

the compressed air /
fuel mixture, driving the
piston down (power),
then on its way back up,
the burned mixture is
forced out the exhaust.

he combustion engine is basically an air AIR TEMPERATURE
T
pump. It creates power by pulling in an Have you ever noticed that your car engine runs smoother
air / fuel mixture, igniting it, and turn- and stronger in the cold weather? This is because cold air is
ing the explosion into usable power. denser than hot air and has more oxygen. Hotter air means
The explosion pushes a piston down less power.
that turns a crankshaft. As the pistons
run up and down with controlled explo-
sions, the crankshaft spins. For an automobile, the spinning
crankshaft is connected to a transmission (with gears) that
is connected to a driveshaft, which is then connected to the
wheels. This is literally “putting power to the pavement.”
WEAK
Cold air is denser
For an aircraft, the crankshaft is connected to a propeller and so provides
more oxygen to
shaft and the power comes when that spinning propeller your engine. More
takes a bite of the air and pulls the aircraft forward. oxygen means
more power.
The main difference between an engine designed for an
automobile and one designed for an aircraft is the aircraft
engine will have to produce power up high where the air
is thin. To function better in that high, thin air, a super-
charger can be installed to push more air into the engine.
STRONG
OVERVIEW OF HOW THE ENGINE
WORKS AND CREATES POWER
Fire needs air. We need air. Engines need air. Engines are
just like us as – they need oxygen to work. Why? Because
fire needs oxygen to burn. If you cover a fire, it goes out MIXTURE
because you starved it of oxygen. If you have ever used a Just before the air enters the combustion chamber it is
wood stove or fireplace, you know when you open the vent mixed with fuel. Think of it as an air / fuel mist.
to allow more air to come in, the fire will burn more. The A general rule is a 0.08% fuel to air ratio will produce the
same principle applies to an engine. Think of an engine like most power. 0.08% is less than 1%, meaning for every 100
a fire that will burn as hot and fast as you let it. parts of air, there is just less than 1 part fuel. The best eco-
Look at these four images on the left and you will under- nomical mixture is 0.0625%.
stand basically how an engine operates. Why not just use the most economical mixture all the time?
The piston pulls in the fuel / air mixture, then compresses Because a leaner mixture means a hotter running engine.
the mixture on its way back up. Fuel actually acts as an engine coolant, so the richer the
The spark plug ignites the compressed air / fuel mixture, mixture, the cooler the engine will run.
driving the piston down (power), then on its way back up, However, since the engine at high power will be nearing
the burned mixture is forced out the exhaust. its maximum acceptable temperature, you would use your
Just before the air enters the combustion chamber it

is mixed with fuel. Think of it as an air / fuel mist.
When you push the throttle forward, you are opening
a valve allowing your engine to suck in more fuel / air
mixture.

87
ACCU-SIM AND THE COMBUSTION ENGINE
best power mixture (0.08%) when you need power (take- HIGH BAROMETRIC PRESSURE (high air pressure). While
off, climbing), and your best economy mixture (.0625%) air pressure changes all over the world based on weather
when throttled back in a cruise when engine temperatures conditions, these air pressure changes are minor compared
are low. to the difference in air pressure with altitude. The higher
So, think of it this way: the altitude, the much lower the air pressure.
• For HIGH POWER, use a RICHER mixture. On a standard day (59°F), the air pressure at sea level
• For LOW POWER, use a LEANER mixture. is 29.92 in. Hg BAROMETRIC PRESSURE. To keep things
simple, let’s say 30 in. Hg is standard air pressure. You have
THE MIXTURE LEVER just taken off and begin to climb. As you reach higher alti-
Most piston aircraft have a mixture lever in the cockpit that tudes, you notice your rate of climb slowly getting lower.
the pilot can operate. The higher you fly, the thinner the This is because the higher you fly, the thinner the air is, and
air, and the less fuel you need to achieve the same mixture. the less power your engine can produce. You should also
So, in general, as you climb you will be gradually pulling notice your MANIFOLD PRESSURE decreases as you climb
that mixture lever backwards, leaning it out as you go to the as well.
higher, thinner air. Why does your manifold pressure decrease as you climb?
Because manifold pressure is air pressure, only it’s mea-
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU sured inside your engine’s intake manifold. Since your
HAVE THE RIGHT MIXTURE? engine needs air to breath, manifold pressure is a good indi-
The standard technique to achieve the proper mixture in cator of how much power your engine can produce.
flight is to lean the mixture until you just notice the engine Now, if you start the engine and idle, why does the mani-
getting a bit weaker, then richen the mixture until the fold pressure go way down?
engine sounds smooth. It is this threshold that you are dial- When your engine idles, it is being choked of air. It is
ing into your 0.08%, best power mixture. Be aware, if you given just enough air to sustain itself without stall-
pull the mixture all the way back to the leanest position, ing. If you could look down your carburetor throat when
this is mixture cutoff, which will stop the engine. an engine is idling, those throttle plates would look like
they were closed. However if you looked at it really closely,
INDUCTION you would notice a little space on the edge of the throttle
As you now know, an engine is an air pump that runs based valve. Through that little crack, air is streaming in. If you
on timed explosions. Just like a forest fire, it would run out turned your ear toward it, you could probably even hear a
of control unless it is limited. When you push the throttle loud sucking sound. That is how much that engine is trying
forward, you are opening a valve allowing your engine to to breath. Those throttle valves are located at the base of
suck in more fuel / air mixture. When at full throttle, your your carburetor, and your carburetor is bolted on top of your
engine is pulling in as much air as
your intake system will allow. It is not
unlike a watering hose – you crimp
the hose and restrict the water. Think
of full power as you just opening that
water valve and letting the water run
free. This is 100% full power.
In general, we don’t run an airplane
engine at full power for extended peri-
ods of time. Full power is only used
when it is absolutely necessary, some-
times on takeoff, and otherwise in an
emergency situation that requires it.
For the most part, you will be ‘throt-
tling’ your motor, meaning you will be
setting the limit.
MANIFOLD PRESSURE
= AIR PRESSURE
You have probably watched the weather
on television and seen a large letter L
showing where big storms are located.
L stands for LOW BAROMETRIC
PRESSURE (low air pressure). You’ve
seen the H as well, which stands for

intake manifold. Just below those throttle valves and inside is now equalized as your engine’s intake system is running
your intake manifold, the air is in a near vacuum. This is wide open. So if you turned your engine off, your manifold
where your manifold pressure gauge’s sensor is, and when pressure would rise to the outside pressure. So on a standard
you are idling, that sensor is reading that very low air pres- day at sea level, your manifold pressure with the engine off
sure in that near vacuum. will be 30”.
As you increase power, you will notice your manifold pres-
sure comes up. This is simply because you have used your IGNITION
throttle to open those throttle plates more, and the engine The ignition system provides timed sparks to trigger timed
is able to get the air it wants. If you apply full power on a explosions. For safety, aircraft are usually equipped with
normal engine, that pressure will ultimately reach about the two completely independent ignition systems. In the event
same pressure as the outside, which really just means the air one fails, the other will continue to provide sparks and the
engine will continue to run. This means each cylinder will
have two spark plugs installed.
An added advantage to having two sparks instead of one is
more sparks means a little more power. The pilot can select
Ignition 1, Ignition 2, or BOTH by using the MAG switch.
You can test that each ignition is working on the ground by
selecting each one and watching your engine RPM. There will
be a slight drop when you go from BOTH to just one igni-
tion system. This is normal, provided the drop is within your
pilot’s manual limitation.
ENGINE TEMPERATURE
All sorts of things create heat in an engine, like friction, air
temp, etc., but nothing produces heat like COMBUSTION.
The hotter the metal, the weaker its strength.
Aircraft engines are made of aluminum alloy, due to its
The air and fuel are compressed by the piston, then the ignition system strong but lightweight properties. Aluminum maintains
adds the spark to create a controlled explosion. most of its strength up to about 150°C. As the temperature

89
ACCU-SIM AND THE COMBUSTION ENGINE
making contact with each other and incurring damage. A
Without the
layer of oil trained pilot quickly learns to look at his oil pressure gauge
between as soon as the engine starts, because if the oil pressure
the parts,
does not rise within seconds, then the engine must be shut
an engine
will quickly down immediately.
overheat and Above is a simple illustration of a crankshaft that is
seize.
located between two metal caps, bolted together. This is
the very crankshaft where all of the engine’s power ends
up. Vital oil is pressure-injected in between these surfaces
when the engine is running. The only time the crankshaft
ever physically touches these metal caps is at startup and
shutdown. The moment oil pressure drops below its mini-
mum, these surfaces make contact. The crankshaft is where
all the power comes from, so if you starve this vital compo-
approaches 200°C, the strength starts to drop. An aluminum nent of oil, the engine can seize. However, this is just one of
rod at 0°C is about 5× stronger than the same rod at 250°C, hundreds of moving parts in an engine that need a constant
so an engine is most prone to fail when it is running hot. supply of oil to run properly.
Keep your engine temperatures down to keep a healthy run-
ning engine. MORE CYLINDERS, MORE POWER
The very first combustion engines were just one or two
LUBRICATION SYSTEM (OIL) cylinders. Then, as technology advanced, and the demand
An internal combustion engine has precision machined for more power increased, cylinders were made larger.
metal parts that are designed to run against other metal Ultimately, they were not only made larger, but more were
surfaces. There needs to be a layer of oil between those sur- added to an engine.
faces at all times. If you were to run an engine and pull the Below are some illustrations to show how an engine may
oil plug and let all the oil drain out, after just minutes, the be configured as more cylinders are added.
engine would run hot, slow down, and ultimately seize up The more cylinders you add to an engine, the more heat
completely from the metal on metal friction. it produces. Eventually, engine manufacturers started to
There is a minimum amount of oil pressure required for add additional “rows” of cylinders. Sometimes two engines
every engine to run safely. If the oil pressure falls below would literally be mated together, with the 2nd row being
this minimum, then the engine parts are in danger of rotated slightly so the cylinders could get a direct flow of air.

TORQUE VS HORSEPOWER
Torque is a measure of twisting force. If
you put a foot long wrench on a bolt, and
applied 1 pound of force at the handle, you
would be applying 1 foot-pound of torque
to that bolt. The moment a spark triggers
an explosion, and that piston is driven
down, that is the moment that piston is
creating torque, and using that torque to
twist the crankshaft. With a more pow-
erful explosion, comes more torque. The
more fuel and air that can be exploded,
the more torque. You can increase an
engine’s power by either making bigger
cylinders, adding more cylinders, or both.
Horsepower, on the other hand, is
the total power that engine is creat-
ing. Horsepower is calculated by com-
bining torque with speed (RPM). If an
engine can produce 500 foot pounds of
torque at 1,000 RPM and produce the
same amount of torque at 2,000 RPM,
then that engine is producing twice the
horsepower at 2,000 RPM than it is at
THE PRATT & WHITNEY R-4360 1,000 RPM. Torque is the twisting force. Horsepower is how
Pratt & Whitney took this even further, creating the R-4360, fast that twisting force is being applied.
with 28 Cylinders (this engine is featured in the A2A Boeing If your airplane has a torque meter, keep that engine
377 Stratocruiser). The cylinders were run so deep, it torque within the limits or you can break internal compo-
became known as the “Corn Cob.” This is the most power- nents. Typically, an engine produces the most torque in the
ful piston aircraft engine to reach production. There are a low to mid RPM range, and highest horsepower in the upper
LOT of moving parts on this engine. RPM range.

91
PROPELLERS

efore you learn about how different pro- reaction to the diverted air. An airfoil’s lift is dependent
B
pellers work, first you must understand upon its shape, the speed at which it is traveling through
the basics of the common airfoil, which the air, and its angle to the oncoming air (angle of attack).”
is the reason why a wing creates lift, It is important that you note that we have deliberately
and in this case, why a propeller creates not entered into the details and complete aerodynamics
thrust. involved with either of the above explanations for lift as
It is interesting to note when discuss- they go beyond the scope of this manual.
ing Bernoulli and Newton and how they relate to lift, that Unfortunately over time, the Bernoulli theory specifi-
both theories on how lift is created were presented by each cally has been misrepresented in many textbooks causing
man not knowing their theory would eventually become an some confusion in the pilot and flight training community.
explanation for how lift is created. They both were dealing Misrepresentations of Bernoulli such as the “equal tran-
with other issues of their day. sit theory” and other incorrect variations on Bernoulli have
caused this confusion. Rather than get into a highly techni-
THE BERNOULLI THEORY cal review of all this we at A2A simply advise those inter-
This has been the traditional theory of why an airfoil cre- ested in the correct explanation of Bernoulli to research that
ates lift. Look at the image below which shows you how the area with competent authority.
shape of an airfoil splits the oncoming air. The air above is The main thing we want to impress upon you here is
forced to travel further than the air at the bottom, essen- that when considering lift and dealing with Bernoulli and
tially stretching the air and creating a lower pressure, or Newton, it is important and indeed critical to understand
vacuum. The wing is basically sucked up, into this lower that BOTH explanations are COMPLETE EXPLANATIONS for
pressure. The faster the speed, the greater the lift. how lift is created. Bernoulli and Newton do NOT add to
form a total lift force. EACH theory is simply a different way
THE NEWTON THEORY of COMPLETELY explaining the same thing.
As the air travels across the airfoil’s upper and lower sur- BOTH Bernoulli and Newton are in fact in play and acting
faces, lift is created by BENDING the air down with great simultaneously on an airfoil each responsible completely
force at its trailing edge, and thus, the Newtonian force of and independently for the lift being created on that airfoil.
opposite and equal reaction apply. Hopefully we have sparked your interest in the direction
of proper research.
WHAT WE DO KNOW (AND WHAT
THE PILOT NEEDS TO KNOW)  WHAT IS A STALL?
The airfoil is essentially an air diverter and the lift is the In order for a wing to produce efficient lift, the air must
flow completely around the leading
(front) edge of the wing, following the
contours of the wing. At too large an
angle of attack, the air cannot contour the
wing. When this happens, the wing is in
a “stall.”
Typically, stalls in aircraft occur when
an airplane loses too much airspeed to
create a sufficient amount of lift. A typi-
cal stall exercise would be to put your air-
craft into a climb, cut the throttle, and try
and maintain the climb as long as pos-
sible. You will have to gradually pull back
harder on the stick to maintain your climb
pitch and as speed decreases, the angle of
attack increases. At some point, the angle
of attack will become so great, that the
wing will stall (the nose will drop).

93
PROPELLERS
CROSS SECTION OF A PROPELLER BLADE
C A MB E
RED SID
E , OR F
RO NT
LEADING
EDGE TRAILING
EDGE
FLAT LOWER SIDE
Level Flight. A wing creating moderate lift. Air Climb. Wing creating significant lift force. Air vortices Stall. A wing that is stalled will be unable to create
vortices (lines) stay close to the wing. still close to the wing. significant lift.

STALL while the plane is not moving. This effect is known as prop
The angle of attack has become too large. The boundary stall, and is part of the Accu-Sim prop physics suite.
layer vortices have separated from the top surface of the Once done with your power check, prepare for takeoff.
wing and the incoming flow no longer bends completely Once you begin your takeoff run, you may notice the aircraft
around the leading edge. The wing is stalled, not only cre- starts to pull harder after you start rolling forward. This is
ating little lift, but significant drag. the propeller starting to get its proper “bite” into the air,
Can a propeller stall? as the propeller blades come out of their stalled, turbulent
What do you think? More on this below. state and enter their comfortable high lift angles of attack
it was designed for. There are also other good physics going
LIFT VS ANGLE OF ATTACK on during all of these phases of flight, that we will just let
Every airfoil has an optimum angle at which it attacks the you experience for the first time yourself.
air (called angle of attack, or AoA), where lift is at its peak.
The lift typically starts when the wing is level, and increases PROP OVERSPEED
until the wing reaches its optimum angle, let’s say 15-25 A fixed pitch prop spends almost all of its life out of it’s peak
degrees, then as it passes this point, the lift drops off. Some thrust angle. This is because, unless the aircraft is travelling
wings have a gentle drop, others can actually be so harsh, at a specific speed and specific power it was designed for,
as your angle of attack increases past this critical point, the it’s either operating too slow or too fast. Let’s say you are
lift drops off like a cliff. Once you are past this point of lift flying a P-40 and have the propeller in MANUAL mode, and
and the angle is so high, the air is just being plowed around you are cruising at a high RPM. Now you pitch down, what
in circles, creating almost no lift but plenty of drag. This is is going to happen? The faster air will push your prop faster,
what you experience when you stall an aircraft. The buffet- and possibly beyond its 3,000 RPM recommended limit. If
ing or shaking of the aircraft at this stall position is actually you pitch up your RPM will drop, losing engine power and
the turbulent air, created by your stalling wing, passing over propeller efficiency. You really don’t have a whole lot of
your rear stabilizer, thus shaking the aircraft. This shaking room here to play with, but you can push it (as many WWII
can sometimes become so violent, you can pop rivets and pilots had to).
damage your airframe. You quickly learn to back
off your stick (or yoke) when you feel those shud-
ders approaching.
Notice in the diagram on the right, how the
airfoil creates more lift as the angle of attack
increases. Ideally, your wing (or propeller) will
spend most of its time moving along the left hand
side of this curve, and avoid passing over the edge.
A general aviation plane that comes to mind is the
Piper Cherokee. An older version has what we call
a “Hershey bar wing” because it is uniform from
the root to the tip, just like a Hershey chocolate
bar. Later, Piper introduced the tapered wing,
which stalled more gradually, across the wing. The
Hershey bar wing has an abrupt stall, whereas the
tapered wing has a gentle stall.
A propeller is basically a wing except that instead
of relying on incoming air for lift, it is spinning
around to create lift, it is perpendicular to the
ground, creating a backwards push of air, or thrust.
Just remember, whether a propeller is a fixed pitch,
variable pitch, or constant speed, it is always attack-
ing a variable, incoming air, and lives within this lift
curve.
FROM STALL TO FULL POWER

With brakes on and idling, the angle at which the
prop attacks the still air, especially closer to the
propeller hub, is almost always too great for the
prop to be creating much lift. The prop is mostly
behaving like a brake as it slams its side into the
air. In reality, the prop is creating very little lift

95
CAPTAIN OF
THE SHIP
uring the glory days of aviation, flying CAREER SYSTEM
D
wasn’t about going from point A to point The Career System is based on how well you manage your
B, it was an event. Airliners such as the aircraft systems, quality of flight, and emergencies. In real
Constellation were literally the largest life, every action we do (or don’t do) has consequences that
aviation event there was. These passen- go along with it. This is never truer than when piloting a
gers have paid top dollar to fly on the system-rich, period airliner like the Constellation .
largest, most advanced and most luxu- However, as captain, you are not only responsible for the
rious aircraft. And at the very least, they expect a smooth entire aircraft, but for every life on that plane. By law, every
flight. What they don’t expect is an inexperienced, ham- person on board that plane must follow the orders of the pilot
fisted captain at the controls. These passengers expect and in command. In fact, the captain has the authority to refuse
deserve the very best. a direct order from an air traffic controller if he is acting in
However there is somebody else on board who also the interest of the safety of his aircraft. So understand that
deserves the absolute best from you and your crew, and the captain has the ultimate authority and responsibility for
she may very well be the most important person on this the safety of everyone on board his aircraft.
plane. To fill this purpose we are happy to introduce a Training aside, you will find that managing an air-
brand new hostess, Betty. craft with passengers is mostly rooted in common sense.

Your passengers, like all people, like to be in a comfort-
able climate, don’t like being subjected to sudden forces,
and enjoy good food and drink. So when you fly with your
Career Module, remember the following (You do not have to
remember what is on this list. It’s just all common sense
you will know instinctively):
•• In cold climates, be sure to allow your crew time

to heat up the cabin prior to loading passengers
•• In hot climates, start the engines a few minutes

prior to boarding to cool the cabin down
•• If you choose to fly exclusively left seat, give ▶▶ Career system based on how well
your engineer time to set the systems up and you manage your aircraft systems,
your crew to perform their ground duties quality of flight, and emergencies.
before just throttling up and taking off.
▶▶ Intelligent passengers react to the
•• Be easy on your engines from the very start. weather, flight, and cabin conditions.
You are responsible for wear and damage on
that plane, so only use the power you need. ▶▶ This Is Your Captain Speaking...
The captain keeps passengers
•• Turn the seat-belt sign on during takeoff, landings, informed on the flight’s progress.
at lower altitudes, transitioning through clouds,
and in any expected turbulent conditions. Ensure ▶▶ A Live Engineer manages systems which
you turn it off when the flying is smooth. allows a true left-seat experience.
▶▶ Virtual flight attendant performs her

•• Allow your passengers to finish
duties and reports to the crew.
eating a meal before landing.
▶▶ Navigator’s station with real-time

•• When passengers are eating, fly with a feather’s
monitoring and calculations of
touch. It is recommended you keep the plane
wind and flight conditions.
in a steady flight in smooth air if possible.
▶▶ Natural Speech constructs sentences
•• Fly carefully when passengers are sleeping.
dynamically from a pool of over
1000 sound recordings strong.
•• Make coordinated turns. USE THE BALL! If you do
this correctly, unless someone is looking out the ▶▶ Accu-Sim physics system shakes the
window, they won’t even know you are turning. cockpit and airframe based on both
external and internal conditions.
•• Be very careful with the rudder, as it is
powerful and can cause all kinds of bad things ▶▶ Real-time passenger loading and unloading
to happen in the cabin especially when food
and drinks are throughout the cabin. ▶▶ Deep systems modeling throughout
including oil pressure loss, friction heat,
and cabin pressurization failures.
▶▶ Cabin Pressurization Module driven

by the dual speed superchargers
▶▶ Climate Control Systems including two

Stewart Warner gasoline heaters located
in the outboard nacelles, and two
automatic cabin air coolers (intercoolers).

97
CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP
•• Plan your descents and don’t force fast pressure Now this system is tested and in place, we are able to
transitions. This can cause bad ear pain for deliver naturally speaking people, including the captain. Our
passengers, including little passengers that Accu-Sim sound system includes a Natural Speech module
cry and can ruin the flight for others. that dynamically constructs sentences on the fly. It pulls
from a pool of over one thousand sound recordings strong
•• Make the absolute best landing you can. This starts and produces natural speech. The end result is a captain,
with a proper, steady approach. Making landings co-pilot, navigator, engineer, and even a flight attendant
takes PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Landing who just speaks. There are no canned captain’s call buttons.
is HARD WORK for even the very best pilots. Your new natural speech captain speaks based on the sur-
rounding conditions, and does so without canned or trig-
•• Be calm during emergencies, because your gered repetition.
passengers will likely not be, and they will look
to you, the captain, to maintain control. Under a INTELLIGENT PASSENGERS
critical emergency like a lost engine, engine fire, or Passengers react to the weather, flight, and cabin conditions
pressurization failure, get that plane on the ground We try hard to simulate all conditions, and not just expected
safely and your passengers will thank you forever. ones, because life is full of surprises. The passenger module
was built on top of our famous “Heidi” intelligence module
•• If you are unlucky enough to have a passenger fall made for our Piper J3. This time, it’s not an individual, but
seriously ill on your flight, get that plane to the more of a crowd mentality. Be smart and keep them com-
closest appropriate airfield as soon as you can. fortable, fly the aircraft well, and be prepared for emergen-
cies, and you will likely have a successful career.
•• Sometimes a VIP will board the plane. With
VIP’s come press and attention, so think of YOU ARE CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP
it as doubling down in Vegas. Make a good When you are a captain of a large, luxurious airliner in the
flight, and reap the recognition. Make a bad world, you carry an enormous responsibility to not only
call, and that will be remembered too. the aircraft itself, but to the passengers and crew. A2A
Simulations is proud to reintroduce our Accu-Sim intelli-
UNDERLYING INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM gence module, “Captain of the Ship.”
The very core of Captain of the Ship is an intelligent
human-like system that watches... and learns. Yes, Accu- THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING...
Sim doesn’t just pull variables from the host program. It Your captain observes the flight, its state, and the sur-
observes, and adapts. Why? Well frankly, repetition is rounding conditions and will report updates to the cabin
boring and a true simulation demands freedom, and free- from time to time. He speaks using natural expressions,
dom of choice is the very essence of a simulation experience. rather than canned, triggered recordings.
After all, you are the boss, and the very nature of being a
leader is making choices. THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU, CAPTAIN
You, as the captain, will be remembered and judged by your
actions (hopefully not lack of action). The Accu-Sim Career
Module is built around this premise. Your reputation is built
by repeated and consistent good flying, but there always
lurks the unexpected and rare emergency. Those rare unex-
pected moments are known as a “Captain’s Call.”
In a completely unexpected, crisis situation, what are you
going to do? Are you going to hesitate? Are you going to
fumble around with the manuals? Or are you going to get
right to it? What if you have a minor pressurization failure?
Will you make a death plunge for the lower altitudes where
the air is thicker; effectively turning what was a minor sit-
uation into a crisis? What if you have a medical emergency
in flight? What about a simple problem like a heating fail-
ure happening half-way across the Atlantic at 30,000 feet,
where the air is sixty below zero?
Most of your flights are not going to have drama, but
every experienced pilot knows that unexpected events are
lurking in the shadows just waiting to happen. However,
you cannot control or prevent these unexpected events. A
machine shop that forged a faulty rod that happens to give

while you are at the controls is not within your control. The know you were turning. Now THAT is a coordinated turn. I
mechanic that fails to fasten down an oil line is not in con- am also sure you have been in an airplane and that aircraft
trol. All you can do as Captain is to know your aircraft, oper- is banking, and you know it. Now that is NOT a coordinated
ate it responsibly, and be prepared for anything that might turn. That kind of turn is acceptable when people are sitting
happen. down and your seat-belt is fastened. An uncoordinated turn
And this, we believe, is where the magic comes in with like that is not acceptable when people are roaming about
Captain of the Ship, because everything you do is remem- the cabin or eating a full course meal. Now, you have to be
bered. In real life, the best is brought out in those who are that experienced pilot.
held accountable for their actions. The same thing applies Let me show you some examples of how our testers are
to a simulation. When you are held to account for all of flying differently now. First, on very cold or warm days,
your actions and all of these actions are remembered and they have learned to give their crew extra time to prepare
together, create your identity and reputation, suddenly it is the cabin. This may mean running the body heaters, or
an entirely new experience. starting the engines early and blasting some fresh, cool air
into that cabin.
THE CAPTAIN ALWAYS TAKES Now if you are a combustion engine mechanic or a prop-
FULL RESPONSIBILITY aircraft owner, you know that running a combustion engine
A lot of you for the first time are going to notice “The Ball.” at its maximum power wears it down much faster than run-
If you are someone who has not cared about this ball before ning that same engine at say cruise power, or even climb
(located on your Turn & Slip gauge), you are going to care power. Don’t be surprised with Captain of the Ship, if you
about it now. Because this ball will allow you to make per- find yourself taking off with something less than take-off
fectly coordinated turns. When you make a coordinated power.
turn, people in the back won’t even know you are turning. Maybe you were used to raising your flaps quickly after
I am sure you have been in an airplane and suddenly looked take-off and didn’t mind if you sink a little bit, but now
out the window and you are looking either straight down you may think a little differently because there are people
at the ground or up in the sky, and before you didn’t even in the back.

99
CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP
You may even find yourself reaching for that seat-belt he is not perfect. If you hand the panel over to him, give him
sign BEFORE you hit turbulence. Why? Well, maybe because time to go through the systems, checking one by one. He
on your last flight you hit turbulence shortly after take-off needs to scan the panel with his eyes, needs to think, and
and the seat-belt sign was off. After that flight, a passenger make adjustments.
decided to voice his grievance with the airline. Also, please Your engineer actually talks to himself while he works,
note that people like a smooth flight when they are eating so as you are flying left seat, you can hear cues of what he
dinner. is adjusting.
You may find yourself taking the extra time to make a
proper approach. This new-found patience may be from the JUST A STEWARDESS?
consequences of your last flight making last minute cor- In many ways, the stewardess (flight attendant) is the most
rections or perhaps a sloppy kick of the rudder to get back important person on the plane. She does a job that very few
onto the glide slope. With every new experience, BANG! people could do well. She is the face of the airline and she
you’ve just became a better pilot. Why? - Because you are is directly responsible for servicing the passenger’s needs.
accountable. She greets people with a smile while boarding and she helps
It sounds like a lot perhaps, but you will be surprised just them with all their needs including finding their seat and
how natural it all comes to you, and you will just remember stowing their luggage. She is also responsible for making
because it all makes sense in the real world, and now does sure all passengers understand the minimal safety precau-
in the simulated world. tions from showing them where the exits are to how to use
oxygen in an emergency.
A LIVE ENGINEER Once the aircraft is airborne, she continues to work to
Flying w1ith a live engineer allows you to have a truer left- respond to every need while serving drinks, snacks, and
seat experience. About 6 months of AI coding and testing full course meals. On overnight flights, she will will attend
has gone into breathing true life into a systems engineer to every passenger’s need so that they get the most com-
who will handle the engineer’s panel properly in almost fortable night’s sleep possible. She is on constant alert and
every possible scenario. takes very few breaks.
It is important that our engineer, Larry, acts not like a Your head stewardess works during a time in aviation
computer but like a person, because in real life people when flying was a major event. Additionally, the L-049
manage this aircraft, not computers. While Larry is capable, Constellation was a large and advanced passenger plane.

NAVIGATOR’S STATION
The Navigator’s station includes real-time monitoring and
calculations of wind and flight conditions. Your naviga-
tor gets reports of the wind conditions and determines any
cross, tail, or head winds.
He also monitors how the aircraft is behaving and deter-
mines what the turbulence level is regardless of what any
weather reporting stations may be reporting.
Aircraft time is tracked, basically meaning the time the
passengers are on regardless of what time zones you have
crossed over. He has a gold pocket watch he keeps on his
table that you can look at. Meals are served based on this
time, and not local or global time.
PROFESSIONAL AUDIO
A new sound system with over one thousand brand new
recordings. Any great sound begins with a great recording,
and the highest quality audio can only be captured by indus-
try professional sound engineers using the very finest audio
equipment.
This means just like every crew member aboard this first- First, we visit the aircraft and analyze all of the sounds
class airliner, she is held to the very highest standard. that it is capable of making, whether it is sitting on the
Just like a highly experienced captain, she is at the very ground or flying through a thunderstorm. Then we isolate
top of her game. Therefore, she deserves the very best from and capture hundreds, sometimes thousands of sounds as
you, her Captain. Give her a smooth flight so the passengers they occur.
feel safe and comfortable. Be responsible with your climbs Once back in the studio, the sound then gets processed
and descents, and be sure to alert the cabin with a seat-belt and entered into our latest Accu-Sim sound engine, where
warning before you enter into turbulent conditions. they are driven and even modified by the actual physics

101
CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP
inside our aircraft. NATURAL SPEECH

Now when you flick a switch, you hear the actual switch Captain of the Ship includes a Natural Speech Module which
live, on the fly. The same applies to all kinds of levers, but- constructs sentences dynamically from a pool of over 1000
tons, and knobs. Furthermore, these switches and knobs sound recordings strong. For speech to sound natural in a
control newly recorded electrical motors and servos. You game, simulation, or movie, it always begins with a con-
will hear the actual cowl flap wind up, run, and wind down. vincing actor (or actress) captured by sound professionals
Additional motors control the inter-cooler flaps, oil cooler using high quality microphones. But in today’s high tech
flaps, and oil pump motors as they pulse and whir. You world, that is where the natural part ends. Those recordings
can even open the window and hear the props through the are then digitally processed and placed inside ambient envi-
window. You can hear the air as it passes smoothly over your ronments to simulate how speech is heard whether it comes
airframe or as it slams into the side or underneath areas of over a headset, over a PA system, normal talking behind a
the aircraft. Flying through a thunderstorm is a true audio closed door, or right next to you.
experience with Accu-Sim. Just be sure to put the seat-belt From there our brand new Accu-Sim sound module con-
sign on so your passengers stay safe. structs sentences on the fly based on actual conditions. This
means the captain can update the cabin several times during
a flight and always sounds natural and spontaneous.
Your engineer is constantly keeping you updated and
instead of hearing the same repeated sentence, you hear
natural, live updates. When your head stewardess comes in
to serve meals, she reads from the menu on the fly just like
we do in real life. Across the board, all talking is managed
with this new speech module, which hopefully gives you the
immersion of being among thinking individuals.
This is absolutely necessary to make it all sound “natu-
ral” to you, the end user.
ACCU-SIM PHYSICS
Accu-Sim physics system shakes the cockpit and airframe
based on both external and internal conditions. When the
engines start running they vibrate and shake your cockpit.
Once the airframe starts to move, ground bumps punch and
buck the aircraft through the wheel struts. It shakes, bucks,
and strains as it rolls on the ground and ultimately as it
takes to the air above. Wind forces can cause your airframe
to creak and stress and even the air that passes over the
elevator at slow speeds also shakes the aircraft, just prior to
the wing completely stalling.
Real-time passenger loading and unloading Every time

you load your plane, you will get a fresh new load of passen- with the cooling and heating systems. He can also manage
gers. Some passengers travel alone, while others travel in your electrical system, which is all-new in this Captain of
groups / families. Clicking on any of the load pre-sets will the Ship package.
start a real time loading of your airplane. You can always hit We have also used our latest sound engine to bring this
FAST LOAD, and it will still load realistically but will simply aircraft to life. Every switch, dial, lever, and up to fif-
do it much faster. Your ground crew and stewardess will teen electrical motors can be simultaneously heard in the
also keep you informed of the progress. cockpit. Add this to all the creaking, rattling, and buck-
You can also see a more accurate status in your CREW ing in this airframe, it becomes an orchestra of sound in
REPORTS (SHIFT-2) panel pop up. the cabin.
DEEPER SYSTEMS MODELLING CABIN PRESSURIZATION

Your crew is smart and will usually be able to figure out As you climb into the higher thinner air, it holds less oxygen.
when things are not right. We have added deeper modelling To remedy this, a pressurization system is employed to
of the oil system and internal engine pressures. Also, dam- make the air denser, and therefore to being close to its nat-
aged engines can send vibrations through the entire aircraft. ural density at sea level. Such a system requires an aircraft
If you notice any of the following, you may be experienc- cabin that is sealed and has minimal leakage.
ing engine trouble: The Constellation uses the higher air pressure generated by
the engine superchargers to increase the cabin air pressure.
• More vibrations than you are used to This requires the superchargers to be running, especially as
• Higher than expected oil temps you fly into the very high, thin air up at higher altitudes.
• Lower than expected oil pressures Trouble occurs most when you expose an average
• Lower than expected torque person to rapid changes in pressure. Usually, this is felt
in the ears and sometimes head. Aviators can build a tol-
If you or your crew has determined you have internal erance to this, but average “folks” can range from being
engine trouble, it is recommended that you feather the prop tolerant to very sensitive to air pressure changes. Babies
and shut the engine down. This is because the engine is at tend to be very sensitive to these changes as many read-
risk of degrading into a possible emergency situation like a ing this manual have experienced a crying baby on an
sudden engine failure or even worse, a fire. At the very least, airplane.
if you MUST keep the engine running, use it at the most When manually handling engineer duties, do your best to
minimal power possible. avoid changes in “cabin altitude” in excess of 300 ft /min
and the folks in the back will be comfortable.
ADDITIONAL SYSTEMS
Some people will notice some new gauges here when com- CLIMATE CONTROL SYSTEMS
pared to our GA and Warbird aircraft, including a pressur- The Climate Control Systems includes two Stewart Warner
ization system that uses the pressurized air coming from gasoline heaters located in the outboard nacelles, and two
the engine superchargers. It’s a very interesting system to automatic cabin air coolers (intercoolers). There is one cabin
get to know and to use. Your engineer can handle this along thermostat which controls both heaters and coolers.

103
2D PANELS

he 2D panels are there to provide the Controls (Shift 3)
T
extra functionality needed when there is Initially designed to provide a means to perform various in
so much additional information available cockpit actions whilst viewing the aircraft from an external
to you, the pilot. viewpoint, this control panel now provides quick access to a
Each 2D panel is accessed by the key- number of different commands.
press combination in parentheses after
the 2D panel title. If the default com- From this panel, you can:
mands listed commands don’t work please check the map- • Control electrical systems such as
pings in your host simulator under ‘Panel Window 1 to 9’ the generators and magnetos.
• Toggle aircraft lighting, both internal and external.
Crew’s Reports (Shift 2) • Open/close the main door, cargo doors and windows.
From the panel, you can view: • Set the parking brake.
• Flight Stage: Status of the flight • Serve passenger meals.
• Time in Flight • Set your status as AFK
• Distance Traveled • Toggle the airstairs
• Systems to watch • Switch between Sperry autopilot
• Recommended Power Settings and FSX/P3D autopilot.
• Turn on/off Career Mode
• Set Accu-Sim damage on/off
• Auto-Start the engines
• Set the auto Cold and Dark on/off
• Cool the engines for a Cold-Start
• Manage the cowl and oil flaps
• Manage the Live Engineer
• Toggle GPS

105
2D PANELS
Payload and Fuel Manager (Shift 4)
The payload and fuel manager not only gives
you an overview of your current payload,
fuel and oil quantities, it is also an interac-
tive loading screen, where you can:
• Add and remove passengers

and baggage with Realtime
Load or manually.
• Fill engine CO2, Oil and de-icer.
• Add or remove fuel from the all tanks.
• Change between viewing weights and
measures in imperial or metric format.
• View, at a glance, total aircraft
weight, payload weight, Center of
Gravity and total fuel quantities.
Pilot’s Map (Shift 5)

The pilot’s map gives full and easy access to
information that may be found on real maps,
and allows this information to be accessed
from the cockpit, as opposed to using the
default map via the drop-down menus.
The accompanying panel to the map
allows you to select what information you
want to have displayed on the map, from a
compass rose to low altitude airways.
Also note that some of the button selec-
tions have an increasing amount of infor-
mation presented with each subsequent
button press.
For example, the APT (Airport) button
will show the following information:
• APT 1: Airport ID.

• APT 2: Airport name.
• APT 3: Airport elevation
and runway length.
• APT 4: Airport radio frequencies.
You can also view the Navigators Notes.

this includes real-time monitoring and cal-
culations of wind and flight conditions. Your
navigator gets reports of the wind condi-
tions and determines any cross, tail, or head
winds.
He also monitors how the aircraft is
behaving and determines what the turbu-
lence level is regardless of what any weather
reporting stations may be reporting.

Quick Radios (Shift 6)
This small popup panel provides input for your virtual cock-
pit radios but in a simplified and easy to use manner. This
popup features all the amenities of the actual radios but in a
singular unit which allows you to control your communica-
tion, navigation, ADF and transponder radios from a single
source.
Maintenance Hangar (Shift 7)

The maintenance hangar is where you can review the cur-
rent state of your aircraft and its major systems. It is one of
the core elements to visualizing Accusim at work.
With the invaluable assistance of your local aircraft mainte-
nance engineer/technician, a.k.a. “grease monkey”, you will
be able to see a full and in-depth report stating the following:
• A summary of the condition of your engines as well

as pressurization, heating and cooling systems.
• Total airframe hours, and engine
hours since the last overhaul.
• General condition of the engine.
• Important notes provided by the ground crew.
From the maintenance hangar, you can also carry out

a complete overhaul for each engine, by clicking the
OVERHAUL. This will overhaul the engine and replace any
parts that are showing signs of wear or damage, with new
or re-conditioned parts.

107
2D PANELS
Engine Selector (shift 8)
Use this panel to select which engine you are controlling.
Useful for when you must tweak the performance of each
engine and during emergencies.
Captain’s Log (shift 9)

If you choose to engage Career Mode this is where your
stats and performance is recorded. Check here after every
flight and see how you are advancing as a pilot.
EXTERNAL PROGRAMS
Input Configurator
The Input Configurator allows users to assign keyboard or
joystick mappings to many custom functions that can’t be
found in FSX/P3D controls assignments menu. It can be
found in the A2A/L049/Tools folder inside your FSX/P3D
installation directory.
The upper table is the axis assignment menu. From the
drop down list, select joystick and axis you want to assign
to each function and verify its operation in the ‘preview’
column. Mark the ‘invert’ check box if needed. The lower
table is the shortcuts menu. Hover over a function name to
bring up a tooltip with additional information.
To make a new shortcut, double click on a selected row
to bring up the assignment window. Then press keyboard
key or joystick button you want to assign to this function.
For keyboard it’s also possible to use modifier keys (Ctrl,
Shift, Alt).
When done with the assignments, press “Save and
update” button. This will instantly update shortcuts for the
aircraft. There is no need to restart FSX/P3D or even reset
your flight for the changes to take effect, you can adjust
shortcuts on the fly.
AIRCRAFT CONFIGURATOR
The Aircraft Configurator enables the user to choose from
Various 3rd party GPS systems (Reality XP GNS430, Flight 1
GTN650, Mindstar GNS430, KLN 90B, or stock). Technically,
this utility manages the panel.cfg and model.cfg files, so the
user doesn’t need to manually edit these files. The GPS can
be changed with or without a running simulation (FSX or
Prepar3D).

109
THE L-049
CONSTELLATION

he L-049/C-69 is a 44 passenger, low
T
wing land transport monoplane, man-
ufactured by the Lockheed Aircraft
Corporation and powered by four
Model R-3350 Wright Duplex engines.
Hydraulically operated flight control
boosters, landing gear, wing flaps, foot
brakes, parking brakes, and cabin ventilation controls
are provided. Cabin pressurization is provided, capable
of maintaining an apparent 8,000 foot pressure altitude
in the cabin while the airplane is flying at 20,000 feet.
The airplane carries an active crew of five: pilot, co-pilot,
flight engineer, radio operator, and navigator. In addi-
tion, accommodations are provided for a relief crew of
four. Overall dimensions are as follows:
SPAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 feet

LENGTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 feet 13/16 inches
HEIGHT, at rest . . . . . . 23 feet 77/8 inches
POWER PLANT
The four R-3350-35 engines are twin row, 18 cylinder, air
cooled engines driving 15 foot 2 inch three-bladed Hamilton
Standard Hydromatic quick feathering propellers. Early air-
planes have engines with single speed blower. Later air-
planes have engines with two-speed blowers.
FLIGHT CONTROLS
AILERON, ELEVATOR AND RUDDER
Conventional control column and wheel are provided for
ailerons and elevator and conventional rudder pedals are
provided for rudders. Rudder pedals are adjustable for leg
length by lifting the adjustment levers. Be sure that they are
adjusted equally.
CONTROL BOOSTER SYSTEM

Most of the flight control force is provided by hydrau-
lic boost; the remainder is applied by the pilot. Control
cables which operate the hydraulic boost mechanisms
are directly connected to the control surfaces allow-
ing manual flight control in an emergency. Delivery of
hydraulic pressure from the engine driven pumps to the
control boost system is assured, before all other hydraulic

111
THE L-049 CONSTELLATION
units, should a partial hydraulic failure occur. In case of the pilot’s control wheel. Pressing the forward switch
of complete hydraulic failure, two levers on top of the will bring the nose of the airplane up, and pressing the aft
pilot’s control stand will disconnect the rudder and aile- switch will bring the nose down.
ron boosters and allow manual control. A pull rod to the The tabs are operated manually by turning the two
left of the pilot’s control stand will, disconnect the eleva- interconnected wheels on the pilot’s control stand. The
tor booster and at the same time shift the elevator con- tabs cannot be operated manually when the electric motor
trol linkage to provide a mechanical advantage for manual is engaged.
control of approximately 3 to 1 compared to the normal
linkage. Shifting the, linkage allows only ⅓ of the normal RUDDER — A crank on the aft side of the pilot’s control
elevator travel. stand operates the three rudder tabs. Tabs are Servo as
well as controllable.
GUST LOCK
Leaving all control boost systems engaged while airplane AILERON — A crank on the aft side of the pilot’s control
is parked provides a gust lock. stand operates the two aileron tabs. Tabs are Servo as well
as controllable.
AUTOMATIC PILOT
The automatic pilot is powered by the secondary hydraulic LANDING GEAR
system. The automatic pilot operates the surface controls The tricycle landing gear is hydraulically operated by a
through the control boost system and it will not com- control located on the right side of the pilot’s control
pletely control the airplane unless the boost system is stand. The landing gear control has only UP and DOWN
operating properly. If the control boost system is inop- positions. On subsequent airplanes a NEUTRAL position
erative, the automatic pilot may be used to assist the pilot is provided which should be used in flight after the gear
to control the airplane provided hydraulic pressure is is retracted to reduce the vulnerability of the hydraulic
available. The gyro instruments are driven by the airplane system. The tail bumper (if installed) located under the
vacuum system. fuselage near the tail extends and retracts with the main
gear. A lock is provided so the control cannot be moved to
TRIM TAB CONTROLS the UP position while the weight of the airplane rests on
ELEVATOR — Electrical and manual controls are pro- the landing gear. In case the lock fails to release when the
vided for the two elevator tabs, and a position indicator is airplane leaves the ground, press in the manual release
installed on the co-pilot’s instrument panel. The tabs are located inside the small hole just forward of the landing
Servo as well as controllable. gear lever. Landing gear position is given by the indica-
The tabs are operated electrically by pulling the elevator tor on the co-pilot’s instrument panel. When the gear is
tab control engaging lever aft to ELECT and pressing one of locked in the landing position, three green lights located
the two control switches which are located on the left side on the aft end of pilot’s control stand, illuminate and the
red flags on the landing gear posi-
tion indicator disappear. When the
gear is NOT locked in landing posi-
tion and one engine on each side of
the airplane is throttled, a warning
horn will sound.
WING FLAPS
The wing flaps are hydraulically
operated by the control on the
pilot’s control stand. The flap con-
trol quadrant is graduated in per-
centage extension and the flaps
may be extended to any desired
position by setting the flap con-
trol lever opposite the percent-
age extension desired. The flaps
will remain at the position selected
(use the flap position indicator as a
check) until the flap control lever is
moved, The flaps will then extend
or retract to correspond with the
new position selected.

3
4 5 6 7
9 10 11
12
14
13
2
1
15 16
17
PILOT’S PANELS 21
19
1. Wing De-icer Pressure 18 22
2. Height Warning Switch and Test Button
3. RMI Needle Selector Switches 20
4. Altimeter
5. Dual RMI
6. Attitude Indicator
7. Clock
8. Free Air Temperature
9. Airspeed Indicator
10. Omni Bearing gauge/ILS (Instrument Landing System)
11. Vertical Speed Indicator
12. Omnibearing
13. Heading Indicator
14. VOR Selector
15. Suction Gauge
16. Turn Indicator
17. Static Selector
18. Pitot Heat Switch
19. Lighting Switches
20. Radio Switches
21. Nose Wheel Steering
22. Parking Brake

113
ENGINE CONTROLS instrument panel. The cylinder temperature selector switch
has four positions numbered from one to four connected to
THROTTLES cylinder heads numbered 1, 5, 14, and 17 respectively.
Conventional. One set of throttles, located on pilot’s con-
trol stand, is interconnected with the other set of throttles, CARBURETOR HEATERS AND AIR FILTERS
located on the engineer’s control stand. Throttle friction Carburetor heaters and air filters are operated by one set of
locks are provided on both the pilot’s control stand and on levers located on flight engineer’s control stand. The con-
the engineer’s control stand. Operation of either lock affects trols are set to HOT when pulled towards the flight engi-
both sets of throttles, and the other lock. neer. They are set to COLD when pushed away from the
flight engineer. When pushed approximately 10° beyond the
MIXTURE CONTROL COLD position, the levers close a switch which brings the air
Located only on engineer’s control stand. Each of the four filters into operation.
controls has three main positions: AUTOMATIC RICH,
CRUISING LEAN, and OFF. CARBURETOR ANTI-ICER
Carburetor anti-icers operated by switches on the shelf to
SUPERCHARGER CONTROLS the right of the co-pilot are provided to clear the carburetors
Located only on engineer’s control stand. in case the carburetor heaters prove ineffective or in case
high powers are being used.
PROPELLER CONTROLS
GOVERNORS — T he propeller governors are controlled by BMEP GAGES
four momentary contact increase-decrease rpm governor BMEP gages installed on the flight engineer’s instrument
switches, located on the engineer’s control stand. A master panel are connected to torquemeters located in each engine
propeller governor switch is mounted on the pilot’s con- nose section.
trol stand, which increases or decreases all four governors
simultaneously, regardless of how the engineer’s governor
switches are operated. The master governor switch is spring FUEL SYSTEM
loaded to the OFF position. The governor switches oper-
ate to change the engine rpm at approximately 100 rpm per Four complete fuel system are provided, connected only by
second. cross transfer lines. Two integral fuel tanks are built into
each wing, the inboard tanks each hold 820 U.S. gallons
GOVERNOR INDICATOR LIGHTS — Four amber indica- (682 Imp. gallons) and the outboard tanks each hold 1590
tor lights are provided on the engineer’s instrument panel. U.S. gallons (1325 Imp. gallons) (1207 U.S. gallons [1006
These lights glow whenever any of the governor switches Imp. gallons] each on airplanes 43-10309 and 43-10310).
or the master propeller governor switch is operated and the Fuel quantity indicators are installed on the flight engi-
propeller governor is in either the full increase rpm or full neer’s instrument panel.
decrease rpm position.
FUEL TANK SHUT-OFF VALVES
SYNCHROSCOPE — B y use of the synchroscope and the Four valves operated from engineer’s control stand are
synchroscope selector switch and by manipulation of the installed to shut off the fuel flow at each tank.
propeller governor switches, it is possible to synchronize
engines numbers two, three, and four with engine number ENGINE FUEL EMERGENCY SHUT-OFF VALVES
one (left outboard engine). Four levers are located on the pilot’s overhead panel to shut
off the fuel supply to the engines. The same levers oper-
FEATHERING — The feathering controls are located on the ate the engine and hydraulic oil emergency shut-off valves.
flight engineer’s instrument panel and the feathering oper- These valves might not be installed on early airplanes.
ations should be performed by the flight engineer.
FUEL TRANSFER VALVES
COWL FLAPS These four valves are operated by levers located on floor to
Four electrically operated cowl flaps are provided for each left of engineer’s seat. They provide means for supplying
engine. Two sets of switches on the flight engineer’s control fuel to any engine from any fuel tank.
stand operate the upper flaps and the lower flaps respec-
tively. Cowl flaps position indicators are located on the AUXILIARY FUEL PUMPS
flight engineer’s instrument panel. Four switches are located on the flight engineer’s panel to
control the four electric auxiliary fuel pumps. These pumps
CYLINDER HEAD TEMPERATURE INDICATORS are provided for use during take-off, landings and at other
Cylinder head temperature indicators and a cylinder head tem- times when engine-driven fuel pumps will not maintain 16
perature selector switch are provided on the flight engineer’s lb/sq in. fuel pressure.

PILOT’S
CENTER
1. Dual Manifold Pressure Gauges
2. Dual Tachometer Gauges 1 2
3. Autopilot Servo Speeds
4. Autopilot Heading Controls
5. Autopilot Attitude Controls
6. Suction Gauge
7. Elevator Trim
8. Rudder/Aileron Boost
3 4 5 6
9. Engine Throttles
10. Throttle Lever Lock
11. Master Propeller
Governor Switch
12. Flaps Lever
13. Autopilot Controls
14. Transponder
15. Auto Pilot Rudder Servo
8
16. Radio Dials 9 10
17. Elevator Boost 7
18. Emergency Brakes 11 12
19. Rudder Trim
20. Aileron Trim
21. Landing Gear Lever
22. ADF (Automatic Direction
Finder) Controls
23. Windshield Wiper/
Heater Switches
17
24. No Smoking/Seatbelt
Light Switches
25. Magneto Switches
26. Fire Extinguisher Control
14 19
2 7. Fuel Tank Valves and 16
Fuel Dump Valves 15 18 21
13 20
22
26 27
23 24
25

115
FUEL FLOW METER INDICATORS OIL TEMPERATURE
These are installed on the engineer’s instrument panel, are Two dual oil-in temperature gages and two dual oil-out
calibrated in pounds of fuel per hour. The meters are located temperature gages are installed on the flight engineer’s
in the primary fuel line just before the carburetors. instrument panel.
ENGINE PRIMERS OIL COOLER FLAPS

These are the electric solenoid type which require 16-19 lb/ Switches having four positions: AUTOMATIC, OFF, OPEN,
sq in. fuel pressure to operate properly. and CLOSE are installed on the engineer’s control stand.
Normally these switches will be left in AUTOMATIC, how-
FUEL DUMP VALVES ever, the OPEN and CLOSE positions allow manual set-
One retractable dump chute is provided on the lower sur- ting of the flaps to any desired position, in case of failure
face of each inner wing panel connected to both the inboard of the automatic mechanism. An oil flap position indicator
and outboard tanks. Operation of the two fuel dump control is installed on the flight engineer’s instrument panel. The
levers located on the pilot’s overhead panel, both extends automatic control is set to regulate between 71 ° C ( 160° F)
the dump chutes and open the dump valves. The rate of (flaps closed) and 90° C (196° F) (flaps open). The emer-
flow is approximately 190 U.S. gallons (158 Imp. gallons) gency temperature limit is I05° C (220° F).
per minute from each dump chute [105 U.S. gallons (87
Imp. gallons) from each outboard tank and 85 U.S. gallons OIL DILUTION
(71 Imp. gallons) from each inboard tank]. Following any Switches are located on the engineer’s upper panel. When it
emergency dumping of fuel, there are 70 U.S. gallons (58 is anticipated that the temperature at the next start will be
Imp. gallons) left in the inboard tanks and 30 U.S. gallons below 5° C (40° F) the oil system should be diluted before
(25 Imp. gallons) left in the outboard tanks. stopping the engines.
FUEL PRESSURE OIL SHUT-OFF EMERGENCY VALVES

Two dual fuel pressure gages are installed on the engineer’s Four levers located on the pilot’s overhead panel shut off
instrument panel. Maximum fuel pressure is 19 lb/sq in., the engine oil supply. The same levers operate the fuel and
minimum 15 lb/sq in., desired 17 lb/sq in. Fuel pressure hydraulic oil emergency shut-off valves.
warning lights located below the pressure gages and on the
pilot’s instrument panel glow when the fuel pressure falls
below 14 lb/sq in. HYDRAULIC SYSTEM
CARBURETOR VAPOR RETURN SHUTOFF VALVES The hydraulic system is divided into two parts, the primary
Solenoid operated shut-off valves, which are controlled by system, which operates the flight control boosters, and the
switches on the engineer’s lower control panel, are installed in secondary system, which supplies all other hydraulic units.
the carburetor vapor return lines. These valves should be OPEN Normally the systems work independently, but a cross over
at all times except when fuel flow readings are being taken. line is installed so that in case the primary system pres-
sure fails, the secondary system will supply the flight con-
trol boosters. A check valve is installed in this line so that
OIL SYSTEM fluid cannot flow in reverse direction, and a restriction con-
trol valve is installed in the secondary system downstream
One integral oil tank of approximately 50 U.S. gallons from the cross over check valve so that when the boost-
(41.5 Imp gallons) usable capacity is installed outboard of ers require a large flow the restriction control valve will
each nacelle. Oil quantity indicators are installed on the nearly close, thus assuring pressure to the flight controls
flight engineer’s instrument panel. booster at the expense of all other hydraulic units. Hydraulic
pumps on engines number 1 and number 2 supply the pri-
OIL PRESSURE mary system and pumps on engines number 3 and number
The engines are equipped with two oil pumps, one on the 4 supply the secondary system. Warning lights on the engi-
front and one on the rear. Four dual oil pressure gages are neer’s instrument panel and on the co-pilot’s instrument
installed on the engineer’s instrument panel. The gages on panel illuminate when the pressure at any pump falls below
the upper panel indicate front pump pressure which should approximately 1325 lb/sq in. Combined fuel hydraulic and
be 40 lb/sq in. maximum, 30 lb/sq in. minimum, desired 35 engine oil emergency shut-off valves are operated by levers
lb/sq in. The gages on the lower panel indicate rear pump on the pilot’s overhead panel. Solenoid operated hydraulic
pressure which should be 80 lb/sq in. maximum, 60 lb/sq pump shutoff valves are controlled by switches located on
in. minimum, 25 lb/sq in. permissible at idling speed (550 the flight engineer’s instrument panel. The hydraulic pres-
rpm), desired 70 lb/sq in. Oil pressure warning lights located sure gage on the co-pilot’s instrument panel shows primary
below the rear pump oil pressure gages glow when the rear system pressure which should be between 1500 and 1700 lb/
oil pressure falls below 50 lb/sq in. sq in. There is no secondary hydraulic system pressure gage.

1
2 3 4 5
6
8 9
10 16
11 17
15
13
14 18
12 19
CO-PILOT’S PANELS
22
1. RMI Needle Selector Switches
2. Clock 20 21
3. Altimeter
4. Dual RMI
5. Attitude Indicator
6. Wing Flaps Position Indicator 23
7. Omnibearing
8. Airspeed Indicator
9. Omni Bearing gauge/ILS 24
(Instrument Landing System)
10. Vertical Speed Indicator
11. Suction Gauge
12. Auto Pilot Oil Pressure
13. Heading Indicator
14. VOR Selector
15. Turn Indicator
16. Outside Air Temperature
17. Hydraulic Oil Pressure
18. Wing De-icer Pressure
19. Wing Flap Warning Test Switch
20. Brake Pressure
21. Emergency Brake Pressure
22. Wing/Prop. De-icer Switches
23. Panel Lights
24. Radio

117
BRAKES NAVIGATION LIGHTS —These are controlled by switches
The brakes are operated from either the pilot’s or co-pilot’s on the pilot’s side panel.
station by rotating the top of the rudder pedals forward.
The eight brakes are power operated hydraulically and are DOOR WARNING LIGHT —Switches are installed on all
installed on both sides of each of the four main wheels. Two external doors except emergency exits which operate the door
complete braking systems, except for the brakes them- warning light on the co-pilot’s instrument panel. Compartment
selves, are installed. The brake selector valve is controlled or step lights turn ON when the crew or cargo doors are opened.
by levers located on both sides of the pilot’s control stand.
Parking Brakes are controlled by the lever on the pilot’s WARNING LIGHTS —on the engineer’s instrument panels
side panel. To set the parking brakes, move the parking are tested by a switch on the flight engineer’s electrical
brake lever to ON. To release the parking brake, press the panel.
toe brakes.
INSTRUMENT LIGHTS — with adjustable strength UV
STEERING MECHANISM lighting. These are controlled by switches on the pilot’s side
The nose wheel is normally free swiveling to an angle of panel.
approximately 45°, but it may be steered. To steer the nose
wheel use the nose wheel steering control located on the left COCKPIT & CABIN FLOOD LIGHTS —These are controlled
side of the pilot’s panel. by switches on the engineer’s panel.
CAUTION: Use extreme care in power steering the air-
plane, particularly at speeds above 30 mph.
ICE ELIMINATING SYSTEM
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM WING AND TAIL DE-ICER
De-icer boots are provided for the wing and tail. They are
This airplane is equipped with two complete, 24 volt elec- turned ON by a switch located on the co-pilot’s side panel.
trical systems each containing a 200 ampere generator, a When not operating, the boots are held flush with the sur-
voltage regulator, a reverse current relay, a 34 ampere-hour face by suction from the vacuum pumps which are operat-
battery, and a power bus. In all normal operation, the sys- ing the instruments. If a leak develops in the boots, shut off
tems are operated independently. In general, the number the valve on the floor under the navigator’s table to turn off
one system supplies the accessories powered with electric the vacuum supply to the boots. The de-icer gauge on the
motors and the number two system supplies the instru- co-pilot’s instrument panel is connected to the de-icer dis-
ments and lights. tributor valve and indicates proper functioning of the de-icer
The airplane master switch is located directly over the boots.
batteries and is controlled by a lever on the flight engineer’s
instrument panel. PROPELLER ANTI-ICER
One electric pump located in each outboard nacelle delivers
GENERATOR SWITCHES anti-icing fluid to the propellers on that side. Turn on full at
These are located on the flight engineer’s electrical panel. first to wet the blades, then retard for economy.
Turn the switches ON for normal operation.
CARBURETOR ANTI-ICER AND HEAT
VOLTMETER Located in each outboard nacelle are two electric pumps each
The voltage of either battery or either generator may be read supplying anti-icing fluid to one carburetor on that side.
by setting the voltmeter selector switch located on the flight The pumps are operated at a fixed speed by four momen-
engineer’s electrical panel. Choose from Voltage, Battery tary contact switches on the engineer’s panel. Carburetor
Voltage or Main Bus Voltage. ice is indicated by either or all of the following: Carburetor
air temperature gage within icing range; free air tempera-
AMMETERS ture gage within icing range; manifold pressure falls off;
Located on flight engineer’s electrical panel indicate the and BMEP gauge falls off. Turn anti-icer pumps off when
current output by the generators. above instruments show correction. Four carburetor heat
control levers are located on the flight engineer’s control
LIGHTS stand. These control hot air muff valves which are designed
LANDING LIGHTS —are located one on each outer wing to give a temperature rise of at least 32° C (90° F) with a 5°
panel, and are controlled by switches on the pilot’s over- C (40° F) outside air temperature at 65% or greater engine
head panel. With the switches ON the lights extend and turn power. Set to HOT if danger of carburetor ice exists except
on. With the switches OFF the lights turn off, but remain when operating at normal rated power or over. At high
extended. Never fly above 140 mph unless the landing light power danger of detonation exists and only the carburetor
switches are in the RETRACT position. anti-icer should be used.

1 11 14
6
12
15 16
2 7 8
17 18
3 4 9 10 13
24 28
19 20 27
23
26
25
21
29 30 31 32 33
22
ENGINEER’S PANELS
1. Carburetor Anti-Icer Switches 13. Cylinder Head Selector 25. hrottle Lever Lock
T
2. APU Control Panel 14. Cylinder Head Temperature 26. Supercharger Levers
3. Warning Lights Test Switch 15. Upper Cowl Flaps 2 7. Engine Mixture
4. Engine Primer Switches 16. Oil Cooler Flaps 28. Fuel Tank Cut-Off Levers
5. Engine Inertia Starters 17. Lower Cowl Flaps 29. Upper and Lower Cowl
6. Engine Tachometers 18. Free Air Temperature Flaps Switches
7. Carburetor Air Temperature 19. Voltmeter Selector 30. Oil Cooler Flap Switches
8. Fuel Flow 20. Voltmeter 31. Propeller Governor Switches
9. Manifold Pressure 21. Engine Generator Ammeters 32. Carburetor Vapor Return
10. BMEP (Torque Pressure) 22. Generator Switches Shut-Off Switches
11. Clock 23. Carburetor Air Levers 33. Auxiliary Fuel Pump Switches
12. Synchroscope 24. Engine Throttles

119
WINDSHIELD ANTI-ICER FIRE EXTINGUISHER SYSTEM
Two centrifugal blowers controlled by switches on the
pilot’s overhead panel force dried cabin air between the Fire detectors are located at various points in each nacelle
windshield glass panels to eliminate frost or fog. The wind- and blower section. In case of a nacelle fire, both the
shield air is dried by desiccators accessible through doors on pilot’s master fire warning light and the flight engineer’s
the pilot’s and co-pilot’s side panels. The charge in the des- warning light corresponding to that nacelle will glow. In
iccators should be replaced at frequent intervals. Two elec- case of a blower section fire, the needle on the indica-
tric windshield wipers are provided and controlled by one tor corresponding to that blower section will become vis-
switch on the pilot’s overhead panel. Do not operate wipers ible. Two carbon dioxide bottles of. 15 pounds capacity
on dry glass. each are located on the forward all of the upper cargo
compartment. A selector valve and two control handles
PITOT HEAT will deliver carbon dioxide to a manifold in each nacelle.
Both pitot heads incorporate a heater element which is A connection is provided on the right side of I the nose
operated by a switch on the pilot’s overhead panel. Burnout wheel well for an external supply of CO2 which can be
warning lights are provided over each switch. routed to any nacelle by properly setting the selector
valve in the flight station. A rupture disc is installed in
ANTI-ICER FLUID SUPPLY each,bottle to discharge the CO2. Overboard should ther-
All anti-icer fluid is stored in two 20 gallon tanks located mal expansion cause a dangerously high pressure in the
one in each outboard nacelle. bottle. The outlets are located under the fuselage aft of
the nose wheel well. Red celluloid discs normally cover
these openings.
VACUUM SYSTEM
Four vacuum pumps are provided, one driven by each GPS
engine. The pumps operate in pairs with one pair acting
as a standby at all times. The vacuum pump selector valve On optional GPS can be toggled from the Controls 2D
located on the pilot’s side panel selects either the two left Panel (Shift-3).
pumps or the two right pumps. Failure of a pump is indi-
cated by the vacuum pump warning lights, located on the
flight engineer’s instrument panel, which glow when the
vacuum falls below 4 in. Hg. Check valves protect each pump
against failure of another pump. Suction gages are installed
on the pilot’s and co-pilot’s instrument panels. Each gage
indicates the suction supplied to the vacuum instruments
on its panel.

3
6 7
1
4
8
5 9
2
15 16 17
11 12
19 21 22 23
18
10
13 14
20
24 25
26
ENGINEER’S PANELS CONTINUED

1. Oil Pump Pressure Gauges 10. Cockpit/Cabin flood light switches 18. Oxygen Pressure Gauge
2. Fuel Pressure Gauges 11. Master Battery Switch 19. Passenger Cabin Air Temperature
3. Propeller Feather Switches 12. Fire Panel Test Switch 20. Air Flow Indicator Gauges
4. Oil In Temperature Gauges 13. Hydraulic Valve Switches 21. Altimeter
5. Oil Out Temperature Gauges 14. Oil Dilution Switches 22. Cabin Pressurisation
6. Anti-Icer Fluid Levels 15. Heater/Cooler Switches 23. Cabin Pressurization Change Rate
7. Hydraulic Fluid Reservoir 16. Cabin Supercharger 24. Pressurization Goal
8. Oil Quantity Indicator Inlet Switches 25. Change Rate Goal
9. Fuel Quantity Indicator 17. Pressurization Dump Switch 26. Fuel Crossfeed Levers

121
FLIGHT
OPERATIONS

ollow these procedures and checklists for
F
all flight operations of your L-049. Most
procedures are broken down between
Pilot, Co-pilot and Engineer. Emergency
procedures will be covered in a later
chapter.
ON ENTERING FLIGHT STATION

Check For All Flights
PILOT CO-PILOT ENGINEER
1. Airplane master switch ON
Warning light switch — TEST. Check that all hoods are

off lights and check for burned out lights on nacelle
2. fire, vacuum pumps, propeller pitch hydraulic pumps,
Landing gear lever — DOWN.
oil pressure, fuel pressure, cabin pressure, cabin
heater fire, cabin heater ignitor and cabin heater
fuel, warning lights. Set switch to BRT or DIM.
3. Controls booster levers — ON. Set altimeter
4. Mechanical elevator control,

Generator switches — OFF until engines are started.
PUSH to engage elevator booster.
5. Elevator tab control

lever — MANUAL.
Elevator and rudder
6. booster emergency control Upper and lower cowl flaps switches OPEN.
switches — OFF.
7. Automatic pilot engaging

Fuel dump valves — CLOSED. Oil cooler switches — AUTOMATIC.
levers — OFF.
Emergency fuel, engine
8. Automatic pilot hydraulic and hydraulic oil shut-off Propeller governor switches hold in INCREASE
pump motor switch — OFF. valve OPEN (usually safetied until propeller governor limit lights illuminate.
in OPEN position).
9. Set altimeter Carburetor air levers — COLD or set to FILTER in dusty air.
10. Superchargers — LOW.
11. Mixture — OFF.
12. Hydraulic pump shut-off switches — OPEN.
13. Fuel cross transfer valves — OFF.
14. Carburetor vapor return switches — OPEN.
15. Check quantities of fuel, oil, hydraulic

fluid, and anti-icer fluid.
16. Set cylinder head temperature selector switch to 1.
17. Set cabin pressurization controls as required.

123
FLIGHT OPERATIONS
FUEL SYSTEM MANAGEMENT CROSS FEED SYSTEM OPERATION
Take-off and land with each system operating indepen- 1. OPEN fuel shut-off valve and turn ON auxiliary
dently, i.e., all tank shut-off valves ON and all fuel cross fuel pump of system supplying fuel.
transfer valves OFF. When carrying less than 3200 U.S. gal-
lons (2670 Imp. gallons) put equal quantities of fuel in each 2. OPEN cross transfer valve of system to supply
tank and operate each system independently. When more fuel and of system or systems to receive fuel.
than 3200 U.S. gallons (2670 Imp. gallons) of fuel is carried,
operate the two righthand engines from the right-hand 3. CLOSE fuel shut-off valve and turn OFF auxiliary
outboard tank until fuel quantities in both right-hand tanks fuel pump of system or systems receiving fuel.
are equalized. Repeat the fuel equalizing procedure for left-
hand engine operation. Do not equalize fuel on both sides at 4. Turn OFF auxiliary fuel pump of systems
once. When the fuel quantities in all tanks have been equal- supplying fuel if the engine driven pumps
ized, it will be possible to operate each fuel system indepen- will maintain 15 lb/sq in. fuel pressure.
dently for the rest of the flight.
AUXILIARY FUEL PUMP OPERATION
The auxiliary fuel pump switches should be turned ON
during take-off, landing and at other times when the engine
driven fuel pumps will not maintain 15 lb/sq in.
STARTING THE ENGINES

Suggested normal starting
1. order 3, 4, 2, 1, to start engines
away from cabin door first.
2. Fuel shut-off valves — ON.
3. Throttles 1/10 OPEN. Mixture — OFF.
4. Auxiliary fuel pumps — ON.

Check for 15-19 lb/sq in.
5. Turn fire extinguisher selector Starter switch to INERTIA after

to engine to be started. receiving all clear signal from pilot.
6. Press primer button 2 to 5 seconds.

Master ignition switch — ON.
Don’t prime a warm engine.
7. Individual ignition switches to BOTH after

Starter switch to DIRECT.
engine has turned at least three blades.
When the engine is running smoothly,
8. place the mixture control to AUTO RICH
and continue to prime only as required.
Quickly return mixture control to
9. OFF if the engine does not continue
to run or flooding will result.
Stop the engine if both front
10. and rear oil pressure does not
register within 10 seconds.
11. Start other engines as outlined

in the paragraphs above.
12. Generator switches ON after

all engines are started.

WARM-UP
1. Run the engines at 1000 rpm until the oil temperature
reaches 75° C (167°F) or shows a definite increase
(10° C or 18° F) and the oil pressure is steady.
2. Leave engine cowl flaps open during warm-up,
Closing the cowl flaps will not shorten the
warm-up, period and it may damage the engine.
3. Auxiliary fuel pumps OFF (check for 16-19 lb/
sq in. with engine driven pumps only).
ENGINE AND ACCESSORIES GROUND TEST

1. All warning lights except

All warning lights except cabin pressure should be OFF.
landing gear should be OFF.
2. Suction gage 4 inches Hg. Suction gage 4 inches Hg.
3. Check hydraulic system as follows Check each engine as follows
4. Hydraulic system pressure Supercharger to HIGH below 1200 rpm

1700 lb/sq in. if two speed blower is installed.
5. Slowly advance throttle to 1800 rpm.
Supercharger to LOW firmly and without hesitation

6. Emergency brake pressure
during shift. Note reduction in manifold pressure
1700 lb/sq in.
indicating shift has been accomplished.
Hold propeller governor switches in DECREASE
7. position until propeller governor limit warning
Extend and retract flaps.
light illuminates. (Engine front oil pressure will
fluctuate while propeller pitch is changing.)
Note 1100 rpm then hold propeller governor
switch in INCREASE position until propeller
8. pitch limit warning light illuminates again.
NOTE: This check is necessary to insure warm
oil in the propeller dome and thus reduce the
amount of surging with change in power.
Check magnetos on request
Increase to 2200 rpm but do not exceed 30 inches
9. of flight engineer. Maximum
Hg. and request pilot to check magnetos. Engines
normal drop is 100 rpm on going
must operate smoothly on either magneto.
from both to one magneto.
When not familiar with engine condition check
10. take-off power — 2800 rpm and 46 inches Hg.
CAUTION: Do not operate at this power for more
than 2 or 3 seconds while standing still.
11. Reduce throttle.

Notify pilot when all engines have been checked.
12. If icing conditions prevail, set carburetor

Call control tower for clearance. Door warning light — OFF.
heat to HOT, until just before take-off.

125
FLIGHT OPERATIONS
TAXIING
In order to cut in the generators it is recommended that the airplane
be taxied and steered with the inboard engines. Use the brakes only
when necessary. If desired, or in an emergency, if the brakes should Watch hydraulic pressure
1. Notify pilot if engine
fail, the nose wheel steering mechanism should be used to steer the and notify pilot if it drops
operation is not normal.
airplane. Avoid high speed taxiing and excessive movement of the below 1500 lb/sq in.
nose wheel. The rolling inertia of the airplane resists turning and
may cause sideway skipping of the nose wheel at high speed.
The airplane has no tendency to ground loop and can be turned
to either side while taxiing at a fast rate. However, the radius
2. of turn must be lengthened as the speed increases. At 30 mph,
the minimum allowable radius of turn is 120 feet and at 50
mph the minimum allowable radius of turn is 300 feet.
TAKE-OFF
Refer to the TAKE-OFF CLIMB AND
1. LANDING CHART on page XXX for
take-off distance to be expected.
2. Surface controls booster — ON. Generator switches — ON.
3. Automatic pilot engaging levers — OFF.
Carburetor heat COLD, or

FILTER in dusty air.
NOTE: If icing conditions exist, clear
4. carburetor by a run-up with the
Door warning light — OFF.
carburetor heat on HOT, return control
to COLD and request co-pilot to turn
ON carburetor anti-icer during take-off
if signs of carburetor icing appear.
5. Elevator tab control lever — ELECT. Superchargers — LOW.
6. Elevator tabs set 5° nose up. Mixture — AUTOMATIC RICH.
Wing Flaps — UP.

7. Note: Up to 60% flaps may be used to
Fuel shut-off valves — ON.
assist take-off if the airplane is heavily
loaded or if the runway is short.
8. Hydraulic pressure 1500 to 1700 lb/sq in. Fuel cross transfer valves — OFF.
9. Carburetor vapor return

switches — OPEN.
Cowl flaps both upper and lower — 1/2
10. open. In hot weather open all flaps
fully. No buffeting will be experienced
with fully open cowl flaps.
11. Oil coolers — AUTOMATIC.
Propeller governor switches

12. — INCREASE until propeller
governor limit lights go ON .
13. Auxiliary fuel pumps — ON.
Recommended cylinder head

14. temperature — between 180° C and 232° C
(356° F and 450° F) at start of takeoff run.

TAKE-OFF
15. Close side window. Close side window.
Release parking brake and taxi

into takeoff position. Roll a few
feet straight down the runway to
16. straighten the nose wheel. Use all
the available runway for take-off.
Co-pilot: Elevator and rudder booster
emergency control switches — ON.
17. Hold airplane with brakes and

advance throttles to 30 or 40 in. Hg.
Release brakes and advance Watch manifold pressure gages and Watch cylinder head temperatures
18. throttles to 46 in. Hg. Engine if the pressure falls off on any engine, and open cowl flaps if 260°
speed 2800 rpm maximum. inform the pilot and flight engineer. C (500° F) is exceeded.
Watch BMEP gages and be prepared
19. Keep airplane straight. Raise nose gear
to feather corresponding engine if
off ground at approximately 80 mph.
conditions require such action.
20. When airplane is clear of ground, direct Retract landing gear at

co-pilot to retract landing gear. command from pilot.
When landing gear. is up and locked,
21. direct co-pilot to raise wing flaps if
Raise wing flaps at command from pilot.
extended. Flaps retract slowly enough
so that loss of lift is not dangerous.

127
FLIGHT OPERATIONS
ENGINE FAILURE DURING TAKE-OFF
Failure of an engine during take-off may not be noticed immediately Be prepared to
1. Watch manifold
except for a resultant swing. If a swing develops, and there is room feather an engine at
pressures during take-off.
to close the throttles and stop the airplane, this should be done. command of pilot.
If it is necessary to continue with take-off even though one engine
has failed, hold the airplane straight by immediate application of
rudder and necessary throttling of opposite engine if the airspeed
2. Check to see that gear Feather propeller at
is below the minimum for rudder control. (Approx. 110 mph
is on the way up. command of pilot.
for outboard engine failure.) Gain speed as rapidly as possible.
See that the landing gear is up, or coming up, and direct flight
engineer to feather the dead propeller. Retrim as necessary.
CLIMB
Move the elevator and
1. Direct flight engineer to
rudder booster emergency At command from pilot, reduce to power for climb.
take over engines.
control switches to OFF.
2. Trim for best climbing airspeed. Always use AUTO RICH mixture for climb.
Watch cylinder head temperatures and if over

3. 248° C (475° F) open cowl flaps more or if fully
open request pilot to increase airspeed.
4. Shut the four auxiliary fuel pumps OFF if the engine pumps
alone will maintain at least 16 lb/sq in. fuel pressure.
5. When climbing to high altitudes, shift supercharger

to high blower at appropriate altitude.
6. If desired turn on cabin pressurization equipment.
FLIGHT OPERATION
When climb has been completed, level off and
1. At command of pilot, reduce manifold
direct the flight engineer to reduce power to
pressure and rpm to the cruising power.
the cruising power required by the flight plan.
2. Engage automatic pilot if desired.
3. Set mixture controls to CRUISE LEAN if allowable.
When possible, obtain the desired cruising

4. power in low blower. The high blower fuel
consumption is slightly greater at equal powers.

AUTOMATIC PILOT 3. Set rudder follow-up card to match directional gyro
The automatic pilot (gyropilot) equipment consists of a card by turning rudder knob or the remote control for
directional gyro control unit, a bank and climb gyro con- the rudder knob located on the pilot’s control stand.
trol unit, a mounting unit and a servo unit, together with 4 . Set aileron follow-up index to match
the necessary accessories for the proper working of the bank index by turning aileron knob.
equipment as a whole. When the automatic pilot is set to 5 . Set elevator follow-up index to match elevator
fly the airplane in a straight, level course, and this atti- alignment index by turning elevator knob
tude is disturbed by a gust of wind or otherwise, the gyros or the remote control for the elevator knob
in the control units operate the air pick-offs so that a dif- located on the pilot’s control stand.
ference of pressure is obtained across the diaphragm in the 6 . Engage the automatic pilot slowly by moving
air relays. This causes the balanced oil valves to open and the three servo activation levers.
allow oil to flow to the servo unit. This oil is under pres- 7. After the autopilot takes over, it may be necessary
sure and moves the piston in the servo in the direction that to rotate rudder, aileron and elevator knobs
will cause a corrective movement of the airplane’s control slightly to get exact course and attitude.
surface. This movement causes the airplane to assume its 8 . Disengage the autopilot every 2 hours and
original straight, level flight position. retrim airplane. This is necessary to compensate
When a maneuver is desired, the indices on the control for changes in flight altitude, power and
units are moved slowly by the knobs until the maneuver is load shifts which affect the trim.
complete. When the indices are moved, a difference in pres- 9 . Periodically check on directional gyro units,
sure across the diaphragm in the air relays will result. This which have a slight amount of normal
will operate the balanced oil valves and allow hydraulic fluid precession. Check with compass regularly.
to flow to the servo. The servo will then move the controls 1 0 . To make course changes, rotate the rudder knob
so that the desired maneuver is performed. slowly and smoothly. The proportional bank
The Sperry A-3 autopilot is equipped with a proportional adapter will cause the aileron and elevator to
bank adapter. It is an automated device used to give the move accordingly to better coordinate a turn.
airplane the correct amount of bank for any desired turn,
optionally added to some Sperry installations. It is mounted GENERAL FLYING CHARACTERISTICS
in the back of pilot’s instrument panel and forms a part CONTROLLABILITY — The hydraulic boost control
of the of the automatic pilot installation, so it’s not visible system makes the airplane easily controllable by one man
from the cockpit. In addition to automatically banking the in all allowable maneuvers. Normal turns may be made
airplane for any turn, this device also automatically pro- with the use of ailerons alone and satisfactory turns may
vides “up elevator” during the turn so as to compensate for be made with rudders alone although the resulting yaw
loss of altitude which would otherwise occur. The principle may be unpleasant to the rear passengers. The airplane is
of operation is essentially as follows: controllable and handles well at low speeds down to and
When the rudder is moved (in order to make a turn) the including the stall.
rudder follow up cable moves, causing the rudder shaft in
the proportional bank adapter to rotate. This shaft, by being STABILITY — T he airplane has good stability character-
geared to the aileron shaft and also to the elevator shaft in istics. It is stable at all approved center of gravity posi-
the proportional bank adapter, transmits a certain amount tions 18% to 32% gear down.
of correction to the elevator and aileron follow-up cables,
which in turn move the respective surfaces. TRIM CHARACTERISTICS — Rudder and aileron trim
tabs normally require adjustment only during partial
AUTOPILOT OPERATION engine failure. Elevator trim tabs require the normal
1. Trim airplane to fly “hands off.” small adjustments with changes in power, airspeed, and
2. See that speed control valves are open. center of gravity position. There is little or no change in
Set at 3 if best setting is not known. elevator trim up to approximately 60% flap extension.
From 60% to 100% flaps the trim tabs should be adjusted
NOTE: The speed valves control the rate at which the slightly to hold the nose up.
automatic pilot moves the controls and reacts to bring the
airplane back on course. In general, the speed valves should be TO INCREASE POWER IN FLIGHT
left open unless there is oscillation present in which case the 1. Mixture AUTO RICH if maximum
valves should be closed sufficiently to stop the oscillation. cruising power is to be exceeded.
2. Propeller governor switches. Hold in INCREASE
CAUTION: Turning any of the three speed valves to its OFF until new rpm is reached. Speed changes
position locks the corresponding control surface in whatever approximately 100 rpm per second.
position it happens to be and should be avoided. 3. Throttles to the new manifold pressure.

129
FLIGHT OPERATIONS
TO DECREASE POWER IN FLIGHT STALLS
1. Throttles to the new manifold pressure. The stalling characteristics of this airplane are good.
2. Propeller governor switches. Hold in Sufficient warning is given of all stalls in the form of buf-
DECREASE until new rpm is reached. feting which first occurs five to ten mph above the stalling
3. Re-adjust throttles if necessary. speed. The warning is given sooner with flaps up than with
4. Mixture CRUISE LEAN if permissible. flaps down. There is little or no tendency to roll in any stall
either with flaps and gear up or down or with power on or
SUPERCHARGER OPERATION off. Aileron control is available at all speeds down to and
SHIFTING FROM LOW TO HIGH BLOWER including the stall. When the airplane is stalled it “mushes”
1. Partially close throttle so that the desired high straight forward. Occasionally a slight tendency to roll will
blower manifold pressure will not be exceeded. be noticed. Use rudders to stop the roll. The nose will drop
2. Hold propeller governor switch to DECREASE slightly and then come up again if an attempt is made to
to obtain 1500 to 1800 engine rpm. hold the airplane in the stall.
3. Set mixture control to AUTO RICH. The approximate ship indicated stalling speeds with
4. Move supercharger control rapidly from LOW power off are as follows:
position to HIGH position and lock.
5. Hold propeller governor switch to STALLING SPEEDS (IAS)
GROSS WEIGHT
INCREASE to obtain desired rpm. (lbs.) Gear and Flaps Gear Down and
6. Readjust throttle if necessary. Down Flaps Up
7. Set mixture control to CRUISE LEAN if permissible. 57,000 69 88
67,500 74 96
SHIFTING FROM HIGH TO LOW BLOWER
1. Set mixture control to AUTO RICH.
2. Move supercharger control rapidly SPINS
to LOW position and lock. The airplane normally shows no tendency to spin from a
3. Readjust rpm setting as necessary stall or slow steeply banked turns and should not be inten-
to obtain the desired power. tionally forced into a spin under any condition. The airplane
4. Readjust throttle to obtain desired manifold pressure. was not designed for the loads imposed on the structure
5. Set mixture control to CRUISE LEAN if permissible. during spin conditions, and structural failure will result if a
spin is attempted.
Blower ratio changes should not be made at intervals of less
than five minutes in order to provide opportunity for dissi- ACROBATICS
pation of heat generated during clutch engagement. All acrobatics are strictly prohibited.
Since, for the same power, fuel economy is worse in high
blower do not use high blower if the required power is avail- DIVING
able in low blower. Due to the aerodynamic cleanliness of this airplane it picks
up speed very rapidly in a dive and only very shallow diving
MANEUVERS PROHIBITED angles are permissible without exceeding the maximum
All acrobatics, spins, and banks in excess of 60 degrees. permissible indicated diving speed which is 364 mph (320
Do not exceed the following accelerometer readings in mph when de-icer boots are installed).
banks or pullouts from a dive. Trim changes experienced in a dive are quite normal.
Control forces are light considering the size of the air-
plane, hence, reasonable caution should be exercised in
Maximum Allowable pulling out of a dive or in high speed maneuvers so as not to
Gross Weight Accelerometer Reading exceed allowable load factors.
(lbs)
Pullout Pushover
86,250 2.5 1.1
82,000 2.6 1.2
72,000 3.0 1.3
62,000 3.5 1.4

DESCENT
1. Set altimeter to Kollsman Set cabin altimeter to Kollsman

Set altimeter to Kollsman reading of field.
reading of field. reading of field.
If cabin is pressurized, set the vertical
If cabin pressure controls are adjusted by the flight
2. speed knob as desired (400 to 600 ft. min.
engineer, descent may be made at any rate not
recommended) and set the pressure altitude
exceeding value calculated by flight engineer.
knob to the Kollsman reading of field.
3. If cabin is not pressurized do not exceed a rate Calculate maximum allowable

of 400 to 600 ft/min. for passenger comfort. rate of airplane descent.
Adjust automatic pilot for descent or disengage
4. it. If the automatic pilot is disengaged and
Do not exceed cruising powers.
the airplane has a separate automatic pilot
hydraulic system, turn OFF the pump motor.
Never exceed an indicated air speed of 364 mph
(320 mph with de-icer boots installed) in a glide.
5. Close cowl flaps to maintain normal
NOTE: ln cold weather, avoid overcooling
cylinder head temperatures.
the engines by descending with gear down,
power on and at reduced airspeeds.
Move throttles frequently to dear the Operate carburetor anti-
6. If danger of carburetor ice exists, set
engines and prevent the throttles from icers if there is any sign
carburetor heat controls to HOT.
freezing if icing conditions exist. of carburetor icing.
7. Notify radio operator to retract trailing antenna.

131
FLIGHT OPERATIONS
APPROACH
Contact control tower by radio Hydraulic pressure 1500 to 1700 lb/sq in.
for landing clearance. NOTE: If hydraulic system has failed
1. WARNING: Do not land when there is refer to emergency operation of flight Mixture-AUTO RICH.
more than 900 U. S. gallons (749 Imp. controls, landing gear, flaps and brakes.
gallons) of fuel in either outboard tank. Engineer: Mixture-AUTO RICH.
Emergency brake pressure 1500 lb/sq in.
NOTE: If emergency brake pressure is low,
2. move brake selector lever to EMER for Supercharger-LOW.
a few seconds to bring up the pressure.
Return the brake lever to NORMAL.
Set fuel shut-off valves and fuel
Check to see that the hydraulic hand cross transfer valves to insure plenty
Disengage automatic pilot, and turn OFF
3. pump selector valve is FORWARD of fuel for emergency takeoff.
pump motor if the airplane has a separate
so that the brake accumulator may NOTE: If all tanks contain at least 50
automatic pilot hydraulic system.
be pumped up in an emergency. gallons, set all fuel shut-off valves ON
and all fuel cross transfer valves OFF.
Extend landing gear when directed
by pilot and leave the lever in the
DOWN position. Note that landing gear
4. Reduce airspeed below 146 mph and indicator shows gear down and locked
direct co-pilot to extend landing gear. and warning lights are ON (green).
If gear is not down and locked, the
warning horn will sound if one throttle
on each side of the airplane is closed.
5. Direct co-pilot to lower flaps 40%. Lower flaps as directed by pilot.
6. Adjust trim tabs as required,

Turn wing de-icers OFF if operating.
using electrical system.
Approach at 120 mph, power on or off;
7. Lower flaps completely at
and when landing is assured, direct
command of pilot.
co-pilot to lower flaps completely.
8. Move the rudder and elevator booster

emergency control switches to ON.
LANDING
During final stages of
1. Call off airspeeds when
Order co-pilot to call off airspeeds as required. approach set the propeller
directed by pilot.
governors for maximum rpm.
Set the main wheels down first (approximately 100 mph)
and hold the nose wheel off the ground until the speed
reduces to 70 mph. Ease nose wheel to the ground and apply
2. brakes smoothly and evenly. Do not apply brakes hard until
nosewheel is on the ground. At all normal center of gravity
positions the nose wheel can be kept off the ground with
such ease that a deliberate attempt must be made to get
the nosewheel on the ground soon enough so that brakes
3. Order wing flaps raised as soon as the Raise wing flaps when
Set cowl flaps full open.
ship is practically stopped. directed by pilot.
When taxiing is completed, place chocks under Move the elevator and
4. wheels, but do not set the parking brakes until rudder booster emergency
they are cool. (Cool enough to touch.) control switches to OFF.

APPROACH AND LANDING WITH PARTIAL ENGINE FAILURE
Follow through on the controls
1. With three engines operating or with one engine on each
with the pilot and be prepared
side operating land in the normal manner.
to assist if necessary.
With only one engine or with two engines on one side operating, it is
not possible to maintain altitude with both gear and flaps extended.
Directional control is impossible below 125 mph with two engines on one Watch carefully for signs
side operating at take-off power and the other two propellers feathered. of carburetor icing or
2. NOTE: If engines number 3 and 4 are dead, the emergency landing gear other irregular operation
extension, flap extension and brake systems must be used. If engine and take corrective
number 1 and/or number 2 are dead it may be possible to use the normal measures if necessary.
landing gear and flap extension systems if no maneuvers are attempted
so that the control boosters do not demand hydraulic power.
Lower landing gear at
3. command of pilot. Use
Direct co-pilot to lower landing gear.
emergency extension
system if necessary.
Lower flaps at command
of pilot. Direct another
4. Direct co-pilot to lower flaps 50%. crew member to operate
emergency flap extension
system if necessary.
5. Get in good position for a normal approach. Crank the rudder tabs back to zero.
Regulate glide path with power from live engines and remaining flap travel.
6. When approach is assured, have the co-pilot extend flaps completely if hydraulic Lower flaps completely
operation is still available. Close throttles and proceed with a normal landing. if directed by pilot.

133
FLIGHT OPERATIONS
CROSS WIND LANDING

1. Make approach slightly lower and longer than normal in order to allow time Same as normal Same as normal
to establish a heading that gives a ground track in line with the runway. landing. landing.
2. Keep the wings level. No skidding necessary.
3. Just prior to ground contact, align airplane with runway.
Land with nose wheel close to ground and immediately after landing,
4. lower nose wheel to ground and apply brakes to decrease the roll.
NOTE: This procedure will make it easier to keep the airplane from turning into the wind.
EMERGENCY TAKE-OFF IF LANDING IS NOT COMPLETED

Open throttles to takeoff manifold
1. pressure. Be prepared to counteract
Raise landing gear. Open cowl flaps.
a strong nose-up tendency caused
by application of power.
As soon as airspeed is above 120 mph and
Retract flaps as directed by pilot.
2. all obstacles are cleared, direct co-pilot
Flaps retract slowly enough so that Adjust power as directed by pilot.
to raise flaps. Keep airspeed under 146
loss of lift is not dangerous.
mph until flaps are completely retracted.
STOPPING THE ENGINES

1. Move brake lever to EMER and check for OPEN the cowl flaps .and idle engines at 600 to 800 rpm until
1700 lb/sq in. emergency brake pressure. cylinder head temperatures are below 149 ° C (300° F).
Stop engine in normal manner. Increase engine speed to 1000
2. to 1200 rpm and hold for one-half minute to obtain optimum
scavenging of engine oil and pull mixture control to OFF.
3. If air temperature is expected to be below 5° C ( 40°

F.) at next start, operate oil dilution system.
4. When engines stop turning, move individual

and master ignition switches to OFF.
BEFORE LEAVING PILOT’S COMPARTMENT

1. Leave control boost levers

Turn all switches OFF. Turn all valves and switches OFF.
ON to act as a gust lock.
Cowl flaps may be closed when
2. All radio equipment OFF. cylinder head temperatures
are below 120 ° C (248 ° F).
Set parking brake or have wheels Have landing gear pins and pitot
3. chocked. Moor the airplane if weather Check brake selector lever to EMERGENCY. tube covers installed before
conditions make it advisable. leaving vicinity of airplane.

CABIN PRESSURE 1. Idle the engine until the oil temperature
Always equalize the cabin and outside pressure before land- falls to about 40° C (104° F).
ing. If necessary to remove any remaining pressure by set- Note: The fuel used by the oil dilution system is taken
ting the Pressure Regulator Override to OPEN. from the suction side of the engine driven fuel pump.
2. Dilute at idling speed (1000-1200rpm). Avoid
HEATING SYSTEM spark plug fouling. A short acceleration period
Normal operation of the heating system is automatic. The of 10 seconds at the end of the dilution run is
system consists of the following main functional units: usually sufficient to clear the spark plugs.
3. Maintain an oil temperature of less than 50° C
1. Two Stewart Warner gasoline heaters located in the (122° F) and an oil pressure above 15 pounds per
outboard nacelles: These heaters burn a small part square inch. If the oil temperature rises above,
of the fuel vapor from the engine induction system or the oil pressure falls below these limits,
and exhaust back into the induction system. Each shut down and allow the engine to cool.
heater is equipped with one automatic and one manual 4. If the air temperature is expected to be between
ignitor and an electric motor driven valve for control 4° C and -12° C (40° F. and 10° F.) the dilution
of the fuel flow. Warm air from the heaters is forced time should be at least 4 minutes. If colder
into the cabin by the cabin superchargers, therefore, weather is anticipated at the next start, refer
the inflow and outflow manual valve controls must to the table below for dilution time.
be in the BOTH OPEN (forward position) and the 5. To properly dilute the oil in the propeller domes, the
outboard engines must be operating to obtain heat. propeller INC and DEC control should be operated
throughout its complete range several times. Since
2. Two automatic cabin air coolers (intercoolers). this airplane is equipped with Hamilton Standard
Hydromatic propellers, the propeller feathering
OIL DILUTION button should be depressed near the end of the
The oil dilution system is installed primarily to facilitate dilution period, long enough to give a maximum drop
the starting of cold engines. Before stopping the engines, of 400 rpm, then pulled out. Repeat this operation
when a cold weather start is anticipated, dilute the engines several times. This will displace the undiluted oil
as follows: from the feathering lines which would congeal and
prevent feathering, and will provide diluted oil from
the hopper so that emergency feathering may be
accomplished under extreme cold weather conditions.
6. A complete re-dilution of the engine is required
only after one half hour or more of engine
operation at normal operating temperatures, as
this is the time required to boil off the gasoline.
OIL DILUTION TABLE

Anticipated Ground Temp. Time (min.)
4° to -12 ° C (40° to +10° F) 4

-12° to -29 ° C (+10° to -20°F) 6
-29° C and below (-20° F and below) 9
Hold dilution switch on for indicated time, stop engine, release dilution switch.

135
OPERATING DATA

AIRSPEED LIMITATIONS
Max. Allowable
Condition IAS (mph)
Diving (if de-icer boots are not installed) 364
De-icer boots· operating 275
De-icer boots not operating 320
Level flight: 72,000 lbs gross weight 310
Level flight: 82,000 lbs gross weight 285
Landing gear extended 146
Flaps extended 146
Retracting flaps from beyond 85%
120
extension with emergency system
Landing lights extended 140
Dumping fuel 160
CLIMB DATA
Climb Power Data Climb Performace
DENS Fuel Fuel
ALT IAS Distance Time
BMEP RPM Used Used
(knots) (n.m.) (min.) (lbs.) (gal.)
21,000 145 2300 161 118 38 2410 402
20,000 145 2300 161 110 36 2270 378
19,000 145 2300 161 102 34 2130 355
18,000 145 2300 161 96 32 1990 332
17,000 145 2300 161 86 30 1860 310
16,000 145 2300 161 82 28 1730 288
15,000 145 2300 161 76 26 1600 268
14,000 145 2300 161 69 24 1480 246
13,000 145 2300 161 64 23 1360 227
12,000 145 2300 161 57 21 1250 208
11,000 145 2300 161 52 19 1150 192
10,000 145 2300 161 47 17 1050 175
9,000 145 2300 161 42 16 950 158
8,000 145 2300 161 36 14 850 142
7,000 145 2300 161 33 12 760 127
6,000 145 2300 161 27 11 660 110
5,000 145 2300 161 23 9 570 95
4,000 145 2300 161 17 8 480 80
3,000 145 2300 161 14 6 380 64
2,000 145 2300 161 9 4 290 48
1,000 145 2300 161 5 3 200 33
S.L. 145 2300 161 — 1 110 18

137
OPERATING DATA
POWER SETTINGS
Power Hourly Fuel Consumption 92,000 88,000 84,000
DENS Setting
ALT lbs/ Gal/ TAS TAS TAS
RPM BMEP lbs/Eng IAS (kts) IAS (kts) IAS (kts)
Total Total (kts) (kts) (kts)
24,000 2200 118 535 2140 357 161 236
23,000 2180 119 530 2120 353 163 235
High Blower
22,000 2160 120 530 2120 353 164 233

21,000 2120 122 525 2100 350 166 231
20,000 2080 125 520 2080 347 168 230
19,000 2060 126 520 2080 347 169 228
18,000 2020 129 520 2080 347 171 227
17,000 2000 130 515 2060 343 173 225
16,000 1960 132 510 2040 340 175 224
15,000 1940 134 510 2040 340 177 223
14,000 2080 125 495 1980 330 173 215 176 218 179 222
13,000 2040 127 490 1960 327 175 214 178 217 181 221
12,000 2000 130 485 1940 323 177 213 180 216 182 219
11,000 1940 134 480 1920 320 179 212 181 214 183 216
10,000 1900 137 480 1920 320 181 211 183 213 185 215
9,000 1860 140 475 1900 317 182 209 185 212 187 214
Low Blower
8,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 184 208 186 210 188 212
7,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 185 206 187 208 189 210
6,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 187 205 189 207 191 209
5,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 188 203 190 205 192 207
4,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 190 202 192 204 194 206
3,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 191 200 193 202 195 204
2,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 193 199 194 200 196 202
1,000 1840 141 475 1900 317 195 198 196 199 198 201
1. Do not exceed 145 BMEP or 36” MAP in LOW BLOWER, or 140 BMEP or 34” MAP in HIGH BLOWER during cruise.
2. Chart applicable to 049 aircraft with R3350-C18BA3 or R3350-C18BA4 engine, HS 6801A-0 prop and using normal source.
3. Airspeeds shown are for 25% cowl flaps, 33% oil cooler flaps and aftercooler scoops closed. Adjust IAS for other position as follows:
Cowl Flap Pos. 25% 37% 40% 50% 60% 70% 100%
IAS Change 0 -3 -4 -8 -12 -16 -28
Oil Cooler Flap Pos. 0% 33% 60% 80% 100%

IAS Change 0 0 -1 -2 -3
Prim. Aftercooler LT. OFF ON ON

Sec. Aftercooler LT. OFF OFF ON
IAS Change 0 -1 -2
4. With cabin compressors operative, #4 engine limited to 5 BMEP less than values shown.

80,000 76,000 72,000 68,000 64,000
DENS
TAS TAS TAS TAS TAS ALT
IAS (kts) IAS (kts) IAS (kts) IAS (kts) IAS (kts)
(kts) (kts) (kts) (kts) (kts)
165 242 167 245 170 250 173 254 174 255 24,000
167 241 169 242 171 247 174 251 175 252 23,000
168 238 170 241 173 245 175 248 177 251 22,000
169 236 171 238 174 243 176 245 178 248 21,000
170 233 173 237 175 240 178 244 179 245 20,000
172 232 174 234 177 238 179 241 180 243 19,000
174 230 176 233 178 236 180 238 181 240 18,000
175 229 178 232 180 235 182 237 183 238 17,000
178 228 180 231 183 234 184 236 185 237 16,000
180 227 182 229 184 232 186 235 187 236 15,000
181 225 183 227 185 229 187 232 188 233 14,000
183 223 185 226 186 227 188 229 189 230 13,000
184 221 186 223 187 225 189 227 190 228 12,000
186 220 187 221 189 223 190 225 192 227 11,000
187 218 189 220 190 221 192 223 193 225 10,000
188 215 190 218 192 220 193 221 194 222 9,000
190 214 192 217 193 218 194 219 195 220 8,000
191 212 193 214 194 215 195 217 196 218 7,000
193 211 194 212 195 213 196 214 197 215 6,000
194 209 195 210 197 212 198 213 199 214 5,000
196 208 197 209 198 210 199 211 200 212 4,000
197 206 198 207 199 208 200 209 201 210 3,000
198 204 199 205 201 207 202 208 203 209 2,000
200 203 201 204 202 205 203 206 204 207 1,000

139
OPERATING DATA
CONSTANT POWER CRUISE

Ambient Take-
Ref Normal Alternate
Item MAP Off Five METO Cruise Descent Idle
No. Climb Climb
Run-UP Minutes
Max.
Variation:
2,600 –/ 50
1. RPM 150 RPM 2,400 2,300 2,200 2,300 Max. As Required 600 –/ 50
– 25
between
engines
43.5” Max. 34.4” Max.
34” Max. L.B. 36” Max L.B. 19” – 20”
2. MAP Amb. MAP 46.5” L.B. L.B. As Required
33” Max. H.B. 34” Max H.B. @ Sea Level
43” Max. H.B. 33” Max. H.B.
197 Max. L.B. 150 Max. L.B. 145 Max. L.B.
145 Max. L.B.
3. BMEP 110 Min. 200 Max. L.B. 177 Max. 146 Max. 140 Max. As Required Off Scale
145 Max. H.B.
H.B. H.B. H.B.
Fuel Flow/#/ 650-750
4. Approx. 1650 Approx. 1420 850-970 850-970 10% ML Min. As Required Off Scale
HR/ENG Approx.
CHT 232°C 232°C 218°C 204°C 204°C 204°C 204°C 232°C
5. 25% Min. 25% Min.
Cowl FLap 100% 50% 50% Note 1 Note 1 100%
Drag Drag
104°C Max. 104°C Max. 104°C Max. 104°C Max. 104°C Max. 104°C Max.
104°C Max. 70-85°C 70-85°C 70-85°C 70-85°C 70-85°C 70-85°C
6. Oil in Temp. 104°C Max.
40°C Min. Desired Desired Desired Desired Desired Desired
40°C Min. 70°C Min. 70°C Min. 70°C Min. 70°C Min. 70°C Min.
Nose Oil
7. 25# to 65# 25# to 65# 25# to 65# 25# to 65# 25# to 65# 25# to 65# 25# to 65# 15# Min.
Press.
Rear Oil
8. 50# to 90# 60# to 90# 50# to 90# 50# to 90# 50# to 90# 50# to 90# 50# to 90# 15# Min.
Press.
9. Fuel Press. 1# to 23# 19# to 23# 19# to 23# 19# to 23# 19# to 23# 19# to 23# 19# to 23# 19# to 23#
2000 L.B.
10. BHP — 2200 1400 1400 As Required —
1800 H.B.
1. During Climb, cowl flaps should be set for maximum performance provided CHT is below 204°C.
2. If desired oil "IN" temp. range cannot be maintained, investigation of cause should be made.
3. Before run-up, oil "IN" temp. should show a definite rise.
4. No minimum CHT for T.O. if engine operation smooth.
5. Do not make more than two blower shifts within a five minute interval.
6. If CHT exceeds 232°C on take-off, make engineering note in M-768 describing conditions.
7. No specific max. on Oil "OUT" temp. Normal spread above Oil "IN" temp. is 20°-30°C.
8. With CHT selector installed, #1 Position is #17 CHT and #2 Position is #2 CHT. #3 adn #4 position are inoperative
being modified to continuous reading CHT indicators, with #17 CHT on left portion of indicator.

141
EMERGENCY
OPERATIONS

ENGINE FAILURE DURING FLIGHT
STOPPING THE ENGINE
1. Retard throttle on dead engine.
2. Push dead engine feathering button.
3. Place mixture control in IDLE CUT-OFF.
4. Move engine fuel emergency shut-off valve to OFF.
5. Shut OFF auxiliary fuel pump.
6. Close cowl flaps. NOTE: If the shut-down is for
practice purposes, neglect the following steps.
Restart according to the instructions below.
Restart before the oil temperature becomes
dangerously low. During cold weather, be careful
of congealing oil in the propeller hub. If the
shut-down is permanent, proceed as follows:
7. Ignition switch OFF when engine stops.
8. Cowl flaps 1, 4 OPEN for minimum drag.
(This is the faired position.)
9. Trim airplane as necessary. Remember it is always
safer to make turns away from the dead engine.
Turns made into the dead engine should be of large
radius and should not be attempted at slow speeds.
10. Fuel, hydraulic, and engine oil shut-off valves CLOSED.
11. FUEL DISTRIBUTION — If engine fuel shut-off valves
are incorporated, use any fuel tank as desired. If
these valves are not installed and if the shutdown was
due to fire, or if it is known that a dangerous leak
exists in the fuel line of the dead engine, turn the
tank shut-off valve OFF and do not attempt to use
the fuel in that tank. If no danger exists, use the fuel
in the tank as desired to operate the other engine.
12. Check the oil cooler flap control in AUTOMATIC.
13. Change the vacuum pump selector valve, the
instrument group selector valve or the turn and bank
selector valves if necessary, to maintain four to five
inches of Hg for vacuum instrument operation.

143
EMERGENCY OPERATIONS
RE-STARTING THE ENGINE FIRES IN FLIGHT
PREPARING THE ENGINE FOR STARTING. Nacelle fire warning lights on the flight engineer’s and
1. Check cowl flaps CLOSED. pilot’s instrument panels.
2. Check tank shut-off valve ON.
3. Check fuel cross-transfer valve OFF. NACELLE FIRES
4. Auxiliary fuel pump ON if altitude requires. If a nacelle fire warning light glows and circumstances
5. Check fuel, hydraulic and engine advise stopping the engine, proceed as follows:
oil shut-off valves ON. 1 . Throttle CLOSED.
6. Check oil cooler flap switch in AUTOMATIC. 2 . Push the propeller feathering button.
7. Hold propeller governor switch in DECREASE 3 . Mixture OFF.
rpm until the propeller warning light glows. 4 . Fuel tank shut-off valve OFF.
8. Throttle 1⁄10 to ¼ OPEN depending on the altitude. 5 . Boost pump OFF.
9. Ignition ON. If the engine has not been operated 6 . After the propeller has completely feathered, turn
for ½ hour do not turn on the switch until the the fuel, oil, and hydraulic oil shut-off valve OFF.
engine has made several revolutions during 7. Ignition OFF.
unfeathering to prevent engine damage due to 8 . Cowl flaps OPEN.
possible liquid accumulation in the lower cylinders. 9 . Set the fire extinguisher selector
valve and pull one handle.
STARTING THE ENGINE. NOTE: Do not attempt to divide the charge
1. PRESS and HOLD the propeller feathering of one bottle between two engines.
button until rpm reads 800 to 1000. 1 0 . The pilot or co-pilot will inform the flight engineer
2. Mixture control to AUTO RICH. (Ignition as to the results obtained with the first CO2 bottle
switch must be ON first.) and advise pulling the second charge if necessary.
3. Make sure the oil temperatures and oil 1 1 . Open the emergency exits, lower the landing
pressures are within operating limits before gear, and land as soon as possible in order to
synchronizing with other engines. determine the cause of the fire and correct
the condition before continuing the flight.

AIRPLANE MASTER SWITCH
This switch should be pushed FORWARD just prior to a
crash landing to minimize the fire hazard from the electri-
cal system.
GROUND LANDING WITH WHEELS RETRACTED

If forced to land where no prepared runway is available,
it will be better, in most cases, to land with the wheels
retracted.
USE OF POWER
Power is valuable when controlling the airplane at low
speeds.
1 . If the landing is caused by fuel shortage, land
before the tanks are completely dry.
2 . If the landing is not caused by fuel shortage it may
be desirable to dump the fuel and land before the
reserve is used up. If the fuel was dumped, be sure
the controls are moved to CLOSE just before landing.
LANDING
Bring the airplane in tail low and as slow as possible. Use
approximately 80% flaps. If landing in enemy territory,
push the IFF radio destructor buttons and use the incendiary
grenade before leaving the airplane. If landing in friendly
territory, pull the recognition radio plug, on the radio rack,
just before contact to save the equipment from destruction.
1 . Mixture controls — OFF.
2 . Master ignition switch — OFF.
3 . Airplane master switch — OFF.
DUMPING FUEL
If it is necessary to dump fuel proceed as follows:
1. See that the flaps are fully retracted.
2. Turn OFF all radio equipment.
3. Reduce the air speed to 160 mph or less.
WARNING: Failure to follow the above steps
may result in an explosion or fire.
4. Move the dump controls to OPEN. Fuel will be
discharged from each chute at the approximate rate
of 190 gallons per minute, but the tanks will not
be drained. (70 gallons will be left in each inboard
tank and 30 gallons in each outboard tank.)
5. When all of the fuel possible or the desired quantity
has been dumped, move the controls against the stops
at the intermediate position. This should close the
valves. Wait about 10 seconds for the fuel to drain from
the chutes and then move the controls to CLOSE in
order to seat the valves as tightly as possible. Return
the controls to the intermediate position. This will
partially extend the chutes and permit any fuel that
may leak through the valves to drain to the outside.

145
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COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT FORUMS:

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LOCKHEED MARTIN
Creators of Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D® simulation software
AIRCRAFT ARTIST
Robert Rogalski
FLIGHT ATTENDANT ART WORK

Michal Puto
PANEL DESIGNS
Robert Rogalski
PROGRAMMING
Scott Gentile, Robert Rogalski, Michal Krawczyk
VOICE TALENT
Alison Gentile, Tony Megowan, David Barnett,
Jake Gentile, Hanna Martocchio, Michal Puto
PUBLIC RELATIONS, WEB DESIGN

Lewis Bloomfield
LEAD CONSULTANT
Oskar Wagner
VISUAL EFFECTS AND AUDIO

Scott Gentile
MANUAL
Mark Kee, Scott Gentile, Mitchell Glicksman (history)
MANUAL EDITING AND PROOFREADING

The Beta Team
QUALITY CONTROL BETA TEAM:

The world’s most effective and knowledgeable flight simulation beta
team, including Cody “CodyValkyrie” Bergland, Lewis Bloomfield,
Forest “FAC257” Crooke, Glenn “GlennC” Cummings, Ryan
“HogDriver” Gann, Captain Jake Gentile, Mitchell Glicksman, Darryl
“Killratio” Hackett, Dudley Henriques, Dave “Slingers” Kingshott, Tom
“Tol3458” LeCompte, Alexander “Metzgergva” Metzger, Matt “mattgn”
Newton, Rob “GreatOzzie” Osborne, Ralf “Erlk0enig” Schawer, Gunter
“Snorre” Schneider, Erwin “dutch506” Schultze, Guenter “Guenseli”
Steiner, Paul “Gypsy Baron” Strogen and Chris “CAPFlyer” Trott.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES WHO STUCK

BY US AND WORKED HARD TO SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS.

147

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A2ASIMULATIONS

CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP

RISKS & SIDE EFFECTS

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1 Some astute aviation historians might claim the Republic XF-12

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2 I think it would be remiss not to make mention of some facts about

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This how the “Spirit” looks today

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all over the World became enamoured, even fascinated with

THE FIRST U.S. LONG-DISTANCE AIRLINER

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1928 Fokker F. 10A, was an improved and more

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“Ford Airport during an airshow

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4 The Ford Tri-Motor’s corrugated duralumin skin was pioneered by Hugo

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LOCKHEED’S STARS SHINE ON BRIGHTLY

Boeing Model 200 “Monomail”. Advanced

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miles, insufficient for most western U.S.

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THE MOST SUCCESSFUL

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The classic lines of Douglas DC-2.

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Typical airliner “Pullman” sleeper

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CR:That’s it Donny boy. Seriously, you’ve got a great air-

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8 Seen here, the Fowler flap was the invention of

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Lockheed Model 18 “Lodestar” operated by

9 2,941 Lockheed Hudsons in eighteen variants saw service throughout

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This 1939 ad hardly

Far Left: Still photo from H. G. Wells’ “Things to Come”, a