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Description
In 1951, Eastern Air Lines ordered 76 Lockheed L-1049 "Super G" Constellation airliners, supplementing its existing fleet of standard Constellations. These remained in service until 1968, speeding around the East Coast and beyond under the power of four Wright radial engines. Their most famous duty was the Eastern Shuttle, an hourly high-capacity, high-speed service connecting New York City, Washington DC, and Boston. In the days when aviation focused on glamor and comfort, and airlines advertised armchair seats and gourmet meals, the shuttle stood out for being organized more like a crosstown bus. I must say it presaged much of modern commercial aviation, for better or worse.

As far as I know, no surviving Constellation is painted in Eastern colors, but this 1/128 Revell model of the "Golden Falcon" at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer looks quite stylish. It is also a reminder of what caused Eastern to fall behind its competitors in the post-WWII era: Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's reluctance to purchase jetliners, and underestimation of their appeal to the general public. It would be the equivalent of the Santa Fe Railway using steam locomotives instead of diesels on the Super Chief train. It was only in 1960, after the opening of a Jet Age-style terminal at New York Idlewild airport (later JFK), that Eastern began to switch over to jets.

The Constellations suffered a few accidents flying for Eastern, including a mid-air collision. On December 4, 1965, Eastern Flight 853 (a Lockheed L-1049 Constellation) and TWA Flight 42 (a Boeing 707 jetliner) were approaching the VORTAC beacon near Carmel, New York, but could not detect each other due to clouds. They would have simply made a close pass, but the Eastern 853 first officer experienced "an optical illusion caused by the up-slope effect of cloud tops,"* said "Look out!," and pulled the Constellation up so hard the passengers were glued to their seats. The TWA crew, spotting a Constellation flying up toward them, rolled right and then left.

The left wingtip of the TWA jet struck the tail of the Eastern Constellation, disabling many of the flight controls on both planes. Fortunately, unlike the infamous 1956 Grand Canyon collision, this collision resulted in fairly limited damage, and both aircraft were able to effect emergency landings and evacuate most of the passengers and crew. The Eastern captain, Charles J. White, died of smoke inhalation while assisting in the evacuation. Fifty of the fifty-four people on Eastern 853 survived, along with all fifty-eight people on TWA 42. I'd like to see the TV series Mayday: Air Crash Investigation do an episode on this, as it's already covered other mid-air collisions.

*A direct quote from the Aviation Safety Network accident description at aviation-safety.net/database/r…

Description
In 1951, Eastern Air Lines ordered 76 Lockheed L-1049 "Super G" Constellation airliners, supplementing its existing fleet of standard Constellations. These remained in service until 1968, speeding around the East Coast and beyond under the power of four Wright radial engines. Their most famous duty was the Eastern Shuttle, an hourly high-capacity, high-speed service connecting New York City, Washington DC, and Boston. In the days when aviation focused on glamor and comfort, and airlines advertised armchair seats and gourmet meals, the shuttle stood out for being organized more like a crosstown bus. I must say it presaged much of modern commercial aviation, for better or worse.

As far as I know, no surviving Constellation is painted in Eastern colors, but this 1/128 Revell model of the "Golden Falcon" at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer looks quite stylish. It is also a reminder of what caused Eastern to fall behind its competitors in the post-WWII era: Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's reluctance to purchase jetliners, and underestimation of their appeal to the general public. It would be the equivalent of the Santa Fe Railway using steam locomotives instead of diesels on the Super Chief train. It was only in 1960, after the opening of a Jet Age-style terminal at New York Idlewild airport (later JFK), that Eastern began to switch over to jets.

The Constellations suffered a few accidents flying for Eastern, including a mid-air collision. On December 4, 1965, Eastern Flight 853 (a Lockheed L-1049 Constellation) and TWA Flight 42 (a Boeing 707 jetliner) were approaching the VORTAC beacon near Carmel, New York, but could not detect each other due to clouds. They would have simply made a close pass, but the Eastern 853 first officer experienced "an optical illusion caused by the up-slope effect of cloud tops,"* said "Look out!," and pulled the Constellation up so hard the passengers were glued to their seats. The TWA crew, spotting a Constellation flying up toward them, rolled right and then left.

The left wingtip of the TWA jet struck the tail of the Eastern Constellation, disabling many of the flight controls on both planes. Fortunately, unlike the infamous 1956 Grand Canyon collision, this collision resulted in fairly limited damage, and both aircraft were able to effect emergency landings and evacuate most of the passengers and crew. The Eastern captain, Charles J. White, died of smoke inhalation while assisting in the evacuation. Fifty of the fifty-four people on Eastern 853 survived, along with all fifty-eight people on TWA 42. I'd like to see the TV series Mayday: Air Crash Investigation do an episode on this, as it's already covered other mid-air collisions.

*A direct quote from the Aviation Safety Network accident description at aviation-safety.net/database/r…