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Un officier allemand mort prés de son cheval expirant (fragment du Panorama de la bataille de Champigny) de Édouard Detaille, 1882¹ (PD) |
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Un officier allemand mort prés de son cheval expirant (fragment du Panorama de la bataille de Champigny) de Édouard Detaille, 1882¹ (PD) |
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The Picket Jean Baptiste Edouard Detaille (PD) |
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Really dude, you didn't notice this? (Source) |
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"I can see just fine!" (Source) |
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Lockheed Constellation - C-69 (military version) Seventh production aircraft, production #1967, AAF #310315 (43-10315), 1945 (PD) |
Previously, I wrote about the USS Constellations, both of them, and alluded to some future possible additions on this theme.
Fortunately, Sarge dug up a great post he had on the seductive beauty of Lockheed’s L-1049 or C-121 series “Super Constellation” with which some guests have actually had contact or even flight hours. Really good stuff there.
But, little was said about the somewhat less attractive older and shorter members of the Connie family, with smaller tails, other than that nice (circa 1945-46) photo above of a C-69, USAAF tail number 43-10315, which was one of seven started under contract with Trans World Airlines but completed for the USAAF. (Lockeed serial number 049-1967.) Post WW2 she was registered as N90828 and operated by Intercontinental Airways, at one point as RX-123. Then she went -
Besides an intermittent supply of superb historical fiction, Sarge (as part of his free services) also has an awesome list of links on the right side of the page. Go check them out, this will still be here after you explore those.
Lockheed’s “Constellation” began in a June 1939 secret meetings with Jack Fry¹, president of Trans World Airlines, and Howard Hughes, who had bought control of TWA and wanted a plane to carry 36 passengers at 300 mph with a range of 3,600 miles with a 13,000 foot ceiling. Lockheed suggested a larger aircraft, with a pressurized cabin for a 25,000 foot ceiling, which eventually became the Constellation. Hughes insisted that none be sold to competing airlines until TWA had received 35 of the planes. And, Hughes personally financed the purchase of the first 40 Constellations for TWA.
Hughes is remembered as a super rich dude who made a
fortune in Las Vegas real estate and as the builder and pilot of the wooden
“spruce Goose” the world’s largest flying boat. The Hughes wealth came from engineering and the film industry, which Howard
built upon for an even more successful career. He was also an aviation fanatic, earned a Masters in Aeronautical
Engineering, set numerous speed records, including several in planes of his
own design, and started the Hughes Aircraft Company. In June 1938, Hughes made a flight around
the world in just 91 hours setting a new record, flying a Lockheed 14 Super Electra
twin engine transport. This experience
was likely the impetus for Hughes to work with Lockheed on his ambitious
airline project. The Electra model was
redesigned for military use later in 1938, and Britain began buying huge
numbers for use by the RAF, taking much of Lockheed’s production capacity,
slowing work on the Constellation project, which was to be kept secret from
other airlines.
Hughes is a fascinating guy with fame, fortune, huge
ambitions and a quirky personality. At
various times he dated Joan Crawford, Debra Paget, Billie Dove, Bette Davis,
Yvonne De Carlo, Ava Gardner, Olivia de Havilland, Katharine Hepburn, Hedy
Lamar, Ginger Rogers, Janet Leigh, and Mamie Van Doren. (Kinda Trumpy in many ways…) You can read all about him here.
Design and initial work on the Lockheed L-049 Constellation was plodding along in 1941 when the Wartime Production Board inspected all aircraft plants and the secret Constellation project became known. So, Pan American Airways put in an order for 22 planes.
But, when WW2 broke out the USAAF commandeered all aircraft production and the Constellation project was very low priority, especially as Lockheed was making the P-38 fighter, which incidentally used the same wing design as the Connie. The 80 Connies ordered were designated for USAF use, although only 15 were ever delivered to the USAAF, and another 7 remained incomplete and were finished post-war for commercial sales, and the remainder all canceled.
The Constellation’s first prototype was finally rolled out in December 1942 with a very successful first flight on January 9, 1943, using a test pilot borrowed from Boeing.
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However, despite the successful flight, production languished while attempting to overcome problems using Wright R-3350 engines, which were in short supply due to high priority for assembling B-29 bombers. The prototype was modified to use Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines, but soon converted back to the original. Purchased by Hughes after the war, the plane was bought back by Lockheed in 1950 and lengthened by 18 feet and other changes to become the prototype for the L-1049/C-121 “Super Constellation.” In 1952 it became an aerodynamic test bed for the Navy WV-2 (or EC-121) Early Warning configuration. Later the number 4 engine was replaced by an Allison YT-56 turboprop engine in a C-130 nacelle for flight testing, going on to very successful use in the C-130, P-3, E-2. C-2, and Electra aircraft. (Source - Search for 43-10309)
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As
an interesting footnote in aviation history, the first American to fly in
powered flight, Orville Wright, made his final flight in the C-69 Constellation
piloted by Howard Hughes and Jack Frye on their publicity trip. While the flight to Washington on 17 April
was made with the aircraft in TWA commercial paint, by the time they flew to
Dayton on 26 April the aircraft had been repainted with USAAF markings, obviously
to improve publicity value when dealing with a military audience.
“On April 26,
during the return trip, the aircraft stopped at Wright Field in Dayton to pick
up a very special passenger: Orville Wright. More than 40 years after his
historic first flight, Wright even sat at the controls of the airplane during
his final 50-minute flight over Dayton, albeit for just a few brief
moments.
"I guess
I ran the whole plane for a minute but I let the machine take care of
itself," Wright said of the experience. "I always said airplanes
would fly themselves if you left them alone."
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(Source) |
Folks, bear with me on this one. It's going to take quite a bit of setting the stage before I get to the point on this post. I'll get there, I promise. But I'll start with the hero of the story.
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No Beans, Not Princess Leia. Miss B! |
Back in the day my folks would try and teach me the need for trust in the world. One needed to trust their fellow man to do the right thing else one would spend his entire life looking over his shoulder for protection instead of ahead for opportunity.
Of course they also taught that once someone had proved themselves untrustworthy...Well, don't trust them. Ever. I'm not talking a simple "letting you down", but actual betrayal. Failing to do their duty to honor their word deliberately regardless of reason. That was the ultimate sin.
Then I joined the military and realized where that ethos came from. My instructors insisted on trustworthiness in themselves and their students. That expectation extended through all members of the military. If you wore the uniform, your word was your bond. You may fail, but you failed while giving your best.
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As a "For Instance", even non-flying readers will realize that an In-Flight Fire is an extremely serious event. They would not be wrong. Unlike a sailplane, the engines are the things that keep you aloft. Without them, you are going to be landing. Whether on a runway or not, is not generally your choice. The airplane is coming down. Period.
Ok, how does the USAF address an Engine Fire? The "Bible" on aircraft operations in the Air Force is affectionately called the "Dash One". The F-4E Dash One can be found here. Just as an example of how important that document is, 40 plus years after the last time I read it, looking through the Engine Fire or Overhead during Flight Emergency Procedure, I recognized some subtle changes in the wording and punctuation of the procedure from the previous reading. That's how serious we took that book. In any case, here's the procedure. (It's found on Page 3-9 at the link above.)
Engine Fire or Overheat during Flight
1. Throttle bad engine - IDLE
2. If warning light goes out - CHECK FIRE DETECTION SYSTEM
Depress fire test button to determine that the fire detecting elements are not burned through.
3. If detection system check is satisfactory (i.e., warning lights illuminate when checked) - LAND AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE
Increasing thrust on the bad engine after the throttle has been retarded and the warning light has been extinguished may cause fire or overheat damage, and/or possible burn through the fire detecting elements.
4. If warning light remains Illuminated or fire detection system is inoperative or fire is confirmed - SHUTDOWN ENGINE
5. If fire persists - EJECT
6 . If fire ceases - LAND AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE
CAUTION
Do not attempt to restart the bad engine. If the fire ceases, and a landing is to be accomplished, make a single engine landing.
Pay particular attention to #5 in that procedure. If the fire light does NOT go out, you are to eject from the airplane. Period-Dot-End of Story.
So, juvat, interesting, but where are we going with this story?
Trust, my Friend, Trust. We had an E-model at Moody that was pretty much a hangar queen. (For the non-familiar, the term indicates the jet has a boatload of mechanical problems which are difficult to ascertain, expensive to fix and the fix may not fix the entire problem.) One of the requirements when a Hanger Queen is thought to be "Fixed" is to give it a "Functional Check Flight" or FCF. This is always flown by a VERY experienced crew and is flown on a fixed profile with specific parameters to make sure the airplane is fixed and ready to be put on the daily schedule. This jet had passed it's FCF flight and was back on the schedule.
I'm Flight Lead for a 4 ship range ride to go and drop practice bombs and fire the gun at the gunnery range at Eglin AFB FL.
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No those are not 25Lb Practice bombs, those are inert 500Lb Bombs, but that is Eglin Range. Source |
Typically the aircraft is loaded with 12 x 25Lb practice bombs and 100 rounds of 20mm bullets.
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Bragging rights, however, were worth much more than that. So, one tried their very best.
Unfortunately, I've drawn the Hangar Queen and, even with my best body English, couldn't get the bombs very close or the gun to hit the target. I'm irritated at myself on the way home and we're about halfway there when I simultaneously hear/see the Master Caution light come on and hear the WSO yell something about "Fire" over the intercom. Suffice it to say, I am focused at this point.
The right engine fire light is on. Technically, at this point, I'm supposed to ask the WSO to get into the check list and read me the procedure after which I will perform the procedure. That works well in the Simulator. (AFAIK no one has actually died in the Sim.) I immediately pull the throttle to Idle. Nothing. I decide on a count to 10 before skipping to #4 on the Emergency Procedure. I know it didn't take 10 seconds for that count, more like 1 maybe 2.
Light's still on. So I shut down the engine. Soon as it spools down, the light goes out. I push the test button, it lights up and goes out when I release the test. I have one of the wingmen give me a look over. Nothing, no smoke, no visual damage. OK we get to skip #5 (Thank you, Lord. My takeoff #s will continue to match my landing #s.)
Approach and landing are normal, well, as normal as a single engine approach and landing gets and except for the fire trucks, ambulances and other crash vehicles near the runway, other than that perfectly normal. Pull into the dearm area. Dearm crew safes the crucial stuff and give the shutdown signal. 1.6 nanoseconds later, myself and the WSO are on the ground and vacating the immediate vicinity.
The jet goes back into maintenance, the maintenance repair checklists are applied and she gets back on an FCF schedule. The same thing happens. Back into maintenance and another FCF. Again a Fire Warning Right Engine. In that afternoon's Wing Honcho meeting, the Maintenance Commander wants to annotate the problem in the maintenance forms as a "glitch" and keep the jet on the schedule. Maintenance Stats...Gotta love 'em.
At that point in the meeting, the Wing Commander relieved him from command. As he did so, he said "If the warning light comes on, how does the pilot know that the jet is not on fire? If he stays with the jet and it IS on fire, he and his WSO will likely be killed. Is your in-service rate worth that?"
In other words, the Maintenance Officer had betrayed our trust.
The jet went to depot maintenance and AFAIK never flew again, at least not at Moody.
BTW, that Wing Commander went on to 3 stars. IMHO, shoulda had 4.
Interesting story, juvat, but what's behind this story? That would be Miss B's monitoring equipment and sensors. More knowledgeable medical readers may correct me, but I believe that one of the last organs that develop when a Baby is in the Womb are their lungs. Therefore, premies, spending less time there, tend to have lung issues after birth. Miss B is currently on O2 while her lungs get better. She also wears a Pulse Ox sensor that keeps track of her pulse rate and oxygen saturation level in her blood. It sets off an alarm when either reading goes below the minimum level.
That alarm can, and should, be heard throughout the house.
However, the Damn thing goes off ALL THE F.....g time! The medical equipment company says that's caused by the baby moving. OK, maybe. But, then, why does it go off when she's sound asleep and not moving. AKA one of us is sitting right beside her watching when it goes off.
So...Next they said it's a faulty sensor cord. OK. They send a new one. Except that one is for a different model sensor.
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Top two are the new cable. Bottom two are the old cable. I'm not an electrician, but something tells me the new ones won't work. |
Drive down to San Antonio to meet with the Pulmonary Docs. They hook up their device side by side with ours. There's doesn't squawk and their readings are virtually the same as ours. Guess what squawks.
I mentioned to them my story about Trust and the fire light and asked what, worst case, might happen in the middle of the night if LJW, being extremely sleep deprived and tired, decided it was a false alarm and rolled over and went back to sleep.
We'll see what the next appointment with them yields. Suffice it to say, the NICU Staff and Docs are on Santa's good list while the Medical Equipment folks...well...aren't!
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Nap Time! |
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