As a kid, I grew up in Dayton, Ohio – home of the Wright Brothers, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the original Air Force Museum, etc. There was a lot of aviation energy in Dayton!
One of things I remember doing with my Dad was driving out (usually on a Sunday – he liked to go for a Sunday drive) to the Dayton Airport which was in Vandalia, Ohio.
We could get close enough to be able to see the airliners coming and going – and the most striking of those back in my era were the TWA Lockheed Constellations. These four-engine beauties were quite a sight to behold – with beautiful streamlined lines, four big rotary engines, that triple tail, and striking red and white TWA colors. Wikipedia notes:
The April 1957 OAG shows 73-weekday departures: 56 TWA, 13 American, and 4 Lake Central. TWA had two nonstops to New York but no other nonstops reached beyond Chicago-Detroit-Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Cincinnati. The first jets were TWA Convair 880s from Chicago in January 1961.
A beautifully restored Lockheed Constellation arrived this week at the annual EAA AirVenture 2023 event at Oshkosh, WI. It brought back good memories of those days with my Dad at the airport in Vandalia. Beautiful to watch this lovely restored “Connie” arrive and land at Oshkosh. This particular Connie is restored as an Air Force VC-121A, a VIP transport model nicknamed Columbine II first used as Air Force One back in the Eisenhower administration.
Here’s a great article about learning to fly the Constellation.
The Wikipedia note above reminded also that I first saw the Convair 880 jetliner at the airport in Dayton. I always thought the Convair 880 (and the later 990) were the most beautiful jetliners in terms of design!
Here’s a good article about piloting the Convair 880!
The 880 was the fastest of the first-generation jet airliners. We could cruise it at Mach .85 and the Mmo was .88. Some thought that is where Convair came up with the number 880. Others thought it was because the passenger cabin had 88 seats and 88 windows. Your guess is as good as mine…
The author goes on to tell a good story about meeting his future wife – “Sharon is the only thing I ever stole from TWA.”
Ah, so many good memories were triggered by that Oshkosh arrival this week!