Lockheed Constellation by Stewart Wilson

One of the world's best loved airliners, the Lockheed Constellation, Super Constellation and Starliner family overcame early difficulties and uncertainties to become a favourite with international airlines in the 1950s and early 1960s. Its battle for market supremacy with the Douglas DC-6 and DC-7 over more than a decade led to the development of numerous, constantly upgraded variants for the airlines.

The Constellation family also sold in large numbers to the US military, appearing in a plethora of versions for general and VIP transport, airbourne early warning, electronic intellegnece gathering and many other roles. But it is as an airliner that the Connie is best remembered, its elegant shape plying the world's air routes in the final years of the piston engined era.