C-121C

The Lockheed Constellation, or "Connie," combined beauty, power, and utility in a military transport aircraft that grew from the 1943 C-69 Constellation prototype. A small number of C-69s went to the Air Transport Command in 1945 before being replaced by the C-54 Skymaster. The C-121A was the military version of the commercial Constellation, and between 1948 and 1955 the USAF ordered 150 C-121As for cargo and passenger transport, executive transport, and airborne early warning. Fifty-five percent of the stretched Super Constellations were delivered to the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, with most used for electronic reconnaissance and airborne early warning. In the mid-1960s, the Air Force sent the first EC-121 Warning Star to Southeast Asia for radar surveillance over North Vietnam and later to warn of MIG attacks and alert American pilots straying over Chinese territory. One C-121A was completed as a VC-121B VIP transport with special interior fittings, extra fuel capacity, and a later-added nose-mounted weather radar. C-121s could carry up to 100 passengers or 35 litters and medical attendants, and like the earlier C-69 they were powered by four R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines. Intended for overseas use as a military version of Lockheed's Model 749 and 1049 airliner design, the C-121 shared the earlier type's long-range performance and carried extra fuel tanks in the outer wing panels for a total fuel capacity of 5,820 gallons. The C-121C had four 3250-hp Wright R-3350-93 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines, a maximum speed of 368 mph, a range of 2,080 miles with maximum payload, a service ceiling of 24,442 feet, a maximum takeoff weight of 137,210 pounds, a crew of pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and flight engineer, and a payload of 40,000 pounds of cargo, 100 troops, or 35 litters.

Dover, Delaware · United States