Blinky the Shark wrote:

> Dimitri wrote:
>
> > As you might have imagined over my, well many years, I have flown quite
a
> > bit. I started flying at the ripe age of 7 about 1950 in the TWA
> > Constellation.
>
> The Lockheed Consetllation remains the most beautiful airliner ever.
>


Yep, it was...I have a model of one sitting right on my desk here, it's in a
beautiful Qantas livery. It just has a perfect "line" to it, looks good
from any angle...

[I collect model airliners, amongst my other fascinating hobbies ;-) ]

IIRC the Connie still holds the record for longest non - stop scheduled
flight ever. TWA flew an advanced version fitted with extra fuel tanks on
their trans - polar LAX - LHR (London Heathrow) route, it was slightly over
*24* hours in the air...all first class layout, natch, with sleeper seats.

Second longest IIRC was a SAS DC - 7C (aka "Seven Seas" - I LUV that
moniker!) on their LAX - Copenhagen run, slightly under 24 hours...natcherly
westbound these flights had to make a stop somewheres for re - fueling,
Iceland or Greenland or Gander or wherever.

This was c. '57 - 58, jets would shortly replace those propliners...but I
coulda dug that LAX - LHR flight.

[OTOH think what a great thing the first jets were for a place like
Australia, it put them a whole day or so closer to the world...]


--
Best
Greg