I have flown as a passenger one time and that was in 1964 early February. My brother then lived at Manhattan and I was just out of the Army and spent a week staying with him. I flew from NY City to Boston Logan Airport where I departed to CA on a Jet airliner. That was my first time flying on a Jet airliner. This Connie is at Australia. I know of none in the USA. Do you know of any in the USA? If you flew on it, what did you think of it? My thoughts were as it climbed out of NY City, it was creaking and groaning which concerned me. Also the rate of climb out was kind of sluggish I believe.
I had a hunch few flew on the Connie. As Jack says, it is a very good looking aircraft. Some of that is part of the design such as the slightly down tilted nose. That was tilted to shorten the length of the nose gear per some expert in Australia. And the tail slightly lifted due to airflow from the propellers.
I think our perceptions of climb rate are formed by our experiences in jet aircraft. I once saw a vintage B-17 take off en route to an air show. I was struck by how slow it was in the air -- and yet in its day it was an advanced performer. Times change and so do our perceptions.
There is one on the field at the Fantasy of Flight in Florida. https://www.fantasyofflight.com/collection/
When I formed that conclusion on the Constellation, all I had flown in were propeller airplanes. It has a modest rate of climb of 1100 fpm according to this site. https://aerocorner.com/aircraft/lockheed-l-1049-super-constellation/ The B17 climbs at 1430 fpm. http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/B-17/B-17.html
Great video. The first Air Force 1 was a Constellation and used by President Eisenhower. Earlier models had much less horsepower.
