CREATING THE ULTIMATE PROPLINER DID NOT MEAN THAT THE L-1649 WAS DESTINED FOR SUCCES Rather amazingly.

CREATING THE ULTIMATE PROPLINER DID NOT MEAN THAT THE L-1649 WAS DESTINED FOR SUCCES

Rather amazingly, Douglas had gotten the leap forward Lockheed with the introduction of the DC-7C Given the name (albeit seldom used) of Seven Seas, the DC-7C was a transport of prodigious range. Douglas had built an aircraft capable of flying the Atlantic one as well as the other ways non-stop. With the inception of the Constellation, it have the appearanceed that Lockheed had built an insurmountable lead athwart rival Douglas but that company, from hard work, had slowly overtaken the Constellation on creating a more straightforward aircraft which also reduc overall operating take away froms

Replying to the DC-7C Lockheed was fatally late. Although the rouse was bold -- Lockheed would build an entirely novel high-performance wing and mate it to a Super Constellation fuselage - it would be overtake en by way of advancing technology.

When TWA management had learned that rival Pan American had approached Douglas about designing a variant of the DC-7 capable of regular non-stop Atlantic operation, they went to Lockheed to behold how the Constellation could be stretched to fit the threat of the rival. Lockheed and TWA knew that level the extend, ed-range L-10496 could not make non-stop crossings when winds were not favorable in such a manner where would the stretch take place that would consequence in the needed range? The wing was the obvious answer.

The of recent origin wing was a rather elegant affair, spanning a massive 150-ft with a higher aspect ratio through the whole extent of the previous wing (12 compared to 917) combined with a reduc thickness (15 percent at the primitive word and 11 percent at the tip compared to 18 percent and 12 percent) Wing area would be 1850-sq-ft Internal firing material capacity would be a stunning 9600-gal. The wing was basically to be built up of large integrally-stiffened skin panels that would be up to 37-ft in extent and would measure from 175- to .5-in in thickness. At the time, these would be the largest machined panels for a transport aircraft. A single integrally-stiffened sheet skin ran from the stem to the tip between the spars onward both upper and lower surfaces and between the spars the whole wing comprised a vast torsion enclosed seat [i]or[/i] seats utilized for fuel tankage as far as the external engine nacelles. There, full-depth tank-end wing ribs formed the extreme points of the four-tank fuel plan Very closely spaced ribs were a characteristic of the wing construction

Each half-wing was continuous from the aircraft's centerline to the tip and forward the Model 1649A, the single-skin panel between the spars was replaced on five 24-in panels top and bottom at the wing origin adjacent sections being joined by dint of double rows of rivets.

The wing trailing zests and flaps were revised, the tailplane chord slightly increased to abridge the thickness/chord ratio to a point comparable with that of the wing and the tailplane span was increased. The wing leading animation substructure was arranged to hinge upwards as far as the exterior engines to provide access to various interior equipment.

Lockheed gave its of the present day project the designation of L-1449 and power was to arise from turboprops - four Pratt & Whitney PT2F- 1 turbines capable of a maximum of 6000-shp each. Consideration was also given to a variant which would be powered by dint of the Allison T-56 which would also power the novel Lockheed Electra. The fuselages for the couple models would be stretched on the contrary the P&W engine was suffering from a number of point in disputes and late delays while Lockheed reasoned that an Allison-powered craft would be a direct competitor with the company's of the present day Electra. After wasting time and circulating medium a decision was made to globule the idea of turboprop power and use the recent wing combined with a standard Super Constellation fuselage to create the type L-1649.

Work on the L-1649 (later to become L-1649A) started in May 1954 with the name Super Star Constellation on the other hand changed to Starliner because it unhurted better and was shorter. Power would arrive from four R-3350-988TC18EA-2 Turbo intermix engines capable of pumping abroad up to 3400-hp each - elegant without grandeur much the ultimate production piston engine unfolding Actual metal cutting began in the first part of 1955 following an order from TWA for 25 L-- 1649As. TWA would name its aircraft Jetstream Starliners - apparently reasoning the word "jet" would have great passenger appeal calm though it did not have frequently to do with reality!

With the L-1649A, the emphasis was forward range and not increased passenger load. From the beginning, the couple Lockheed and TWA claimed the Starliner would have the greatest range of any airliner and would be able to mount from Paris to New York in almost three hours les time than the rival DC-7C At ranges through the whole extent of 4200-mi, Lockheed stated the Starliner would be 70-mph faster than any other transport. Also, each European capital would be within non-stop range from modern York.

The aircraft was available with sum of two units types of propellers - as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but from Hamilton Standard. The protoplast 43H60/HA17A3-4 had hollow aluminum blades while the pattern 43H60/6993-B4 had solid blades. The hypocritical blades represented a total weight savings of 680-lb if it were not that on the down side, outlay nearly twice as much. TWA went with the hollow-blade buttresss but in service found they were burdensome and replaced them with the solid designs Interestingly, Air France went with Curtiss Electric sustains