Page 25 - Volume 16 Number 2

Eager “passengers” boarding the NAHM Super Constellation for a tour.
Super Constellation cockpit
A Hangar of Treasures
While the walk-through of the display rooms is self- guided, the main hangar can only be viewed in an escorted tour, because of the hazards posed by on-going restorations. The NAHM’s DC-3 is an extremely authentic early-1940’s renovation, with a “Buy War Bonds” slogan emblazoned on its side, complete with period seating and vintage appointments. The old Douglas actually was a TWA airliner in its early years, a working DC-3A rather than a refitted war-surplus C-47 troop carrier. The adjacent Martin 404, an early-50s pressurized feederliner flown by TWA and Eastern Airlines, used the legendary R-2800 Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engines and more than doubled the DC-3’s capacity, servicing small cities with self-contained boarding stairs under the tail.
The NAHM’s treasured Super Constellation represents the epitome of piston airliners, when luxury air travel across oceans and continents required dressing for the occasion. Delivered in 1959 as an L-1049H convertible cargo aircraft, the restored Connie has been outfitted as an L-1049G to show the lounge seating, optional berths and galley equipment of the pre-jet era. The flight deck is complete, featuring the flight engineer’s complex station,
FEBRUARY 2012
TWIN & TURBINE • 23