Constellation Martyn Chorlton by Martyn Chorlton 9781909786455, 1909786454 instant download after payment.

The Lockheed Constellation was an aircraft that broke the mould when it came to early airliner design. The standard approach of a straight, tubular fuselage and a conventional tail and wing arrangement is still the tried and tested confi guration of all airliners to this day. Working to a set of specifi cations presented by business tycoon Howard Hughes for the use of TWA, Lockheed’s chief designer ‘Kelly’ Johnson created a work of art with curves throughout which had never been designed into an aircraft, certainly not an airliner, before, or since. Lockheed’s design approach would cost them in the long run their main competitors, Douglas, would go down the more traditional airliner design route and achieve much greater sales as a result. The agreement with Hughes over the aircraft would also hinder domestic sales as a major caveat was that no Constellations would be sold to airlines in the USA until two years after the airliner had entered service with TWA. Understandably, a number of operators looked elsewhere for their post-war needs and Douglas benefi tted as a result.