Duncan Fenn has taken some magnificent photos of the Super Constellation owned and operated by the HARS Aviation Museum at Shellharbour Regional Airport (YSHL), Albion Park, Australia.
According to Mr. Fenn, of Duncan Fenn Photography VH-EAG ‘Southern Preservation’ is in fact the militarized version of the Super Constellation or ‘Connie’ as it is affectionately known.
It was originally built as a C-121C for the United States Air Force, serial number 54-0157, c/n 4176, and was delivered on 6 October 1955 when it was allocated to the 1608th Military Air Transport Wing based at Charleston, South Carolina.
On 25 July 1962 it was transferred to the Mississippi Air National Guard and on 14 February 1967 it moved on to West Virginia Air National Guard, where it served for the next five years. Connie’s last active duty was with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard from mid-1972 until its relegation to storage at Davis Monthan Air Base at Tucson, Arizona in June 1977.
During the 1990s the engineers at HARS took the now derelict Super Constellation from the Davis Montham aircraft graveyard and restored it from almost nothing to the beautiful flying condition of today and flew it across the Pacific to its new home.
Connie is now the only flying L-1049 Super Constellation in the world. Until recently, the other was the Breitling Super Constellation in Switzerland. Amazingly both aircraft were built next to each other in the factory. Connie is #4176 and Breitling Constellation is #4177
