Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation

Lockheed · United States · first flew 1950 · airliner

The most beautiful piston airliner ever built — the triple-tailed 'Super Connie' that defined glamorous late-1940s long-haul flying.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, tapered
E — Engines	4 × piston, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	Graceful dolphin-curved fuselage
T — Tail	Twin fin

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Graceful dolphin-curved fuselage
Triple tail fins
Four big radials trailing exhaust smoke

Identify it at a glance by the curved, dolphin-profile fuselage that droops at the nose and sweeps up at the tail, three elegant fins, and four smoking radials. No straight line anywhere — pure sculpture.

Specifications

The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation has a length of 34.62 m (114 ft).
It has a wingspan of 37.49 m (123 ft).
Its maximum speed is 595 km/h (370 mph).
Typical crew: 5.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Lockheed stretched the wartime Constellation into the L-1049 in 1950, giving TWA and rivals a transatlantic flagship. Its Wright Turbo-Compound engines were powerful but famously temperamental — 'the world's best trimotor', crews joked.

Variants

Airline L-1049C/G models added tip tanks and radar noses; the military C-121 and radar-laden EC-121 Warning Star served into the 1970s, and the final L-1649 Starliner gained a new long-range wing.

Where you'll see it

BOAC never flew them, but Connies of TWA, Pan Am and KLM graced Heathrow constantly in the 1950s. Airworthy Super Connies survive in the US and Switzerland's example drew UK airshow crowds for years.

Related aircraft

AircraftIQ — the aircraft field guide: 4,893 recognition guides, live overhead identification, works offline.