Lockheed L-1649 Starliner

The Lockheed L-1649 Starliner is the last model of the Lockheed Constellation line of airliners, powered by four Wright R-3350 turbo-compound engines and built at Lockheed's Burbank, California plant from 1956 to 1958. It grew out of Lockheed's answer to the Douglas DC-7C Seven Seas: the L-1449 and L-1549 were to use Pratt and Whitney PT2 turboprops in a new 150 foot wing, but Pratt and Whitney dropped the engine in March 1955, and TWA and Lockheed agreed on a piston-engine L-1649 instead. The L-1649A used the L-1049G fuselage and the new wing, which allowed nonstop flights from California to Europe. The prototype first flew on 11 October 1956, and airline service began on 1 June 1957 on a TWA flight from New York to London and Frankfurt. In September 1957 a Starliner made the first nonstop flight from Los Angeles to London. Air France bought ten, Lufthansa four, and Boeing 707s replaced them on transatlantic routes from 1960 and 1961. The DC-7C sold more airframes, and four Starliners have survived into preservation.