Connie -- "The Lockheed Constellation"
Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 10:27PM 
Being members of the Airline History Museum at the Downtown Wheeler Airport in Kansas City, Missouri, our first Plane Extraordinaire could be none other than our Lockheed Constellation Super G. Without Connie, Plane Dames would not exist as it was at an AHM meeting that we (founders) met. Both being busy ladies, we initially saw each other about once a month at those meetings but in July of 2004 we were on the crew for EAA’s AirVenture and roomies. We flew up and back to Oshkosh, Wisconsin on the Connie (my, Gwyn’s, first flight on her) and each got the experience of sitting in the cockpit jump seat. That trip cemented our love for the old girl and our friendship.
We'll share her story from the perspective of two gentlemen who have been with the organization from the beginning. What follows is a written excerpt from a presentation given by Dick McMahon, founding member and former President.
“The best way to start a presentation on the history of Sav-A-Connie (aka The Airline History Museum/AHM) is to start at the beginning. It all began in my office at Richards-Gebaur AFB the summer of 1985. At that time I was the civilian Air Force Manager for the USAF, having assumed that position upon my military retirement in 1984. Larry A. Brown then became chief pilot for Wilcox Electric and was involved in testing the micro-wave approach concept at GVW. That particular day the weather was bad and he and I were “hangar flying.” Larry was looking at pictures of various aircraft I had been qualified in; among them was the Lockheed Constellation C-121. He commented on what a beautiful aircraft the Connie was and recounts that I said, ‘why don't we get one, fix it up and fly it to air shows?’ The rest as they say is history. 
However, Larry did the vast majority of the work it took to get this effort off the ground and I consider him the true founder of Sav-A-Connie. After much research, a suitable L-1049H Connie was located at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona. To make a long story short, Mr. Paul Pristo bought the aircraft at auction for $4,500, and donated it to the parent organization we formed in March 1986. Larry and I knew that Kansas City was virtually the only place where such a project could succeed because of the number of retired TWA mechanics. TWA was the largest user of Connies among the airlines from 1946-1967. The U S Navy had a total of 210 over a period of time. After the founding of SAC and receiving the title to our Connie, N6937C, various members started spending time (weekends to three weeks at a time) at Falcon Field on 37C. When I first saw her, I thought, ‘I'm going to fly this!?’ It was in bad shape after sitting there for eleven years and having flown 28,000 plus hours prior to that. It needed vast amounts of TLC. It got enough TLC in the form of around 3,600 man hours over a nine-week time span and it was flown to MKC without incident on July 15, 1986.
To regress some, I would like to mention why we (Larry and I) picked the Connie to restore. We, like many others, believe the Connie to be the most beautiful aircraft ever. In addition, it is the primary aircraft that put the transatlantic steamships out of business. Thus, one needed to be preserved in flying condition so people could continue to appreciate its history and beauty. When the Connie arrived in July 1986, SAC had a one room office in the north extension of the former passenger terminal and no hangar. We did eventually, (March 1987,) put the Connie in the north bay of what had been the Braniff hangar on the east side of MKC. The aircraft was literally rebuilt over the next many months. The FAA issued 37C's airworthiness certificate on 2 November 1989. Air show appearances commenced during the summer of 2000, and continued unabated throughout the summer of 2005. An engine failure necessitating a major engine overhaul has kept the 37C grounded until now, but all is well again.”
Also a member from inception, Warren Donovan, recounts what we call AHM’s “Desert Storm!” 
“At the last meeting before the project at Falcon field was to begin, Larry Brown asked for volunteers to go. I was the first one to raise my hand and my wife, Bonnie, agreed to it. We loaded up 300 pounds of tools and headed to Arizona. While Larry and I started on the plane, Bonnie and Larry Brown’s wife, Kate, cut weeds. More workers came about a week later. We spent about 9 ½ weeks there. Bonnie and I found a great motel close by for $15 a day. It had a pool, a kitchen and two bedrooms, so we had other people that came in stay with us too.
The operator there at the field said we could have anything there in the yard that we wanted. I found a missing aileron up against a fence. When we started the first engine it caught on fire but didn’t do any serious damage. The next time we tried oil went all over the side of the Connie—dripping off. I surmised that the seal behind the prop was missing. On a break from work, George Bridges--a local who was really interested in the project and had become a friend--took me around to another airport where I spotted a prop with the seal. I got that seal and took it back. We got the prop pulled and the seal on in less than 3 minutes and that fixed that leak.
We didn’t know how we were going to pre-oil the engines but there was another group there working on a smaller Connie and they had a pre-oiler. I made a trade by fixing a prop they were having a problem with. It turned out to be a really good deal because it only took me twenty minutes to fix the prop but several hours for them to do the pre-oiling. They were trying to be first out but our Connie was.
Our test flight was not so great but we got back down okay, worked on her some more and then were able to come home about a week later. Frank Fitzgibbon was in the left seat and Harry Ward was in the right, Stan Scroggins was the Flight Engineer. The owner at that time, Paul Pristo, was also on board. Larry had secured some special radios to use to communicate with the control towers and a chase plane which was for the sole purpose of spotting if anything had happened in the mountains. The Connie was only flying about 200 mph but the chase plane was a single engine Piper and could not keep up, so the Connie flew 360 degree circles all the way home. I was observing but did get some right seat time in at one point and had to climb up to 12,000 feet to get over some clouds. That altitude made everyone pretty uncomfortable. We made it back to KC and I came home to my picture on the front of the paper.”
And so the stories could go on and on! In regard to Lockheed Constellations one of the best websites to read all about them is http://www.conniesurvivors.com/ Connies have lots of fans!
Photos: Connie taxiing back in at the Downtown Wheeler Airport; Engine #2 startup-the good kind of fire; Larry Brown; "The Queen of the Skies" holding court at Aeroshell Square, EAA AirVenture 2004; Warren Donovan; Dick McMahon, Larry Brown, Paul Pristo, Warren Donovan; Plane Dame Eva; Plane Dame Gwyn
Gwyn
A video tour of the Airline History Museum is now up on YouTube. To view you can either go to my channel, planedame1, and click on "View All" to find them or just go to the YouTube main page and enter "airline history museum" in the search box.
Gwyn
To see an 8 minute video produced by Kansas City Time Warner Cable on the saving of the Connie click here.