Warbird Information Exchange

That would be fine if it were one of the early L-049 Connies that were like the C-69 but I don't think there are any even remotely flyable candidates out there. It seems like the L-749A/C-121A Connies that were delivered to the Air Force in 1948/49 ended up being the best surviving air frames for restoration (former MATS Connie, Columbine II/Eisenhower "Air Force One," former General MacArthur "Bataan" preserved by Planes of Fame at their Valle, Arizona location and others.

CAF?

Transport?

Surely you jest?

I was surprised by the amount of people that showed up for the departure from KCMA. Here are some shots from the KCMA end.

Taxiing out to the run-up area


See the fire in the exhaust stack.


One last pass over Camarillo

Yeah, WAY lean on the mixtures, shouldn't have visible torching exhaust plumes on taxi while idling along, and they should have gone bright sky blue on application of takeoff power but appear in other photos to still be orange, wonder what the head temps were?

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

I think overly rich makes orange flame, similar to over priming during start.
Leaning will 'suck in' the flames to leave the nice blue torch exhaust.
I've seen the Save-a-Connie take off with bigger orange flames, then come back around with 4 'blue torches' during an evening flyby. Colors are more vivid & visible during evening flying events.

VL

Ya wanna see Connie exhaust flames? This should do it for ya. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dExlu488 ... re=related

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Other than Donna Reed, no.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Anybody see the revamp for there site? http://www.yanksair.com/

Still would be nice to see them sell one of there two P-47s and two of there three Hellcats to other operators.

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

Plenty of flame during start up and take-off of the EC-121 at Camarillo (in HD): http://youtu.be/Sx-t8SFLifQ

Just the most beautiful thing to see in the air.

Came close to finally seeing the HARS Connie fly last November but ended up being 400 miles away. One day...

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http://aircrewbookreview.blogspot.com/

They sure have a outstanding collection with many restorations taking place. How big of a restoration staff do they have?

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Fabulous!! Who needs rotating beacons when you have this kind of light show!
Better than any afterburner/reheat display!!
Thx,
VL

I was a member of the 551st AEW&C Wing flying RC-121D Super Constallation aircraft from 1955 to 1960. I was an Aircraft Commander and instructor pilot. The Wing started taking delivery of these aircraft from Lockheed Burbank in about 1954. The serial number, 530548 was I believe delivered to our sister wing at McClellan AFB at around that time. We had 530549 at Otis. The initial 53 in the serial number was the year of manufacture as I remember. I learned, really how to fly in this airplane having come to Otis out of B-29 advanced flying training as a 2nd Lt. These aircraft had APS 20 surveillance radar and an APS 45 height finding radar in the upper radome which is now missing from 548. The sureillance radar was later upgraded to APS 95. The most difficult training issue was shutting off the hydraulic boost to the flight controls and making a single trainee controlled boost out landing. The non boosted aileron and rudder controls were really stiff and hard to move and the elevator through a mechanical handle at the pilots right knee was shifted to half travel to increase mechanical advantage through the elevator controls. The approach had to be long and flat on a very calm day and if necessary helped with differential throttle application. I always approached these with trepidation as there was an airline accident involving boost-out training. The early engines were designated R-3350-34 Turbo-Compound and later upgraded to dash 91. At that time the engine produced 3250 HP. It was augmented with 3 Power Recovery turbines which added 150 hp apiece for 450 per engine. They were exhaust driven and the turbine wheels turned about 17000 rpm (my memory is a little fuzzy) and delivered their power to the engine crankshaft through a fluid coupling.

I later flew the Connie in 1968 at the 553 Recon Wing at Korat Thailand where I, again was a flight examiner and AC and also Maintenance QC officer.

It is nice to see the old airplane fly one last time. Those Wright engines used a bit of oil, so much so, we used to joke about having to pre-flight with an umbrella. The pictures of the airplane produced a flood of memories. I flew in a lot of bad weather in that airplane and had quite a few engine failures but it always brought me home. It shook a lot but the galley was great and we used to cook steaks for the crew on some missions at Korat. I tried to remember the function of the controls in the cockpit and panel pictures. I remember most of them but it has been a long time. The airplane was very good in a cross wind but the hydraulically boosted controls were a bit weird and one had to hold rudder throughout a turn because of the aerodynamic effects of the upper radome. I know these airplanes were scrapped and some were converted to other uses but that was after my time.

Welcome to WIX!!! Always great to hear the pilots perspectives.

I just listened to the podcast of their interview on warbird radio. They said that their intentions are to do more restoration work on it, and keep it flying.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager