The Connie: Beauty was not Enough

Of all the airliners that have graced the sky I think one of the most beautiful, ranking with Concorde, is the Lockheed Constellation the last and greatest of the piston-engined airliners.  First flown in 1943 for TWA the Connie served for many years in both civil and military forms.  Powered by four immensely powerful but fiendishly complicated Wright Turbo Compound Cyclones it was boss of the walk, despite the aspirations of its competitors, the Douglas DC -7C and Boeing Stratocruiser.
With its characteristic triple fins and gracefully swooping lines it was gut-achingly beautiful and made its competitors look,well, dowdy.  But beauty wasn't enough.  The advent of jet airliners, like the de Haviland Comet and Boeing 707, killed it stone dead as an airliner although it soldiered on in the military until the '70s, and several restored aircraft still fly today.
Sic transit gloria mundi 

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The Elephant at the Airport

The unusual sighting of a Jumbo Jet at Edinburgh Airport (Jumbos don't usually come to Edinburgh) has prompted a lot of comment, not least between my mate Jim and me.  The aircraft is a Boeing 747SP, registration number N747A, and is owned by Fry's Electronics Inc. of San Jose, California.  So what's it doing in Edinburgh apart from creating interest? That's for them to know and us to guess!


The 747SP (for Special Performance) is a shorter, longer range version of the classic Jumbo and is easy to recognise because it is obviously shorter and has a higher and narrower fin for aerodynamic reasons.  Only 45 were made and are now sought after as the ultimate corporate jet.


As you can see from the photo below of a 747SP similar to the Fry's one, they look a bit more squashed up than the  normal Jumbo.


The Sheiks love'em.

BOAC Flying Boats - not always British

The Beeb has posted a set of pictures about airline travel with some quite interesting ones including a flying boat at Lagos, interesting because it’s a Boeing 314 Clipper, still in wartime livery, not a type one normally associates with BOAC. I guess they were used because the more usual ones, Solents and Sandringhams didn’t have enough range to get to Nigeria across the Sahara and had to stop at Gibraltar, Freetown and Accra.

Whilst I revere the Sunderland (from which the Sandringham sprang) I have always had a soft spot for the Clipper and it's 3,500 mile range.