Warbird Information Exchange

Considering the number of Connies that have been scrapped in the last few years as well as those that are presently rotting away and probably will be scrapped in the next few years, it's comforting to know that Lufthansa, Fantasy of Flight, Yanks, and Evergreen are preserving four of them. If these organizations had not stepped up, these four Connies would almost certainly have ended their days under the breaker's torch. Instead, they will remain with us. You and I may not get to see them, but a lot of people will. I'd love to see them all flying, but that's not going to happen, now or ever. It's ridiculously expensive to operate a Connie, spare parts are becoming scarce, and so are trained flight crews. Let's just be happy that these historic aircraft are being preserved instead of being cut up for scrap.

Maybe when it's closer to flying time, we Connie fans should all write to Lufthansa and see if we can convince them to take their Starliner on a tour of North America before she heads across the Atlantic. Maybe it'll work, maybe not. If we try, we might fail. If we don't try, we've already failed.

I do hope the Airline History Museum can overcome their organizational and financial troubles and get their Super Connie Star of America back in the air. They are probably our best (and perhaps only) hope for continued Connie flight in North America. I suppose it's possible that the Dutch Connie might end up back in the States after the auction, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope for that to happen.

Cheers,
Dean the Connie freak!

Hullo Dean, nice to see someone else who admires the most beautiful passenger airliner ever built as much as I do. I`m posting this photo for no good reason, just to remind you how good they look.

Interestingly when this old girl was rotting at Pima it was classified as unrestorable and in fact it had so much bird poo inside it that the scrappers rejected her too. Just shows if there is enough will there is a way.
Simmo

you mean it's good for something?

[the is so many jokes i could put in here! ]

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You can't see me!!

Simmo, thanks for the great photo of the HARS Super Connie from Australia! The Australian Connie and the Breitling Super Connie in Europe are two examples of ex-military (USAF/ANG) C-121C Super Constellations that are providing the only currently flying Connies in the world.

My dream would be to have a future gathering at Oshkosh or somewhere that would have the HARS Connie, Breitling Connie, the Airline History Museum "TWA" Connie and the Lufthansa Starliner all flying in there at one time.

G'day Simmo! The HARS Connie is a beauty, for sure, and as you point out, her continued existence is somewhat of a miracle. I just watched a beauty of a video on YouTube the other day, with the HARS Connie taking off in twilight, shot in full HD, with bright flame trails out the exhaust stacks. Awesome! I also have a baseball cap and some other HARS Connie items that my friend Tracey Smiley (a WIXer from Oz) sent me a couple of years ago.

I was born in Philadelphia, and grew up nearby. In the 1960s, TWA and Eastern were major players at Philadelphia International Airport, both with fleets of Connies, and TWA had a Connie maintenance facility there. My grandfather and I used to ride the subway and city bus out to the airport to have a hot dog and a Coke at the rooftop restaurant that used to be on top of the main terminal building. Back then we could sit out on the sundeck and watch those beautiful Connies (and other great propliners) come and go. Good times!

Connies! I love 'em! I love 'em all!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Look what taxied by our ramp at CMA yesterday!

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Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/

A nice thing to see on the ramp for sure!

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

I'll be there Nathan....what are you needing pic wise and what will they be used for....I'm shooting for various mags.

I'll be there wearing my "www.Fierce1.com" Hi-Viz vest somewhere!

Cheers,

Baz

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Air Traffic Control Assistant at London Biggin Hill Airport-Aviation & Motorsport junkie!

Here it is arriving at Chino.

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Kevin Joyce
Kevinjoycephotography.com

YES! An EC-121 that flew during my lifetime! I might not have been there o see it but just knowing one was flying makes me very happy! Love the high rez photo! Thanks for sharing!

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

A couple more shots from the arrival.

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Kevin Joyce
Kevinjoycephotography.com

Beautiful I hope all who saw her in the air realize the distinct honor they were afforded.
Several years ago while working as an instructor @ Badwrench, two other silver back instructors and me stood @ the windows watching the MATS CONNIE do 'crash and continues' a couple days before the now defunct Air Show @ KPAE. Our Manager, a female with a teaching degree who only knew enough about airplanes to understand she'd rather sit up front where the seats were 4 across and leather couldn't understand our fascination and we couldn't begin to explain the honor we were presented with. (she never 'got it' about airplanes, and we referred to her behind her back as 'pie face').

I've got photos that Ralph P. has copied of the WINKIES CONNIE fresh from KAWI sitting @ the transit ramp @ KPAE and headed for oblivion in the P.I.
You forgot to mention the 1049G ex TRANS CANNIBUS CF-TGE airplane rescued from a deserted part of Toronto's airport and restored to static and now @ KBFI.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Nice shape and rare to see. Pity the museum cant keep it flying even just a few times a year. Good to neverless see another Connie saved for the future. It is a very elegant shape still 65years on.

Pretty stout oil leak in the Chino pics...

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

Oil Leak? I thought that was the InFlight Corrison Control Dispersal System....