Introduction & History

The Lockheed Constellation was built between 1943 and 1958 in Burbank, California and was distinguished by it's triple-tail design and dolphin-shaped fuselage. A total of 856 Constellation’s across the four models produced were eventually manufactured. The L-049 was the original commercial airliner produced and first flew on January 9^th 1943 in the guise of the C-69 which was drafted into war time use by the U.S. Airforce before being retrofitted for commercial use. The L-649 followed soon after featuring more powerful engines and increased passenger capacity seating up to 81. All were upgraded to L-749 standards which first flew on 14 March 1947. With its increased fuel load the 749 was able to fly non-stop transatlantic flights. In July 1951 the first flight of the larger L-1049 Super Constellation took place. The Super Constellation had some major changes including a 5 and a half meter fuselage stretch allowing for over 100 passengers, larger square windows, a longer nose for weather radar and in later models wingtip tanks.

With a wing design close to that of the P-38 Lightning but obviously differing in size, along with the triple tail and sleek shape helped make the Constellation an iconic aircraft of its time. The Constellation had a top speed of over 547 km/h, a cruise speed of 483 km/h, and a service ceiling of 24,000 ft allowing it to fly above most weather in pressurised comfort. Overcoming some initial challenges with engine fires that led to the aircrafts certification being revoked until design changes were made,  the sleek and powerful Constellations set a number of flight records but with the arrival of jet aircraft the Constellations reign of supremacy was relatively short lived. The last scheduled flight operated by a Constellation was by TWA on May 11^th 1967. Today less than a dozen Constellations exist in flyable condition.

Visual Model & Expansion Packs

Expansion Pack A includes the L-749 which features modified front landing gear, more powerful engines with different exhaust nozzles to reflect the difference and is what I consider to be the best looking of the Constellation models (particularly the Air France liveried version). The L-749 also has some changes in the VC with a pilots front gear steering wheel included. The L-749 was the only Constellation to feature this. The snub nosed L-1049H Super Constellation is also included and this includes versions both with and without wing-tip tanks. The Super Constellation has different engines again, as is a change to the front landing gear with taxi lights added to the strut.

 Flying the 'Connie'

The Connie isn't your typical bird and I have to be honest when I say I found learning to fly her to have a steep learning curve, at least to start with, and I still don't profess to be able to do so 'by the numbers' or 'the book'. From my point of view this is one of the appealing aspects of this aircraft because its not a 'modern' aircraft as such. If you rely on a fully functional auto-pilot or FMC you are in for a rude awakening as this baby is all about gauges and knobs and finding the sweet spot. Lets start by taking a look around the VC and various 2D panels used to fly her.

The virtual cockpit itself is very detailed. My initial reaction was oh, ok, the textures look kinda cartoony almost as there doesn't appear to be photo real texturing, but I got over that and was able to appreciate the detail that has been included in the VC. If you fly the DC-3 at all you'll feel at home in the Connie, though she is certainly a more detailed and functional aircraft than the 3. The centre pedestal features the throttle quadrant with handles for all four engines and the flaps, trim wheel on either side which I personally found very sensitive and required close management to avoid stalls and the rather large autopilot sitting just behind with the gear lever part of this. Interestingly the gear lever is a small thing sitting right below the AP rather than the modern norm of being on the main panel. The autopilot is a beast and its amazing to think it was cutting edge for its day. While it looks complicated its not and I was soon comfortable enough utilizing it to help me maintain heading and climb/descent rates though I did loose control a few times to start with when I stuffed up settings. The main panel is a sea of 'steam gauges' and represents the best of classic 1950's aviation. While they are fairly basic the gauges provide the pilot with the information required to fly the aircraft. Engine performance, navigation, altitude etc are all here and the Connie does require you to monitor and use them to maximize performance at the various stages of flight. Of particular note for me was the navigational aids that allows the Connie to track VOR's. Fundamentally the only way you can fly anywhere is to fly visually or track VOR's and utilize the runway course setting gauges to first identify the angle the VOR signal is coming from and then fine tune the autopilot heading to match it. Its a simple tool once mastered and highly effective at providing accurate navigation. The sense of achievement I felt using this tool properly was great given I am not familiar with radio navigation. I flew the CLS 767 afterwards to compare and was able to more fully appreciate that pilots flying modern aircraft have it so much easier. Sitting directly in front of the pilots are the flight controls which are effectively a steering wheel that would not have looked out of place in a car from the same era. With the Lockheed logo in the middle you know you are flying a classic when you are sitting behind this. On the yoke is a button that allows you to turn the seat on and off, this is particularly handy when you want to get the to side panels on either side of the captain and FO.

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