The Lockheed 749 Constellation in the Science and Innovation Museum at Wroughton (UK) flew for KLM after 1947, but after it was converted for cargo and livestock transport, it was used to haul the 1973 Rolling Stones Far East Tour sound and lighting equipment across Australia and New Zealand,

that was the last time a Constellation flew in the skies of Australia and New Zealand.

https://www.adastron.com/lockheed/constellation/stones-connie.htm

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2760558694136801&set=gm.1802524446980749&idorvanity=254552581777951

Thank you Paul! 

Orville Wright climbs up the ladder of a C-69 Lockheed Constellation to take his last flight on April 26, 1944. From Wright Field in Dayton Ohio to Burbank Ca, with Howard Hughes onboard

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122116290261129903&set=gm.2332266377286234&idorvanity=330998710746354

analysis of why Lockheed left the airliner building business, it was a series of problems beyond their control, quite an interesting story about the company that once made the Constellation

 https://www.airwaysmag.com/new-post/why-lockheed-left-the-airliner-business

1953

 https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2025-09-10T05:12:00-07:00&max-results=15

A 1959 Constellation, one of the last flyable Lockheed Super Constellations, has been sold to John Travolta by the Airline History Museum of Kansas City (thank you George!)

Travolta’s use of the plane for his 50th birthday party in 2004 briefly drew flak from federal regulators for possible improper use of the aircraft as a charter. The investigation led to no fines against the Airline History Museum

The Connie in February 2004 ferried Travolta, a licensed pilot and aircraft enthusiast, to his 50th birthday party in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The airplane itself was one of the last built by Lockheed and left the line in Burbank in 1957. It was delivered in 1959 to Slick Airways, converted to a freighter in 1966 and last operated as a sprayer from 1973 to 1975. It sold at auction for $4,000 in 1985 and was donated to the Save-A-Connie organization, which overhauled it in Kansas City through 1988. It flew in various airshows and special events before an engine failure grounded it in 2005. The engine was replaced and it was maintained in readiness for return to flight since then.

The Airline History Museum had grown out of an effort, started in 1986, to restore a vintage Lockheed Constellation, or “Connie,” airliner. Initially called Save-a-Connie, the nonprofit grew into a kind of club for pilots, mechanics and former TWA employees in Kansas City. In 1990, the Save-a-Connie museum opened on the east side of the Downtown Airport, and in 2000 it took over Hangar 9, on the far west side of the airport, and was rebranded the Airline History Museum. In addition to vintage planes, the museum is home to a variety of artifacts from the golden age of commercial flight: TWA cockpit simulators, Southwest engines, stewardess uniforms, photos, books. 

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article300514779.html

https://avweb.com/aviation-news/engines-run-in-travoltas-new-constellation/

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article274486306.html

Lockheed VC-121A Constellation Start Up & Takeoff

 

the engines on the near side don't light off till the 3 minute mark

I stumbled across a new tv show, Spaced Out, about interior decorating of the blank check variety

this 74 Countach S is hanging on anchors to the steel beams in the walls, with cables around the back, because this car was a beach car that had been stored too long in the salt air by the beach, and the gas tank was so rusty that it made a repair not economically feasible. The big issue was blowing out the oil and brake fluid so that there would be no leaks down the wall

Yes, a Lambo on the wall as interior decorating. Like I said, blank check variety

1967 Dodge military truck

This model of the TWA Constellation, claims it was outside Howard Hughes' office, and since he was the majority stockholder or owner of TWA, that makes sense. He also requested a 40-passenger transcontinental airliner with a range of 3,500 miles, and that requirement led to the Constellation, designed by Lockheed engineers, including Kelly Johnson.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Constellation

the Wright R-3350 proved itself in the B-29, the DC-7, and Lockheed Super Constellation airliner, and this one was restored by aviation expert Patrick Smart.

skip to 5:55 on the video to get to where they fire it up. They turn it off, then pop it again at 7:05

A three year long restoration of one of two engines recovered from a Constellation for restoration. 

18 cylinder radial in two banks of 9. Displacement of 3,348 in3 (54.86 litre) supercharged, with three turbine recovery units. 

About 3200 HP

https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/video-giant-wright-r-3350-radial-hear-it-roar/

Constellations must have made great restaurants! Here's one in Malta, and one in Pennsylvania

Initially a commercial aircraft, the plane was impounded on 16th February, 1968 at the Malta International Airport for operating under a false registration number and was left abandoned for four years. On 6th November 1972 it was purchased by a local company, Salvatore Bezzina & Sons, for the sum of Lm3,000. It was towed to Kirkop a couple of months later and once ownership issues were settled, the plane was converted into a bar, and ran as a business for 13 years

https://www.guidememalta.com/en/throwback-alert-do-you-remember-the-super-constellation-bar

http://www.conniesurvivors.com/5T-TAF.htm

 

Jim Flannery was a World War II pilot whose family owned a restaurant on Route 1 in Penndel. He was a shrewd publicist. The restaurant burned in 1957

In the Summer of 1967, Flannery, ever the showman, purchased an authentic Lockheed Super G Constellation airplane known as the “Geneva Trader” from Capitol Airways. It had previously been owned by Cubana Airlines

The large aircraft was brought to its current location in 1968. The wings and tail were dismantled, and it was trucked through Delaware, up Route 295 and over the Walt Whitman bridge. The convoy, with an attending media sideshow, the moved up Broad Street, around City Hall, and onto Route 1, encircled by the Philadelphia Police Force

When the plane was set atop pylons in Penndel, owner Jim Flannery had them removed to give the illusion that the plane was in flight.

The 1954 Lockheed Super G Constellation, known as the Penndel Airplane, in pieces during its 1997-2000 restoration at The Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The museum acquired the plane because the avionics in its cockpit are original,

https://cardboardamerica.org/2016/11/17/jim-flannerys-constellation-lounge-restaurant-penndel-pennsylvania/

https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/picture-gallery/opinion/2021/12/20/penndel-airplane-then-and-now-bucks-county-dover-air-force-base/8920790002/

In Opa Locka FL a Lockheed Constellation remained parked on an empty lot for years, abandoned by the businessmen who had hoped to make it into a restaurant.

https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/tag/constellation-airplane-restaurant/

And one had a terrible success rate, but for a brief time was a restaurant in Canada

After a career flying passenger and later cargo with World Wide Airways, the aircraft retired from flying in 1965. It sat in derelict condition for many years in different locations in Quebec and Ontario, Canada. It was partially restored and made into a museum during this period. Later, it was converted into a hotel cocktail lounge and lunch delicatessen at the Toronto airport during 1996-2002. The Museum of Flight eventually acquired the aircraft in 2005. 

Following extensive restoration to its original appearance in TCA colors in Rome, New York, it was trucked to the Museum's main campus in Seattle in 2009.

http://www.conniesurvivors.com/CF-RNR.htm

https://www.blogto.com/city/2015/11/toronto_used_to_have_a_cocktail_bar_in_an_old_airplane/

July 2025, it's restored, here's the article https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/local/2025/07/10/penndel-airplane-restored-and-retired-dover-air-force-museum-bucks-county-landmark-jd-mullane/84507119007/ 

Thanks George! 

though forced into obsolescence by the Boeing 707, the Constellation imprinted so much on the 40s ad 50s Americana, one was restored in Maine, then moved to NYC to serve as a retro cocktail lounge for the TWA Hotel at the JFK Airport (formerly known as the TWA Flight Center Terminal

https://untappedcities.com/2019/03/23/a-vintage-twa-plane-is-in-times-square-en-route-to-become-cocktail-lounge-at-new-twa-hotel/

After its brief time with TWA, the Connie went on to be a bush plane in Alaska, was used by South American drug traffickers, then was sold for parts, but sat for the past 35 years at Maine’s Auburn Lewiston Airport

 the former terminal avoided not only demolition but a scheme to lift the entire structure on to a boat bound for Helsinki.

https://www.ft.com/content/0b12ff64-9990-11e9-98b9-e38c177b152f

https://www.sanspotter.com/2019/10/twa-hotel-review/