Lockheed C-69-1-LO  Constellation   43-10314                                     (c/n  1966)

                                 

                                     Even in military stars-and-bars the Constellation surely had to have been one of the most beautiful
                                     aircraft ever built.    First flown on 9 January 943, 19 early Model L-049-10s were commandeered
                                     by the military and used as transports by the USAAF in the latter stages of WW II..   Most of them
                                     were released to the civilian market when hostilities ended, although 43-10314 seen above was
                                     damaged beyond repair and the usable bits shipped back to Lockheed where they were used in
                                     rebuilding (i) L-049 G-AHEN (c/n 1980, and which overran the runway at Bristol in 1951) and
                                     (ii) L-749 F-BAZQ (c/n 2512, which was virtually destroyed by a cabin fire at Keflavik, Iceland
                                     in April 1949).