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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1483.PDF
650 FLIGHT, 21 May 1954 Transport Aircraft • I9S4... Lockheed Constellation with Speedpak (Eastern Air Lines). Lockheed Super Constellation (Pakistan International Airlines). . T •., • ,.p Over 70,000 lb (cont) HANDLEY PAGE HERMES IV • First post-war pres surized airliner to become available in numbers to Britain's independent operators, the Hermes was last year withdrawn from Service on B.OAC's African routes. Nineteen aircraft are being sold by the Corporation, which has announced that ten will go to Skyways, six to the Britavia group and three to Airwork (who already operate three). In luxury form the Hermes takes 40 passengers, although most have been modified to carry 56. Hermes IVA (four Hercules 773, total 8,400 h.p.).—Span, 113ft; length, 96ft lOin; take-off weight, 86,000 lb; wing loading, 61 lb/sq ft; take-off distance, 5,120ft; passenger capacity, 40-60; typical performance, 230 m.p.h. for 1,600 miles at 13,000ft with 15,000 lb payload. LOCKHEED CONSTELLATION • Although it first flew as a military prototype (in January 1943) the Constellation grew from a specification given to Lockheed in 1939 by Trans continental and Western Airlines, predecessor of T.W.A. That specification envisaged an airliner capable of flying 3,500 miles at 250-300 m.p.h. with a 6,000 lb payload. The result was one'of the most useful, shapely and (thanks partly to a superb public-relations campaign) most famous transport aircraft the world has seen. T.W.A. received their first 15 "Connies" in October 1945 and have subsequently built up the largest fleet of this type in the world, having now in service or on order a total of 98 (including Super Constellations). There are several versions of the Constellation, ranging from Model 49D, the basic conversion of the U.S.A.F. C-69 military transport, with a take-off weight of 96,000 lb, to the 749A (107,000 lb). It shares with the DC-6 the honour of carrying the bulk of international air traffic. There are today about 190 Constellations in service with 16 different operators. Many of these aircraft have been convened from luxury models, seating about 40 passengers, to tourist-class 60-seaters. Use of the Speedpak, a boat-shaped pannier carried beneath the fuselage, enables the Constellation to carry an extra 5,200 lb of cargo with a range penalty of 4 per cent. The cruising speed at constant engine b.h.p. when using the Speedpak is reduced by only 8 m.pJi. Constellation 749A (four Wright C18-BD1, total 10,000 h.p.).— Span, 123ft; length, 95ft 2in; take-off weight 107,000 lb; wing loading, 64.8 lb/sq ft; take-off distance, 5,400ft; passenger capacity, 49-57; typical performance, 270 m.p.h. for 3,000 miles at 23,000ft with 16,000 lb payload. LOCKHEED L.1049 SUPER CONSTELLATION • "Stretch" is exemplified to the nth degree by today's Super Constellation, which is 84 per cent heavier than the machine envisaged in the original T.W.A. specification and 54 per cent heavier than the first production model. Power has increased by 48 per cent, and the fuselage length has been extended by 18.4ft, providing capacity for as many as 99 tourist passengers. There are four basic civil versions of the Super Constellation, beginning with the original L.1049 introduced to American domestic service in 1952 by T.W.A. and Eastern Air Lines. Although longer than the Model 749 and incorporating some 550 design improvements, this employs Wright C18-CA1 engines delivering 2,700 b.h.p. each—a total increase of only 800 b.h.p. on the total power of the four BDls of its predecessor. The next step was to install 3,250 h.p. Wright Turbo-Com pound engines which, by recovering power from die exhaust gases, offer a potential 20 per cent decrease in specific fuel consumption at the best cruising setting. The first "Super" to utilize these excellent power-units is the 1049B cargo version, five of which have been ordered by Seaboard and Western Airlines for trans atlantic service. Each of these aircraft will be capable of lifting nearly 18 tons from Gander to Shannon. Next comes the 1049C passenger version, with a multi-compartment interior designed by Henry Dreyfuss of New York but in other respects identical to the freighter. Both versions have a take-off weight of 130,000 lb. A later passenger model, the 1049E, is permitted to take-off at 133,000 lb and (subject to undercarriage "beefing") is structurally capable of operating at no less than 150,000 lb. This model has been produced to allow for possible conversion to turboprop power at some future date; it has a freighting counterpart in the 1249A. Preliminary data only are available for the 1249B, which will have Pratt and Whitney T34 turboprops of some 5,700 h.p. each. Its maximum cruising speed (85 per cent of normal rated power) of 415 m.p.h. compares with 339 m.p.h. for the 1049C, but the estimated still-air range drops from 4,940 to 3,450 miles. Actual cruising speed maintained by the Turbo-Compound Super Constellations in airline service is normally about 300
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