* Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

[BuckyD]

Friday - March 18, 1994 - Phoenix 500...... Lefty Gardner's P-38- 'White Lightin' performs an elegant welcoming aerial ballet for the arrival of the MATS Super Connie. DBD

[Dash]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

Bucky,
My favorite airplane of all time, the Lockheed Connie. None ever had better curves. I have even flown on the one in the pic! Sadly it is a static display over in Korea now, but had a heck of a story and adventure getting there. One last triumphant trip. Wonder how many hours that airframe had and where all it had went by the time it was done?

[BuckyD]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

Dash - P-38 is my favorite of all aircraft. Connie & S-Connie: my favorite airliner of all. Flew on them many times when I was a youngster. Last time I rode aboard a S-Connie was from Chicago to Dallas (Love Field-TWA), about 1958, traveling to live with my aunt & uncle at the USAF base in Sherman, TX. Funny story about that, and might share it at a later date. DBD

(Always thought it was neat that both planes shared the same beautiful wing design planform.)

[MLenoch]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

Sidebar question:
At the time of the P-38 - White-Lightin's crash/sale, had Lefty already 'retired' from airshow flying a few years prior? I forgot the time line.
Thx,
VL

Hi Vlado - Yes, I believe so (Lefty retiring from airshow flying). Re-reading the very fine aafo.com post-6/25/01 crash interview w/Ladd Gardner, Ladd mentions that Lefty flew White Lightnin' in May of 2001 for a air photo shoot w/Phil Makanna. That might have been the last time he flew her (?) with Ladd already checked out in the P-38 & Ladd notes his dad wasn't interested in attending the airshow Ladd was taking the airplane to. As to details of when & where Lefty's last airshow perfromance - Wayne might know or you can find out from the Gardners (that's info I'd be interested in knowing also!). DBD

[Dash]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

Bucky,
I'm a young 'en, so I feel very fortunate to have ever gotten a chance to fly on any propliner, much less a Connie. I grew up in the age of 737's and Regional Jets. They had the MATS Connie at an airshow around where I grew up. I was home for the summer and taking a few summer courses at the local college and saw the thing sitting out on the ramp. I went and talked to the crew for a while. Don't remember all the names, but the Capt. was the legendary Frank Lang, who has more time in Connies than most people have period. He is a picture of a pilot. He's gotta be in his 70's or 80's, his hands shake like a leaf, but put a yoke in his hands and you've never seen smoother. The copilot was a Capt. on the now gone Concorde's for Air France. The flight engineer was a big fellow from the UK. They wanted something like $400-800 for a half hour flight. Well I had no money and was dissappointed. I hung around, took a lot of pics, talked a lot to the guys and they could see that I was really interested in this plane. So when they got ready to go they simply said, "if you want to come with us, can you find your own way back?" I said yes and as we were taxiing out for takeoff I was on the cell calling folks to drive to pick me up. Basically I told them that we were going to take a spontaneous road trip, but the first half they were on their own. I ended up buying diner that night and they were cool with driving a few hundred miles for that! Experience of a lifetime though!

[BuckyD]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

Dash - "Experience of a Lifetime"...I'll say!

Just goes to prove: perseverence (especially combined with genuine enthusiasm & good will) - certainly can pay off w/some big rewards!

Brings to mind an old sport fishing adage: "There's no substitute for time spent on the water". DBD

[440_Magnum]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

Link for the Connie fans:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=D3PlWvoJyxw

4 3350's, 12 PRTs, 12 dancing flames...

[Jeff E]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

That is such a cool photo... what a day that was..

Jeff

[Dash]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

I also got several sessions inside of the Starliner (think super big brother of the super connie) that was based on the ramp in Orlando for a while. It had been ferried and broke at that place and sit on the ramp for many years. Maurice Roundy, who just sold the German's all of his Starliners at an auction for a cheap price, was working to get that one flyable. (he said that he would take less than he could get to scrap them b/c he wanted this rare version to fly again! What an aviation buff!) The 1649 is a lot different from the 0649, 0749, or 1049 Super Connie. Different wing, bigger plane. Well, I got to sit in it while they were doing engine runups. Those are R-3350's with the PRT's on them. The fire out the stack was blue. Then we had a stack fire and wondered if we needed to get out of there one day. Very cool experiences in Connie's.

Any of you guys old enough to remember 4 course radio nav? This had an operating one of those in it!

[Skyracer]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

Anyone know where the EC-121 that was at Buckley Field near Denver went? Last time I saw it was about twenty years ago.

[Ivan]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

When I was a young pup I flew on a Connie from Seattle to Anchorage. As we were approching Anchorage the pilot came on the PA system and asked us to open the air vents and he would "get us used to Alaska weather". Most opened the vents and it started snowing in the cabin.

Way cool.

Ivan

[HiredBitSlinger]

Re: * Lovely Lockheed Lassies *

That night take off brings back memories. I am an army brat. In the 50's my dad was stationed in Germany. My mom, brother and sister flew the Atlantic three times. Two assignments, one crossing was on a ship. 10 days of seasickness, not a pretty picture. Anyway, one of the crossings was on a Constellation. Not a Super Connie, but still a Constellation. That was 1954, and I was a whole 8 years old, but I still remember it vividly. I loved the airplane, but we came very close to tragedy. The weather was very bad. We went through some really awful turbulence. At one point, as my dad tells the story, he had to hold his hand over my brothers crib to keep him off the roof. On top of that, they were having engine problems. It got bad enough that they gave the adults the ditching briefing. As an 8 year old, I came a little unglued. To shut me up, they told me when things settled down, I could go up to the flight deck. I did, the weather improved, engine problems stabilized, and I got my tour. I still remember standing between the Captain and the first officer. I was to short, so I had to climb up on the Captains seat to see out.

We also crossed on a DC-6 and a DC-7, as well as cross country flights on 6's and 7's. Several times, we made night takes offs. I usually managed to wrangle the seat just aft of the wing root. That blue fire from the exhaust is really spectacular. In addition, when they open the cowl flaps, you can see the manifolds glow cherry red.

As an adult I have been a passenger on a number of jets, but haven't enjoyed them as much as when I was child.


Dan Plunkett