Howard Hughes was one of the driving forces behind the design of the Lockheed Constellation. A number of aircraft intended for Hughes's Transcontinental and Western Airlines (and for Pan American) became the C-69 transport. It was the heaviest and the fastest transport built to date for the Army Air Forces. Twenty-two of these were built before V-J Day. The last aircraft piloted by Orville Wright was a C-69. The later model 1049G became the C-121 series. The C/EC-121s were ordered for use as cargo and passenger carriers, executive transports, and airborne early warning aircraft. The lone VC-121E was named Columbine III and was used throughout the Eisenhower Administration as Air Force One. Fifty-five percent of the Super Constellations built by Lockheed were delivered to the US Navy and Air Force, and the US military Constellations were flown from 1952 to 1977, when the last Air National Guard EC-121S was retired. A majority of the aircraft were used for electronic reconnaissance and airborne early warning. In the mid-1960s, the Air Force sent the first Warning Stars to Vietnam to maintain radar surveillance over North Vietnam and then later to warn of MiG attacks and alert American pilots who were straying over Chinese territory. Some versions were converted to airborne radio and TV transmitters for the Armed Forces Network in Vietnam. On October 24, 1967, an EC-121D crew guided a US fighter into position to destroy a MiG-21. This marked the first time a weapons controller aboard an airborne radar aircraft had ever directed a successful interception.
| Contractors: |
Lockheed Aircraft Co. |
| Locations Built: |
Burbank, Calif. |
| Number Built: (USAF) |
856 incl commercial production (205 incl C-69s) |
| First Flight: |
January 9, 1943 |
| First Flight Model: |
C-69 |
| First Flight Location: |
Burbank, Calif. |
| First Flight Pilot: |
Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen (pilot, on loan from Boeing) and Milo Burcham (copilot) |
| Models/Variants: |
C-69. C-121A, C. VC-121A, B, C, E, G. RC-121C, D (later redesignated EC-121C, D). EC- 121G, H, P, R |
| Powerplant: |
Four Wright R-3350-34 or -91 Cyclone 18-cylinder radials of 3,250 hp each |
| Wingspan: |
126 ft 2 in (over wing tanks) |
| Length: |
116 ft 2 in. |
| Height: |
27 ft 0 in. |
| Weight: |
143,600 lb |
| Armament: |
None |
| Accommodation: |
Crew of 27 (pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer, and 23 electronic warfare officers). Crew of four (pilot, copilot, navigator, and flight engineer) and up to 88 passengers or 72 troops on C-121A, C |
| Cost: |
$2.03 million |
| Max. Speed: |
321 mph |
| Range: |
4,600 mi. |
| Ceiling: |
20,600 ft. |
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