Turbo Connie

[BillD22]

Way back in the 50's both the U.S. Navy and Air Force experimented with replacing the regular Wright 3350 radial piston engines on the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation with turboprops.

 

Each service acquired 2 modified test airplanes from Lockheed. The Navy models were designated as R7V-2s and the Air Force ones as YC-121Fs.

 

Because of some airframe structural issues, a total lack of interest by the civilian airline industry, and the arrival of jet transports at the same time the programs never really got off the ground. The Navy cancelled their program after some tests but the Air Force put one of the planes in regular transport service for a few years.

 

Here are some shots of the Air Force bird in the test program at Edwards AFB (KEDW) in California sometime in the late 50's

 

[click on the images for a full screen view - all of the planes in these shots are FSX freeware]

 

The airplane sits on the ramp in the 50's and 60's era Military Air Transport Service (MATS) paint scheme. It eventually ended up flying regular MATS transport missions for a few years before being sold to civilian operators

 

A head on shot showing the wide 3 bladed Pratt & Whitney T34 turboprop engines which replaced the usual Wright 3350 piston engines

 

The T34 was the same engine that powered the Air Force Douglas C-133 "Cargomaster" from the same era. This shot shows the engines on a C-133 which were mounted under the wing. On the Connie they were on top of the wing. The same situation exists today with the T56 turboprop engine which powers both the Navy P-3 and the Air Force C-130. The P3 engine nacelles are on top of the wing and the C-130s under the wing. This leads aircrews of the 2 services to say the other ones engines are "upside down" :D:D

 

This overhead ramp shot shows a good view of the over wing T34 engine nacelles on the YC-121 and their large size in comparison to the Connie's regular piston engines

 

Airborne over Edwards desert terrain

 

Another view from the right side with 2 of Edwards dry lake bed dirt test track/runways in the background

 

The Connie always had an elegant appearance. Adding turboprops gave it an even sleeker look. What a great looking plane!

 

In this shot the airplane flies formation with a Boeing KC-97 "Stratotanker" - which was a contemporary 50's and 60's Air Force bird. It's unlikely a formation like this ever actually happened in the r/w but I liked the way the shot looked and this is FSX so we can do whatever we want :D:D

 

Here's a more likely formation scenario. In this shot a Lockheed T-33 chase plane flies along with the test aircraft to monitor and record flight test data

[aharon]

That is VERY VERY impressive flying formation!!

[KCD]

Great shots, what kind of performance improvement did the engine swap produce?

[jamminjames]

Nice shots Bill. Love the KC-97 and Connie one!!!

[BillD22]

Great shots, what kind of performance improvement did the engine swap produce?

 

Aharon, KC, and Jammin' - thanks for looking and the comments

 

KC - my understanding is that the original L-1049 was a pretty high performance airplane to start with and although the turboprop engines added some incremental increase in speed and cruise altitude it wasn't enough to over come the jet craze going on at the same time. Pretty much the same story as the Lockheed L188

 

Interestingly my dad was a Navy Connie pilot at the time and I have some early childhood recollections of his dinner table comments about this program including his disappointment when it was cancelled

 

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[NMLW]

Super display of the new Turbo Connie Bill! It's a fine bird and fun to fly. :cool: :cool: :D I did a flight with the original Navy version about four years ago from RAF Khormasksar To Wheelus AB, Tripoli and it was fun then, but no VC or wing views. Things just get better with time. :)

[BillD22]

Super display of the new Turbo Connie Bill! It's a fine bird and fun to fly. :cool: :cool: :D I did a flight with the original Navy version about four years ago from RAF Khormasksar To Wheelus AB, Tripoli and it was fun then, but no VC or wing views. Things just get better with time. :)

 

 

Thanks Larry - this is just about pay ware quality for my money

[csmj]

Very nice Bill. Really enjoyed the shots and a very informative post as well. I've always been curious, do you know why the connie needed 3 tails?

 

Thanks,

Clayton

[mrzippy]

Very nice Bill. I've always been curious, do you know why the connie needed 3 tails?

Thanks,

Clayton

 

My bet is that the tail is so small, for a single tail to be effective it would have to be at least twice the size. The smaller 3 tail design allow it to fit into hangars.

[stvn]

Sweet pics Bill, and very informative posting also :cool:

[csmj]

My bet is that the tail is so small, for a single tail to be effective it would have to be at least twice the size. The smaller 3 tail design allow it to fit into hangars.

 

That makes good sense, thanks.

 

Clayton

[BillD22]

Very nice Bill. Really enjoyed the shots and a very informative post as well. I've always been curious, do you know why the connie needed 3 tails?

 

Thanks,

Clayton

 

Thanks Clayton - I think Mr Z has the correct answer -a single tail would need to be very large + the triple tail provides better control in an engine out situation

 

Thanks Mr Z and Stvn

[VFR_Steve]

Wow what a plane, thanks for sharing I enjoyed your info and shots very much.