Warplanes of the USA: Lockheed C-69 Constellation and Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star, WV-1, (PO-1W), WV-2, WV-3

Lockheed Constellation

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed C-121G-LO Constellation (Serial No. 54-4062), former U.S. Navy R7V-1 (BuNo. 131636), named "City of Jackson Hole", from the 187th Airlift Squadron, 153rd Air Transport Group, Wyoming Air National Guard.

The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first civil airliner family to enter widespread use equipped with a pressurized cabin, enabling it to fly well above most bad weather, thus significantly improving the general safety and ease of commercial passenger air travel.[1]Several different models of the Constellation series were produced, although they all featured the distinctive triple-tail and dolphin-shaped fuselage. Most were powered by four 18-cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclones. In total, 856 were produced between 1943 and 1958 at Lockheed's plant in Burbank, California, and used as both a civil airliner and as a military and civilian cargo transport. Among their famous uses was during the Berlin and the Biafran airlifts. Three served as the presidential aircraft for Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of which is featured at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (Wikipedia)

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed Constellation - C-69 (military version) seventh production aircraft, production 1967, AAF No. 310315 (Serial No. 43-10315), 1945.

With the onset of the Second World War, the TWA aircraft entering production were converted to an order for C-69 Constellation military transport aircraft, with 202 aircraft intended for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The first prototype (NX25600) flew on 9 January 1943. A single C-69C (L-549), a 43-seat VIP transport, was built in 1945 at the Lockheed-Burbank plant. The initial military versions carried the Lockheed designation of L-049.

The C-69 was mostly used as a high-speed, long-distance troop transport during the war. In total, 22 C-69s were built before the end of hostilities, but seven of these never entered military service, as they were converted to civilian L-049s on the assembly line. The USAAF cancelled the remainder of the order in 1945.

Some aircraft remained in USAF service into the 1960s, serving as passenger ferries for the airline that relocated military personnel, wearing the livery of the Military Air Transport Service. At least one of these airplanes had rear-facing passenger seats. After the end of the war, the Constellation came into its own as a fast civilian airliner. Aircraft already in production for the USAAF as C-69 transports were finished as civilian airliners, with TWA receiving the first on 1 October 1945. (Wikipedia)

(USN Photo)

The first Lockheed Constellation, 9 January 1943.

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121R Constellation of the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing over Southeast-Asia on 15 January 1969.

The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star is an American airborne early warning and control radar surveillance aircraft operational in the 1950s in both the United States Navy (USN) and United States Air Force (USAF).The military version of the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation was used to serve as an airborne early warning system to supplement the Distant Early Warning Line, using two large radomes (a vertical dome above and a horizontal one below the fuselage). It replaced the TBM-3W used by the USN. Some EC-121s were also used for signal intelligence gathering. The EC-121 was introduced in 1954 and phased out in 1978, although a single specially modified EW aircraft remained in USN service until 1982.The USN versions when initially procured were designated WV-1 (PO-1W), WV-2, and WV-3. The USAF Warning Stars served during the Vietnam War both as electronic sensor monitors and as a forerunner to the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS. USAF aircrews adopted its civil nickname, "Connie" (diminutive of Constellation) as reference, USN aircrews used the nickname "Willie Victor". (Wikipedia)

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121R Warning Star (Serial No. 67-21487) (nicknamed the Da Nang Gilder) of the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing in Southeast Asia in January 1968. This aircraft was the former U.S. Navy WV-2 BuNo. 143206, c/n 1049A-4480. It was scrapped at the MASDC on 21 October 1970.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed C-121 Constellation Blue Angels support aircraft, c1960s.

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(USAF Photo)

U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121D Warning Star aircraft of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning & Control Wing at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, during the Vietnam War.

(USAF Photo)

An U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121D Warning Star of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing over Thailand, 1972.

(Mike Freer - Touchdown Aviation Photos)

On display at the Pima Air & Space Museum. Later made airworthy for a single flight to Carmarillo, CA, registered as N548GF.

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121T (Serial No. 52-3425) at the Peterson Air and Space Museum, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado (USA), on 19 November 1979. Before its retirement in 1978 it had been last operated by the USAF Reserve 79th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida.

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121D Warning Star (Serial No. 53-536) of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning & Control Wing at a hangar at McClellan Air Force Base, California (USA), in the late 1960s.

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121K "Rivet Top" (s/n 57-143184) of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning & Control Wing, based at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in 1967-68. "Rivet Top" was a modification of a EC-121 into a Airborne Tactical Air Coordination Center, where intelligence collection and command and control functions were fused on a single airframe. For this a former U.S. Navy EC-121K (BuNo 143184) was modified. "Rivet Top" operators listened in on radio calls between MiG fighters and their ground controllers.

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121T (Serial No. 52-0536) 551st AEWC Wing Lockheed RC-121 53-536 Otis AFB, Massachusetts, 1963.

(RuthAS Photo)

Lockheed EC-121T Warning Star (Serial No. 52-3412), of the 79 AEW&CS at Homestead AFB Florida in 1976.

(USAF Photo)

View of the radar operators in an U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121D Warning Star aircraft of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning & Control Wing during the Vietnam War.

(USAF Photo)

EC-121 Warning Star support crew at Otis Air Force Base.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed C-121 Warning Star over the Cape Cod Canal with the Sagamore Bridge in the background.

After TWA's initial order was filled following the end of the Second World War, customers rapidly accumulated, with over 800 aircraft built. In military service, the U.S. Navy and Air Force operated the EC-121 Warning Star variant until 1978, nearly 40 years after work on the L-049 began.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed EC-121, 1965.

(USGOV-PD Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121S Coronet Solo from the 193rd Tactical Electric Warfare Group, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, in 1978.

(Bill Larkins Photo)

Lockheed RC-121C (Serial No. 51-3836).

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed C-121G (Serial No. 54-4060), Det 1, 552nd Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, 1970.

(AMCM Photo)

Lockheed C-121 Super Constellation, painted as (Serial No. 54-0315).  This aircraft is the former civil airliner Lockheed c/n L-1049E-4557, Reg. No. N1005C".  In 1996, Amoco Corporation purchased a lot in Penndel, Pennsylvania which contained a restaurant in a Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft.  Amoco offered the plane to the USAF Air Mobility Command Museum.  It was transported to the museum in December of 1997 and the AMC Museum restored the aircraft as a USAF C-121 with the fake serial "40315" (54-0315 was a Northrop F-89H-1-NO Scorpion fighter).  The USAAF operated mainly the C-121A/C/G as transports.

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(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121D Warning Star (s/n 53-555) of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning & Control Wing at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in September 1970. The crew of this aircraft made the first radar-guided intercept on 24 Oct 1967, when it was operationg over the Gulf of Tonkin and directed two USAF McDonnell F-4C Phantom II fighters to destruct a North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21. The aircraft is today on display at National Museum of the USAF. Note the EC-121Rs in the background.

(US Air National Guard Photo)

Operation Commando Buzz by William S. Phillips for the state of Pennsylvania, 1970. Korat, Thailand, 1970 -- On July 28, 1970, two EC-121 Lockheed "Super Constellations" from the 193rd Tactical Electronic Squadron took off from Olmsted State Airport, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. US forces were fighting in Vietnam, and the EC-121s were headed for Korat in the neighboring country of Thailand, 12,000 miles away, where the U. S. Air Force was operating from a Royal Thai Air Force base. Korat Air Base would be home for 252 Air Guardsmen for the next six months. The men were rotated as part of Operation Commando Buzz, with approximately 60 officers and airmen at a time serving tours of duty of from 30 to 60 days. In addition to the aircrews and technicians, an additional 75 officers and airmen supported Commando Buzz by flying material and personnel from Olmsted to Southeast Asia and back. The Pennsylvania Air Guard's EC-121s were laden with electronic equipment, and their mission was to act as flying radar stations and airborne control platforms. They possessed search and identification radar, interception equipment, and a battery of communications gear. The range of the EC-121s extended over all of North Vietman and the Gulf of Tonkin, and they were a key element in Seventh Air Force control of tactical air operations., The final group of Air Guardsmen rotated during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays of 1970, and early in January 1971, the mission was completed. Within three days after the return of the 193rd to Pennsylvania, the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Air Forces sent a message to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, commending the dedication and professionalism demonstrated by the exceptional mission performance of the 193rd, which won the USAF outstanding unit award that year. The 193d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron is today the 193d Special Operations Group, still a proud part of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121S Warning Star of the 193rd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, in 1973. From July 1970 to January 1971, two 193rd TEWS EC-121S flew psychological operations missions in Southeast Asia from Korat RTAFB, Thailand, code named "Operation Commando Buzz".

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121D Warning Star (s/n 53-3400) of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning & Control Wing at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in 1968. This aircraft was retired to the AMARC on 1 December 1970.

(USN Photo)

A U.S. Navy Lockheed R7V-2 Super Constellation in flight. The R7V-2 was powered by four Pratt & Whitney YT34-P-12A turboprops. Two aircraft were acquired by the Navy (BuNos 131630, 131631), and another two were ordered by the Navy for the U.S. Air Force (YC-121F, BuNos. 131660 and 131661). 1954.

(USN Photo)

Lockheed R7V-2 Super Constellation with Pratt & Whitney T34 turboprop engines.

(USN Photo)

A U.S. Navy Lockheed WC-121N Super Constellation (BuNo 143198) assigned to airborne early warning squadron VW-4 Hurricane Hunters at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida (USA), August 1967. The plane was scrapped on 16 September 1976.

(USN Photo)

A U.S. Navy Lockheed WV-3 Warning Star assigned to Weather Reconnaissance Squadron 4 (VW-4) "Hurricane Hunters" at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida (USA). Note the aircraft in the background: two Grumman S2F-1 Tracker, a Grumman AF-2W Guardian, a Douglas R4D Skytrain, and a Lockheed TV-2 Shooting Star.

(USN Photo)

This U.S. Navy WV-2 “Super Constellation flew the first 25,000 mile Project Magnet Survey Flight of the South Pacific, 15 October 1959. The flight, first of a series, acquired data about the Earth’s magnetic field over ocean areas. Project Magnet is an airborne geomagnetic survey by the U.S. Navy, which will over 600,000 miles to gain information for the Navy’s hydrographic office 1945 world magnetic charts. These charts will bring up-to-date information gained 30 or more years ago, and will be available to maritime, aviation, and scientific communities of the world. A second plane used in the project, an R5D transport, left Washington, D.C. on 17 September to fly a track around the world and is presently surveying the Indian Ocean. Crews for the two project magnet aircraft are composed of military personnel and civilian geophysicists from the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office, 18 October 1959.

(USN Photo)

The second U.S. Navy Lockheed WV-1 Warning Star (BuNo. 124438) of airborne early warning squadron VW-1 Typhoon Trackers at Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Oahu, Hawaii (USA), in December 1952. The WV-1 was delivered for training purposes before the delivery of the production WV-2. Note the smaller radome of the APS-20 radar below the fuselage compared to the VW-2 (after 1962 EC-121K).

(USN Photo)

A U.S. Navy Lockheed WV-2 (EC-121K) Warning Star (BuNo 128323) in flight near Hawaii, on 16 April 1954. WV-2s, redesignated EC-121s in 1962, served from 1954 to 1965 in two "barrier" forces, one off each coast of the North American continent. The barrier forces consisted of five surface picket stations each manned by radar destroyer escorts and an air wing of WV-2s/EC-121s that patrolled the picket lines at 1,000–4,000 m (3,000–12,000 ft) altitude in 6- to 20-hour missions. Their objective was to extend early warning coverage against surprise Soviet bomber and missile attacks as an extension of the DEW Line.

(USN Photo)

A U.S. Navy Lockheed WV-2 Willy Victor (BuNo 141310) of Early Warning Squadron 15 (VW-15) flies over the radar picket destroyer escort USS Sellstrom (DER-255) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in March 1957. The WV-2 141310 disappeared on 20 February 1958 300 km north of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. No trace of the aircraft or the crew of 22 was ever found.

(USN Photo)

United States Navy Lockheed EC-121M Warning Star Bu. No. 135749 in pre-1969 paint scheme.

(USN Photo)

A U.S. Navy Airborne Early Warning Barrier Squadron Pacific Lockheed EC-121K Warning Star (BuNo 143205) at Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, in 1965. Barrier Force operations were discontinued by September 1965.

(USN Photo)

A U.S. Navy Lockheed EC-121K Super Constellation (or "Willie Victor") of the Airborne Early Warning Squadron 4 (VW-4) "Hurricane Hunters," is prepared for a weather reconnaissance mission, 9 September 1965. Note the squadron insignia on the side of the plane, and the names of plane commander, Lieutenant Commander J.G. Jackson, and flight engineer, ADRC (Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate) W.L. Duncan.

(USN Photo)

View of the U.S. Naval Air Station Agana, Guam, showing a Lockheed C-121 Constellation as well as EC-121K Warning Stars of Airborne Early Warning Squadron VW-1 on the flight line and undergoing maintenance. 1964.

(Ken Fielding Photo)

Lockheed EC-121K US Navy, Newquay (NQY) when the station was still known as RAF St. Mawgan, 20 September 1964.

(USN Photo)

WV-2 – Early Warning Aircraft “Super Constellation”. 24 March 1954.

(SDASM Archives Photo)

A U.S. Navy Lockheed WV-3 Warning Star.

(USN Photo)

One of two U.S. Navy Lockheed PO-1W at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland (USA), circa in the early 1950s. The PO-1W made its first flight on 9 June 1949 and was redesignated WV-1 in 1952.

(USN Photo)

One of two U.S. Navy Lockheed PO-1W in flight near Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland (USA), circa in the early 1950s. The PO-1W made its first flight on 9 June 1949 and was redesignated WV-1 in 1952.

USN variants

WV-1. 2 prototypes, L-749A Constellation, designated PO-1W before 1952
EC-121K (WV-2). Main USN variant, designated PO-2W before 1952; 244 ordered,142 produced (the rest to USAF).
JC-121K. One modified EC-121K used as a US Army avionics testbed
NC-121K. Unknown number modified as special mission aircraft
YEC-121K. One modified avionics testbed
EC-121L (WV-2E). One modified WV-2, testbed for rotating radar dome with anAN/APS-70 radar
EC-121M (WV-2Q). ELINT collection variant, 13 modified WV-2
WC-121N (WV-3. Weather reconnaissance variant, 8 modified WV-2
EC-121P. Unknown number modified from EC-121K as anti-submarine variant
JEC-121P. 3 EC-121P used by the USAF

USAF variants

A former EC-121R Batcat at AMARC, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.
RC-121C: 10 produced, initial USAF variant
JC-121C: 2 converted from C-121C and 1 TC-121C as avionics testbeds
TC-121C: 9 RC-121C modified before 1962 as crew trainers
EC-121D: 73 produced 1953–55 as main USAF variant and 1 converted from C-121C,originally designated RC-121D
EC-121D Quick Look: 1 testbed for QRC-248 IFF transponder interrogator
EC-121H: 42 USAF upgrades in 1962, 35x EC-121D and 7x WV-2s transferred fromthe Navy
EC-121J: 2 USAF EC-121D modified with upgraded electronics
EC-121M Rivet Top: 1 EC-121D testbed for Rivet Gym cryptologic linguistelectronics suite, originally designated EC-121K
EC-121Q: 4 EC-121D modified with upgraded electronics for USAF Gold Diggermissions
EC-121R: 30 EC-121K / EC-121P transferred to USAF in 1966–1967 and converted toBatcat sensor signal processor
EC-121S: 5 converted for Pennsylvania Air National Guard from USAF C-121transports
EC-121T: Final USAF variant. A total of 22 T's were converted from 15x EC-121Dand 7x EC-121H.
XW2V-1: Proposed naval development with new features such as 4 Allison T56-A8turboprop engines, L-1649A Starliner wings and Bomarc missiles for defense.None built; was designated L-084 due to the large differences from itspredecessors.

Military Constellations preserved in the USA

Airworthy
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C-121C
54-0156 — Flies with the Super Constellation Flyers Association out ofBasel, as the Breitling Super Constellation. Its restoration was sponsored bySwiss watch manufacturer Breitling, and is now registered in the Swiss Aircraft registry as HB-RSC. This Constellation is one of two flying in the world.
54-0157 — Flies with the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) outof Shell harbour Airport near Wollongong, Australia. Following its restoration,it was painted in pseudo-Qantas livery, including the Qantas logo on the tail, (with the usual Qantas lettering along the fuselage and on the wing-end fueltanks replaced with the word "CONNIE") and registered as VH-EAG. ThisConstellation is the other of two flying in the world.
48-0613 Bataan — Restored to airworthiness by Lewis Air Legends in SanAntonio, Texas. This aircraft was used as a personal transport by General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War, and later by other Army generalofficers until 1966, when it was transferred to NASA. Following its permanentretirement in 1970, it was placed on display at a museum at Fort Rucker near Daleville, Alabama. It was acquired by the Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino,California, in 1992, and overhauled into airworthy condition for a flight to Dothan, Alabama, where it received additional work. After a thoroughrestoration back to its original configuration with a "VIP interior",it was placed on display at the Planes of Fame secondary location in Valle, Arizona. Then, in 2015, it was sold to Lewis Air Legends, and prepped for aferry flight to Chino, arriving there on January 14, 2016. On 20 June 2023 ,the Air Legends Foundation’s Lockheed VC-121A Constellation took off on its first post-restoration flight from Chino Airport. The aircraft flew to the 2023 EAA Air Venture Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

On display
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VC-121A

(Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation Photo)
48-0609 - 2601, USAF MATS, Reg. No. N494TW.  This aircraft was exported to South Korea in 2005. It is on display at Jeongseok Airport on Jeju Island, South Korea. It was donated to Korean Air in 2005, and restored to airworthy condition at Tucson, Arizona. It was then ferried to South Korea, where it made its final flight, under its own power, from Seoul to its current location for staticdisplay. It has been repainted in 1950s Korean Air colors, and rendered unableto fly by the presence of unserviceable engines.
48-0612 - on display at the Dutch National Aviation Museum Aviodrome. It was restored to airworthy condition and ferried from Tucson, Arizona, to theNetherlands, where restoration continued. It is now painted in the KLM liveryof the 1950s, depicting a KLM Lockheed L-749A. Renamed Flevoland, this was theonly airworthy example of the "short" version of the Constellation until an engine failure grounded the aircraft.

(Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation Photo)

(aeroprints.com Photo)

(Author Photo)

(YSSYguy Photo)
48-0614 Columbine — c/n 749-2606, Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. This was the personal aircraft of Dwight D. Eisenhower when he was Commander Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in the early 1950s, before he became president. It was later used by General Greunther of NATO and finally retired in January 1967.

VC-121E

(NMUSAF Photos)

‍53-7885 Columbine III - C/N 4151, on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Columbine III was used as Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential aircraft, and waseventually retired to the museum in 1966, where it is now displayed in themuseum's Presidential Gallery (Building 4). The interior of the aircraft isopen to the public. Dwight D. Eisenhower flew in three Constellations, named Columbine, Columbine II, and Columbine III. Lockheed VC-121E Super Constellation 53-7885 had been ordered by the U.S. Navy as the R7V-1 BuNo. 131650 and was diverted during construction to conversion as a presidential aircraft. It was operated throughout the Eisenhower administration as "Colombine III" and replaced in October 1962 by a Boeing VC-137C.

C-121C

(Mike Freer, Touchdown Aviation Photo)

(Wanda Texas Photo)
54-0155 - C/N 4174 (L1049F). On display at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.

(Balon Greyjoy Photo)
54-0177 — on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center located at Dulles Airport in Virginia.[46]
54-0180 — painted as (Serial No. 54-0153), C/N 4199. On display at Charleston Air Force Base near North Charleston, South Carolina.

C-121J
BuNo 131643 — From March 2020 onwards, the aircraft is on static display at theQantas Founders Outback Museum. Formerly stored in derelict condition atNinoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines and impounded at the airport from June 1988[48] to September 2014, when it was secured for removaland static preservation by the Qantas Founders Outback Museum, Longreach.

EC-121K

(Balon Greyjoy Photo)

(Rich VanderWoude Photos)
BuNo 137890 — C/N 4347, painted as USAF (Serial No. 03-0552. On display at Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

(Alan Wilson Photos)

(Dsdugan Photo)
BuNo 141297 — C/N 4421, painted as a USAF EC-121S. On display at the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Basenear Warner Robins, Georgia.

(kbyywl Photo)

(Alan Wilson Photos)
BuNo 141309 — on display at the Aerospace Museum of California at the former McClellan Air Force Base in North Highlands, California. This aircraft is a former navy aircraft on loan from the National Museum of the United States AirForce. It is painted in the markings of a USAF EC-121 Warning Star, (Serial No. 53-0552), 552nd Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing.

(Greg Goebel Photo)
BuNo 141311 — on display at the Chanute Aerospace Museum at the former ChanuteAFB in Rantoul, Illinois.
BuNo 143221 — on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NASPensacola near Pensacola, Florida.

EC-121T

(Eric Friedebach Photos)

(Danny Chapman Photo)

52-3418 - C/N 4336, Reg. No. N4257U. Combat Air Museum, Topeka, Kansas.

(Author Photos)

(Leoparmr Photo)

(SnailMan1 Photo)

(KJKlock Photo)

(Louis DePaemelaere Photo)
52-3425 - C/N 4343, 30D. On display at the Peterson Air and Space Museum at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously assigned to the 966th AEWCS at McCoyAFB, Florida, and then the 79th AEWCS at Homestead AFB, Florida. It was thelast operational EC-121 and was deployed by the 79th AEWCS to NAS Keflavik,Iceland. It was delivered to Peterson AFB in October 1978.

(D Ramey Logan Photos)

(Alan Wilson Photos)
53-0548 — C/N 4363, Reg. No. N5486F. On display at the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California. Storedat Camarillo Airport, from 2000 to 2012, this aircraft made its final flight,to Chino, on 14 January 2012.

(Aceebee Photo)

(Frank Kovalchek Photos)
53-0554 — on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. 53-0554 is painted in the colours of the 79th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron, based at Homestead AFB, Florida, in 1974.  It came to the museum in 1981.

(NMUSAF Photos)

53-0555 — on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, in the museum's SoutheastAsia Gallery (Building 2). The EC-121, originally designated RC-121, was a radar-picket version of the USAF's C-121 passenger aircraft.  The EC-121 provided early warning by detecting and tracking enemy aircraft with the electronic gear in the large radomes above and below its fuselage.  The Air Force ordered 82 EC-121s between 1951 and 1955, 72 of which were EC-121Ds.  The EC-121 entered service with the Air Defense Command in 1953, flying patrols off the U.S. coasts as an aerial extension of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line.  EC-121s remained in service until they were replaced by more capable E-3 Sentry AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System).  The last EC-121 was retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1978.  In Southeast Asia, these unarmed radar aircraft aided in downing enemy aircraft, directed U.S. aircraft to aerial refueling tankers, and guided rescue planes to downed pilots.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF was nicknamed "Triple Nickel" because of its serial number (53-0555).  On 24 Oct 1967, it guided a U.S. fighter into position to destroy a MiG-21 over the Gulf of Tonkin.  This action marked the first time a weapons controller aboard an airborne radar aircraft had ever directed a successful attack on an enemy aircraft.  Triple Nickel came to the museum in 1971.

Under restoration or in storage
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WV-1
BuNo 124438 — to airworthiness by Gordon Cole at Salina, Kansas. This aircraftw as the first of two WV-1s delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1949. Essentially, itwas a prototype for the EC-121 Warning Star that followed. Retired from theNavy in 1957, it served the FAA from 1958 to 1966, before being flown to Salinain 1967 for retirement. It remains parked there, and was last flown in 1992.

VC-121A

(USAF Photo, TSgt. Ron Woods, 24 Oct 1990)

(USAF Photo, TSgt. Ron Woods, 24 Oct 1990)

48-0610 Columbine II - Bridgewater, Virginia. Lockheed VC-121A Constellation (Serial No. 48-0610), Reg. No. TBC, "Columbine II", served as the first Air Force One, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, before it was replaced by VC-121E Super Constellation (Serial No. 53-7885), "Columbine III", now with the National Museum of the USAF at Dayton, Ohio in 1954.  "Columbine II" was used as a VIP transport until it was retired from the USAF in 1968.  Work is underway to restore this aircraft to flight status.  (Karl Stoltzlus of Dynamic Aviation). After a long period ofstorage at Marana Regional Airport, near Tucson, Arizona, this aircraft made its first flight, since 2003, in March 2016, when it was ferried to Bridgewater for additional restoration.

EC-121T

(kitmasterbloke Photo)
51-3417 — in storage at Helena Regional Airport in Helena, Montana. Acquired by the Castle Air Museum of Atwater, California, in 2014.

‍Lockheed Constellation, miscellaneous

Lockheed 1049F-55-96 Super Constellation (Serial No. 4175), USAF C-121C (Serial No. 54-0156), Reg. No. N73544, “Camarillo Connie”.  This aircraft is now in the UK with the Breitling organization.