Why The Last Constellation Died After Just 17 Days: L-1649 Starliner

Comments · 175

• DI

  @DigbyOdel-et3xx · 2 months ago

  The Connie is still the most beautiful propeller driven commercial airliner ever penned.

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• TH

  @thomasbrown7980 · 2 months ago (edited)

  I was privileged to fly with my family non stop from LAX to London Airport (later Heathrow)  on a TWA Starliner in 1959. it was a colossal 17 hour trip. For a kid with a visit to the cockpit and able to lie down we over two seats it was an amazing experience (our flight out had been a Pan Am 707 (my first jet flight) from London to Idlewild (later JFK) and then a flight on a United DC7 to LAX. When we next flew to see our California relatives it was an extended range Pan Am 707 non stop “polar route) I seem to recall that it was about 8 hours. The day of the Last propliners was over. Having seen the flames from those big piston engines and that roar was a true privilege.

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• TH

  @ThePuffinBurrow · 2 months ago

  I have always said that the constellation, you know, in all its forms, is the most beautiful airliner ever made.

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• RE

  @RedneckSpaceman · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIDcyDWMtEQ&amp;t=825">13:45</a> - That Shot of the Connie with Flaming Exhaust is incredible!!

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• EN

  @enziogehrig9425 · 2 months ago

  Thank you for posting this video. Probably the most expensive Starliner was the one Lufthansa tried to preserve. After spending about 150 million dollars on the restoration the company board of directors stopped the project before it could be completed.

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• GR

  @gregharvie3896 · 2 months ago

  The fact that this updated Connie was ever designed, built and was actually put into production and then sold to paying airlines is truly amazing like an extraordinary racing car for the skies and dam the operating costs.

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• RO

  @RobertFlint-b2z · 2 months ago

  The Connie was the first airplane I flew in on October 10, 1961. I got to meet the flight crew and all, but I didn&apos;t come to appreciate it, and how beautiful it was until later. It&apos;s as beautiful as the SR-71, both required hours of maintenance before flight and tons of fuel. Special thanks for how the Connie wing was &nbsp;made.

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• RO

  @ronmoropito2200 · 2 months ago

  As a kid living on the flight path of the Vancouver International airport, I saw a LOT of impressive airliners, prior to the Jet Age. &nbsp;I recall the Bristol Brittania, the Viscount, the DC, 3.4,6,7 evolution and the awesome Constellations. I even saw a Vulcan Bomber on display there in the early 50&apos;s.

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• CH

  @chuckz8053 · 2 months ago

  Power recovery turbines added 450Hp not 600. &nbsp;Flames out the exhaust were normal, not the result of a malfuction of the PRT.

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• KI

  @kirkmorrison6131 · 2 months ago

  I always loved seeing Connies flying when i was a kid going into the local commercial airport near the house

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• AL

  @alexp3752 · 2 months ago

  In the 1960&apos;s, I remember the Lockheed Constellation a<br>nd Electra at LAX. &nbsp;Beautiful aircraft never to be built again.

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• AM

  @AmadorCowboy · 1 month ago (edited)

  I was privileged enough to see the last few Connies fly both for the Air Force and commercial airlines. I can understand how she was really inefficient and expensive compared to the up and coming jet aircraft. But she was truly a beautiful machine; the pinnacle of the piston aircraft era.

  2