While sitting in the Dentist's Waiting Room

[RLN]

There was a small article on this plane. Thought Dan4th would like to wax lyrical about this one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Constitution

[Dan4th]

Yup! The gigantic Constitution, far ahead of
its time but still used by the Navy during the
Korean Conflict to move big stuff over long
distances.

Offered to the airlines, too, but just as with
the Brabazon, the commercial carriers stayed
away in droves!

It's a shame they didn't save one out of the two....

Danf.

[RLN]

Quite an impressive aeroplane. Shame that it wasn't a success. I didn't realise they used Jato so early, and the article said it had some design of flaps that gave it a landing speed of 80 knots - amazing.

[Dan4th]

If I remember correctly, it also had a
figure-eight fuselage cross section
that really provided a lot of stiffness
and helped with cabin pressurization....

The whole study of gigantism during
that era is fascinating and really did
yield some great developments....

D.

[Za150]

I seem to remember reading that the engines were very underpowered?

[Dan4th]

They were underpowered for the aircraft
itself but not underpowered for themselves.....
Largest and most powerful in the world
at that time. IF they'd continued with the
program(me), I'm sure that would have
been fixed......

Constitution carried all kinds of big, heavy
stuff that otherwise would have taken far
longer by rail or sea. At least the two that
were built actually got used and served an
important role.

D.