Constellation

Air Classics, Apr 2003 by O'Leary, Michael

CLASSIC AIRCRAFT FACT FILE

ON THE TYPE'S 60TH ANNIVERSARY, WE CELEBRATE THE LOCKHEED CONSTELLATION - PERHAPS THE MOST DISTINCTIVE FOUR-ENGINE AIRLINER EVER BUILT. IN OUR SECOND INSTALLMENT, WE EXAMINE HOW THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND HOW THE BASIC DESIGN WAS EXPANDED INTO THE SUPER CONSTELLATION AND THE ELEGANT STARLINER - THE AIRCRAFT THAT CLOSED THE GOLDEN AGE OF PROPLINERS

CONCLUSION

INTO SERVICE

DEVELOPING FROM ITS WARTIME PRODUCTION, LOCKHEED WOULD RAPIDLY MOVE FORWARD IN AN ATTEMPT TO DOMINATE THE LONG-RANGE AIRLINER MARKET

With the C-69 being a strictly limited produce tion aircraft and with the conclusion of the war seen as a certainty on the horizon, Lockheed management began to start thinking about the company's postwar business. It appeared that the orders of the P-80 Shooting Star America's first operational jet fighter - would remain fairly firm despite the massive cutbacks in aircraft production that would be a result of the end of the war. Lockheed was tending to keep an eye on all possible markets, including general aviation and to that end started work on the Little Dipper and Big Dipper. However, with the advent of huge fleets of surplus military aircraft available at near give-away prices the company's venture into the general aviation market was costly and short-lived - both designs were dropped.

Britain, decimated by war, was also struggling to develop a home-grown fleet of long-range airliners but the Avro

Tudor and Handley Page Hermes proved to be failures so Lockheed and cross-town rival Douglas were in a very good position to capture a large, and lucrative, percentage of the post-war airliner market. The original military contract specified improved C-- 69A, C-69B and C-69D variants. The C-69A would be a dedicated troop-- hauler with 100 seats, upgraded R-3350s, and - in an odd hold-over from the C-47 - ports in the windows through which the troops could fire (one wonders what this would have done to fuselage pressurization) their M-1 rifles! The C-69B was to have extra tankage and was intended as a long-range troop transport while the C-69D was to have further improvements over the B.

Because of the low priority of the C-- 69 program, difficulties with the R-3350, and Lockheed's numerous problems getting the C-69s out of the door, mititary planners took a long, hard look at the program. The C54 Skymaster from Douglas was being produced in a much more efficient manner and the craft's long tube-like fuselage was ideal for cargo hauling. Accordingly, production of the C-69 was cut back in stages. In fact, the Production Engineering Section of Army came up with the proposal that C-69 production be completely stopped after completion of the 20th airframe but this was over-ruled.

The over-ruling did not mean the production line was saved. All the C-69As were canceled but work would continue and design effort would focus on the C-69B. The contract was soon cut back to 210 air, frames which included just three C69Bs. In April 1944, not unsurprisingty, the C-69Bs were canceled and Lockheed was instructed to deliver the planes as straight C-69s. During March 1945, the contract was further trimmed to just 79 transports and Lockheed countered with a proposal that the last 53 aircraft on the contract be completed at $706,846 apiece while three would be completed as C-69Bs with a unit cost of $2,632,700.

Lockheed had completed work on the license-building of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and the production line of the famed P-38 Lightning was coming to a close so when the Army requested a production delay on the C-- 69 program be instigated so that cargo doors and heavy duty floors could be installed to make the aircraft as useful as the Skymaster, Lockheed should have been in the ideal position to rapidly proceed with this request. It was not to be. The Air Material Command had put a maximum-priority order for the P-80 Shooting Star and if the C-69 or remaining P-38 production got in the way, they were to be cut back or eliminated. During October 1945, the last 50 C-69s on the contract were cut which left only 22 aircraft on the original contract for 260 aircraft.

In the confusion following the end of the war and the massive cancellations of suddenly unwanted military items, Lockheed was able to cut a fairly good deal. Since the Army Air Force had accepted just 15 C-69s,

Lockheed entered an agreement to putchase the seven remaining C-69s which were on the production line for a bit over $402,000 each. They also struck a deal to acquire all military-owned production tooling in the factory.

Also purchasing back the most of the in-service C-69s at a bargain basement rate, management made the decision to complete the aircraft on the production line to airliners and convert the C-69s to airline configuration. In actuality, this was a brilliant move since it would give Lockheed a significant two-year lead over rival Douglas, whose pressurized DC-6 was still two years away.

Converting the military transport to airliners was not an easy undertaking. The government, of course, would have to give their blessing to the new airliner so a C-69 was transferred to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) in order that flight testing could begin so the CAA could define their requirements in the conversion. Since the C-69s had accumulated a fair amount of flying time, the CAA pilots had a known quantity and on 14 October 1945 (a remarkably short time period by today's standards), the CAA awarded the coveted Approved Type Certificate (ATC) A-763.