The Lockheed L-1649A Starliner was the final derivative of the highly successful Constellation and Super Constellation series of airliners. Its very long range gave airlines the opportunity to schedule non-stop services between Europe and the US west coast and to operate ‘over the pole’ to Japan. Unfortunately, it was beaten into service by the similarly-capable Douglas DC-7C, and with the early transatlantic jets on the horizon, its sales were poor.
During the early 1950s, the Lockheed Super Constellation and the Douglas DC-6B dominated the world’s long-haul air routes. In 1954 the Douglas Aircraft Company started design work on its DC-7C, the ultimate development of the DC-4/6/7 series of piston-engined airliners, and intended to be capable of non-stop year-round operations on the prestigious North Atlantic routes. Lockheed needed to produce a rival to remain competitive and several projects based on the L-1049G Super Constellation airframe were considered. The L-1449 would retain the fuselage of the L-1049G but feature a new wing of 150ft (45.72m) span and four Pratt & Whitney PT2F-1 turboprop engines (a civil derivative …
