Back from the past It’s no practical solution to anything really, but sometimes when I’m not sure what to do with ‘airscape’ I just sit back and see what serendipity brings… Sure enough, last week whatever Great Spirit you choose to believe in stepped up with an out-of-the-blue email from Gander, Newfoundland. I showed my kids how almost exactly on the other side of the … Continue reading Auld Lang Syne
Grand circle route Back in the day, Qantas crews referred to their long-haul Super Constellations as ‘the best three-engined airliners in the world’. The complicated, 18 cylinder turbo-compound Wright R-3350-972-TC18DA ‘Duplex Cyclone’ engines arrayed along the wings paid for their incredible 3,250 HP output (each) with a propensity to failure. In fact, Qantas had spare engines stored at every stop along its Kangaroo Route from … Continue reading Four turning
Picture this You’re still a child, asleep in your upstairs bedroom. You’re probably dreaming you can fly… but the tranquility is suddenly ripped apart by a thundering roar outside your window. You draw back the curtain to look out and, right there, literally metres away, is the nose of an Aérospatiale Alouette helicopter with your father inside motioning that it’s time you got up. Beyond, … Continue reading ‘Nose Art’ by Manolo Chrétien
Feature image courtesy of Zoggavia.com Every airplane has a life story. I couldn’t possibly tell them all, but I can trace the star of my Connie Crossing article, G-AHEL Bangor II, thanks largely to the remarkable research and image collecting of Paul Zogg at zoggavia.com A new world order G-AHEL started life on Lockheed’s Burbank production line in 1944, as just the 17th C-69 laid … Continue reading Triple Tale
Feature image © Thomas Kirn G-AHEM (cn 1978) ‘Balmoral II’, sister to our story’s aircraft G-AHEL ‘Bangor II’. It’s not widely known that BOAC, forerunner of British Airways, continued to fly global services throughout World War 2 – and by 1945 no airline had more experience crossing the Atlantic. At war’s end, the airline was swift to acquire five Lockheed C-69 transports, completed as L-49 Constellations, … Continue reading Constellation crossing
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