Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation

The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an American long-range airliner of the Constellation family, one of its most successful and widely used variants, nicknamed the Super Connie. Lockheed designed it in response to the Douglas DC-6, stretching the repurchased XC-69 prototype by 18 feet; it first flew in 1950 with Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engines before Wright R-3350 engines were fitted. Eastern Air Lines ordered 10 and Trans World Airlines 14. It carried some 550 improvements over the L-749, among them greater fuel capacity, rectangular windows, larger cockpit windshields and improved heating and pressurization. The L-1049C, which first flew on 17 February 1953, used turbo-compound R-3350 engines with Power Recovery Turbines that added 550 horsepower without more fuel. The type was also built for the United States Navy as the WV and R7V and for the United States Air Force as the C-121, for transport, electronics and airborne early warning and control.