"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
06/30/2020 at 09:30 • Filed to: good morning oppo, wingspan
3
9|
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
06/30/2020 at 09:30 • Filed to: good morning oppo, wingspan | 3
| 9 |
I found a nest of Eastern Connies. There are some interesting trucks in the foreground, too.
This photo was taken at Washington National Airport (DCA), which was renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport in 1998. Eastern Airlines took delivery of their first !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in December 1951, and started using them on flights between New York City and Miami. The Connie in the foreground, N6209C, started flying with Eastern in 1952, was heavily damaged in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1967, and then stored in Florida in 1972. It was recertified in 1973 with Happy Hours Travel Club, then ended up in the Dominicans where she flew with Aerotours Dominican and Aerochago Airlines. She was finally put out to pasture in 1986. Here’s how she looked in 1990, parked at the airport in Santo Domingo. The airliner was broken up the next year.
facw
> ttyymmnn
06/30/2020 at 09:56 |
|
I’m a bit surprised, I’d think aviation museums would have grabbed all the Connies by now, even the really rough ones. Transport and a fresh coat of paint isn’t cheap, but it seems like the sort of thing you could get donations for to add one of the most elegant airliners to your collection. Obviously fixing the interior would be a bigger undertaking, but it would be a goal for the future that you could safely ignore if you couldn’t make it happen .
SBA Thanks You For All The Fish
> ttyymmnn
06/30/2020 at 09:59 |
|
I love the thought that Orville Wright’s last flight was with Howard Hughes on a Connie... No better endgame.
|
ttyymmnn
> SBA Thanks You For All The Fish
06/30/2020 at 10:11 |
|
I’ve written many times about how Orville continued to work in aviation, even though he never piloted a plane again. I would be interested to know what his contribution were to NACA in those 28 years. That’s not to imply that he was only there for name recognition. He and his brother had done some of the most rigorous seminal scientific work in the field, so I’m sure he had plenty to offer.
|
ttyymmnn
> facw
06/30/2020 at 10:27 |
|
This is a story about another Connie at Santo Domingo. Based on the photos from 2006, and compared to that Google Earth shot, it looks like it’s either gone now or in a different location. The Connie in my photo ended life as HI-228.
http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-connie_news_archive_2006.htm
Update: Airport-Data reports that HI-228 was broken up in March 1991. I’ll have to update the post.
|
facw
> ttyymmnn
06/30/2020 at 10:31 |
|
Chrome needs to have a feature to automatically translate pages into non-Comic Sans...
|
ttyymmnn
> facw
06/30/2020 at 10:33 |
|
Apple has Reader View which does that rather nicely.
|
ttyymmnn
> facw
06/30/2020 at 10:48 |
|
So I tried to update the post by changing the caption to the derelict photo and deleting the Google Earth photo, and Kinja said that the photos didn’t have proper rights.
Do I have to use the fill-in-the-blanks that they provide?
Only Vespas...
> ttyymmnn
06/30/2020 at 12:24 |
|
The Eastern Shuttle used to use the C onnie as a back up for their 727's if the departing jet was so ld out. In pre-internet days one could show up and buy a ticket at LGA and your passage would be guaranteed. I wonder how many Connie flights went to Boston or DC with only a handful on board.
|
ttyymmnn
> Only Vespas...
06/30/2020 at 12:30 |
|
That photo came from the FAA Flickr, and a commenter mentioned Eastern’s 727 service from DCA-STL-LAX which started in 1966. If you look in the background of the photo, there is a 727 which may well be that flight taxiing for takeoff.
Back then, you’d probably show up early to fly the 727. Today, I’d show late so I could get a seat on the Connie.