<p>Lockheed's C-69 Constellation military transport was destined to become perhaps the most elegant and certainly one of the most successful airliners ever produced by the US industry. Indeed, the aircraft was designed originally to meet a Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) specification for a pressurized airliner capable of flying the US transcontinental routes without a stop, carrying a 6,000-lb (2,722-kg) payload over a range of 3,500 miles (5,633 km) and cruising at up to 300 mph (483 km/h) at an altitude of 20,000 ft (6,095 m).
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<p>The Constellation was launched with an initial TWA order for nine aircraft, and construction of the prototype was initiated in 1940. Completed in December, the first Model 49 was quickly readied for its maiden flight which took place on 9 January 1943, flown by Lockheed chief test pilot Miro Burcham and his Boeing opposite number Eddie Allen. Powered by four 2,200-hp (1,641-kW) Wright R-3350-35 Cyclone 18 two-row radials, the prototype lifted from the runway at Burbank and, after an hour in the air, landed at Muroc Field (now known as Edwards Air Force Base). The test program quickly established that design performance had been achieved, with a maximum speed of 347 mph (558 km/h), a cruising speed of 275 mph (443 km/h) achieved on 52.5 per cent power at 1 US gal per mile (2.4 liters per km) fuel consumption.
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<p>TWA's order had been increased to 40, and was followed by one from Pan American Airways for a similar number of a transoceanic version. However, both airlines waived their rights to the first batches of aircraft from the production line in favor of the USAAF, which needed fast troop transports. The prototype, despite its civil registration, had been painted with military green upper surfaces and gray undersides, and was handed over to the USAAF on 28 July 1943.
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<p>The first production C-69, although bearing its military serial, was painted in TWA livery and, at 0356 on 17 April 1944, co-captains Howard Hughes and Jack Frye of TWA took off from Burbank on delivery to the USAAF, flying to Washington National in a new transcontinental record time of a few seconds under 6 hours 58 minutes. On 23 January 1945 TWA's Intercontinental Division was contracted to see the C-69 into regular service with USAAF Air Transport Command. During this period the first Constellation transatlantic flight took place, nonstop from New York to Paris, in a record time of 14 hours 12 minutes.
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<p>After VJ-Day the USAAF's transport requirements were drastically reduced, and the C-69 program was cancelled. Twenty C-69-1-LO or -5-LO 63-seat troop transports and one C-69C 43-seat personnel transport were completed to USAAF order, although some did not enter service. With the exception of one which crashed at Topeka, Kansas on 18 September 1945 and one destroyed in static tests at Wright Field, all C-69s were sold to civil operators and many aircraft which had been at an advanced state of construction when cancellation took place were completed as civil Model 049s. This version was awarded the US Civil Aeronautics Board Approved Type Certificate No. 763 on 11 December 1945 after only 27 hours of test flying.
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<hi style=hdr1>Specification</hi>
<list style=aflst>
<item><hi format=bold>Type:</hi> cargo and passenger transport
<item><hi format=bold>Performance:</hi> maximum speed 330 mph (531 km/h); cruising speed 300 mph (483 km/h); service ceiling 25,000 ft (7,620 m); range 2,400 miles (3,862 km)
<item><hi format=bold>Weights:</hi> empty 50,500 lb (22,906 kg); maximum take-off 72,000 lb (32,659 kg)
<item><hi format=bold>Dimensions:</hi> span 123 ft 0 in (37.49 m); length 95 ft 2 in (29.01 m); height 23 ft 8 in (7.21 m); wing area 1,650 sq ft (153.29 m<su>2</su>)
