One of the highlights of Paris Air Show for me personally was the opportunity to join Max Kingsley-Jones for a guided tour of the Lockheed L1049F-55 Super Constellation (HB-RS). Stepping on board, you could immediately feel the history locked into the airframe. The aircraft once flew for the US Air Force as a troop transport during the Korean War for VIPs and wounded soldiers.
Max and I were like kids in a candy store, though we were able to keep straight faces during the tour. You’ll see me floating around the background with my camera. The aircraft’s flight engineer and pilot took us around the flight deck and provided us a detailed look at the flight operations of this aircraft. We took special care to examine the flight engineer’s station (forward & upper panel), as well as overhead, pilots controls and throttle quadrant.
I hope you enjoy this four part video tour that really gives you a good view inside this incredible aircraft. For additional high-detail, up-close photos of the aircraft and its controls, feel free to visit my Flickr set devoted to the tour. Also, to make sure this airplane keeps flying, visit the Breitling Super Constellation website and consider supporting the Super Constellation Flyers to keep this amazing piece of history in the sky.
Special thanks to Jeff Decker for his filming and editing expertise.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.