Vienna
Vienna is the federal capital and largest city of Austria, one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primate city, with a population of about 1.9 million, its cultural and political centre. It is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union; until the beginning of the 20th century, it was the largest German-speaking city in the world, before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, the city had 2 million inhabitants. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC; the city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In July 2017 it was moved to the list of World Heritage in Danger.
Apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is said to be "The City of Dreams" because it was home to the world's first psychoanalyst – Sigmund Freud. The city's roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings and parks. Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the world's most liveable cities. Between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne. In 2018, it replaced Melbourne as the number one spot. For ten consecutive years, the human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Vienna first in its annual "Quality of Living" survey of hundreds of cities around the world.
Monocle's 2015 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within."The UN-Habitat classified Vienna as the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. The city was ranked 1st globally for its culture of innovation in 2007 and 2008, sixth globally in the 2014 Innovation Cities Index, which analyzed 162 indicators in covering three areas: culture and markets. Vienna hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the world's number-one destination for international congresses and conventions, it attracts over 6.8 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the city's name or the French Vienne; the etymology of the city's name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning "forest stream", which subsequently produced the Old High German Uuenia, the New High German Wien and its dialectal variant Wean.
Others believe that the name comes from the Roman settlement name of Celtic extraction Vindobona meaning "fair village, white settlement" from Celtic roots, vindo-, meaning "bright" or "fair" – as in the Irish fionn and the Welsh gwyn –, -bona "village, settlement". The Celtic word Vindos may reflect a widespread prehistorical cult of a Celtic God. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Polish names of the city and in that of the city's district Wieden; the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different Slavonic origin, referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, on which the city stands. Evidence has been found of continuous habitation in the Vienna area since 500 BC, when Celts settled the site on the Danube River. In 15 BC the Romans fortified the frontier city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north.
Close ties with other Celtic peoples continued through the ages. The Irish monk Saint Colman is buried in Melk Abbey and Saint Fergil served as Bishop of Salzburg for forty years. Irish Benedictines founded twelfth-century monastic settlements. Evidence of these ties persists in the form of Vienna's great Schottenstift monastery, once home to many Irish monks. In 976 Leopold I of Babenberg became count of the Eastern March, a 60-mile district centering on the Danube on the eastern frontier of Bavaria; this initial district grew into the duchy of Austria. Each succeeding Babenberg ruler expanded the march east along the Danube encompassing Vienna and the lands east. In 1145 Duke Henry II Jasomirgott moved the Babenberg family residence from Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria to Vienna. From that time, Vienna remained the center of the Babenberg dynasty. In 1440 Vienna became the resident city of the Habsburg dynasty, it grew to become the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire in 1437 and a cultural centre for arts and science and fine cuisine.
Hungary occupied the city between 1485 and 1490. In the 16th and 1
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. In its simplest form a turboprop consists of an intake, combustor, a propelling nozzle. Air is compressed by the compressor. Fuel is added to the compressed air in the combustor, where the fuel-air mixture combusts; the hot combustion gases expand through the turbine. Some of the power generated by the turbine is used to drive the compressor; the rest is transmitted through the reduction gearing to the propeller. Further expansion of the gases occurs in the propelling nozzle, where the gases exhaust to atmospheric pressure; the propelling nozzle provides a small proportion of the thrust generated by a turboprop. In contrast to a turbojet, the engine's exhaust gases do not contain enough energy to create significant thrust, since all of the engine's power is used to drive the propeller. Exhaust thrust in a turboprop is sacrificed in favour of shaft power, obtained by extracting additional power from turbine expansion. Owing to the additional expansion in the turbine system, the residual energy in the exhaust jet is low.
The exhaust jet produces around or less than 10% of the total thrust. A higher proportion of the thrust comes from less at higher speeds. Turboprops can have bypass ratios up to 50-100 although the propulsion airflow is less defined for propellers than for fans; the propeller is coupled to the turbine through a reduction gear that converts the high RPM/low torque output to low RPM/high torque. The propeller itself is a constant speed type similar to that used with larger reciprocating aircraft engines. Unlike the small diameter fans used in turbofan jet engines, the propeller has a large diameter that lets it accelerate a large volume of air; this permits a lower airstream velocity for a given amount of thrust. As it is more efficient at low speeds to accelerate a large amount of air by a small degree than a small amount of air by a large degree, a low disc loading increases the aircraft's energy efficiency, this reduces the fuel use. Propellers lose efficiency as aircraft speed increases, so turboprops are not used on high-speed aircraft above Mach 0.6-0.7.
However, propfan engines, which are similar to turboprop engines, can cruise at flight speeds approaching Mach 0.75. To increase propeller efficiency, a mechanism can be used to alter their pitch relative to the airspeed. A variable-pitch propeller called a controllable-pitch propeller, can be used to generate negative thrust while decelerating on the runway. Additionally, in the event of an engine failure, the pitch can be adjusted to a vaning pitch, thus minimizing the drag of the non-functioning propeller. While most modern turbojet and turbofan engines use axial-flow compressors, turboprop engines contain at least one stage of centrifugal compression. Centrifugal compressors have the advantage of being simple and lightweight, at the expense of a streamlined shape. While the power turbine may be integral with the gas generator section, many turboprops today feature a free power turbine on a separate coaxial shaft; this enables the propeller to rotate independent of compressor speed. Residual thrust on a turboshaft is avoided by further expansion in the turbine system and/or truncating and turning the exhaust 180 degrees, to produce two opposing jets.
Apart from the above, there is little difference between a turboprop and a turboshaft. Alan Arnold Griffith had published a paper on turbine design in 1926. Subsequent work at the Royal Aircraft Establishment investigated axial turbine designs that could be used to supply power to a shaft and thence a propeller. From 1929, Frank Whittle began work on centrifugal turbine designs that would deliver pure jet thrust; the world's first turboprop was designed by the Hungarian mechanical engineer György Jendrassik. Jendrassik published a turboprop idea in 1928, on 12 March 1929 he patented his invention. In 1938, he built a small-scale experimental gas turbine; the larger Jendrassik Cs-1, with a predicted output of 1,000 bhp, was produced and tested at the Ganz Works in Budapest between 1937 and 1941. It was of axial-flow design with 15 compressor and 7 turbine stages, annular combustion chamber and many other modern features. First run in 1940, combustion problems limited its output to 400 bhp. In 1941,the engine was abandoned due to war, the factory was turned over to conventional engine production.
The world's first turboprop engine that went into mass production was designed by a German engineer, Max Adolf Mueller, in 1942. The first mention of turboprop engines in the general public press was in the February 1944 issue of the British aviation publication Flight, which included a detailed cutaway drawing of what a possible future turboprop engine could look like; the drawing was close to what the future Rolls-Royce Trent would look like. The first British turboprop engine was the Rolls-Royce RB.50 Trent, a converted Derwent II fitted with reduction gear and a Rotol 7 ft 11 in five-bladed propeller. Two Trents were fitted to Gloster Meteor EE227 — the sole "Trent-Meteor" — which thus became the world's first turboprop-powered aircraft, albeit a test-bed not intended for production, it first flew on 20 September 1945. From their experience with the Trent, Rolls-Royce developed the Rolls-Royce Clyde, the first turboprop engine to be type certificated for military and civil use, the Dart, which became one of the most reliable turboprop engines built.
Dart production continued for more than fifty years. The Dart-powered Vickers Vi
Vickers Vanguard
The Vickers Vanguard was a British short/medium-range turboprop airliner introduced in 1959 by Vickers-Armstrongs, a follow-up to its successful Viscount design with more internal room. The Vanguard was introduced just before the first of the large jet-powered airliners, was ignored by the market. Only 44 were ordered by Trans-Canada Air Lines and British European Airways. After only about 10 years' service TCA experimentally converted one of its Vanguards to a freighter configuration, calling it the Cargoliner; this was considered successful, in the early 1970s most were converted to freighters, those from BEA becoming the Merchantman. These freighters remained in service for many years, with the last one not retiring until 1996; the aircraft was designed to a BEA requirement for a 100-seat aircraft to replace its Viscounts. The original Type 870 design was modified when TCA expressed its interest in the design as well, Vickers offered the updated Type 950 that filled both requirements; the main difference between the Viscount and Vanguard was the construction of the fuselage.
The Vanguard started with the original Viscount fuselage, but cut it off about halfway up from the bottom, replacing the top section with a larger-diameter fuselage to give it a double bubble cross-section. The result of the larger upper portion was a roomier interior, with increased cargo capacity below the floor. With this larger, heavier, fuselage came the need for a new engine to lift it. Rolls-Royce delivered its new Tyne design with a nominal 4,000 hp or 3,000 kW; this cruising speed. The Vanguard was one of the fastest turboprops and was faster than the present day Saab 2000 or de Havilland Canada Dash 8. A pilot report describes maintaining 10,000 ft altitude with three engines feathered and the port outer at maximum cruise power; this is notably better performance than a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, an aeroplane of similar weight and power that could not maintain a constant altitude on a single engine. The Vanguard was overpowered; the first Type 950 prototype G-AOYW flew on 20 January 1959 The flight, a transfer to Wisley 3 miles away, had been planned for December but the engines were returned to Rolls-Royce for minor work.
Proper flight testing was carried out from Wisley. The Vanguard entered service with BEA and TCA in late 1960. BEA operated its first Vanguard schedule on 17 December from Heathrow to Paris. Following delivery of its full fleet of six V951 and 14 V953 aircraft by 30 March 1962, the type took over many of BEA's busier European and UK trunk routes; the aircraft received names of famous Royal Navy warships. Initial seating was 18 first-class at the rear and 108 tourist, but this was changed to 139 all-tourist, in which configuration, the Vanguard had low operating costs per seat/mile. On flights up to 300 miles, such as from London to Paris and Amsterdam, the type could match the block times of the pure jets which were being introduced in the early 1960s; the remaining BEA fleet passed to British Airways on 1 April 1974 and the last BA passenger flight with the type was on 16 June 1974. TCA initiated Vanguard schedules on 1 February 1961 with two flights from Toronto and Montreal via intermediate stops to Vancouver.
The fleet was used on services from Toronto and Montreal to New York and Nassau, Bahamas. In 1966, Air Canada removed all the seats from one of its aircraft and refitted for pure cargo work, in which role it could carry 42,000 lb of freight. Known by the airline as the "Cargoliner," it was the only such conversion, but survived to be the last Canadian Vanguard to be retired in December 1972. BEA operated nine Vanguards modified to the V953C "Merchantman" all-cargo layout from 1969, with the first two conversions being designed and carried out by Aviation Traders Engineering Ltd at Southend Airport. BEA modified the remainder at Heathrow using kits from ATEL. A large forward cargo door measuring 139 by 80 inches was incorporated; the Merchantmen continued in service with BA until late 1979. Air Bridge Carriers purchased several of the Merchantmen and operated them until 1992, when it changed its name to Hunting Cargo Airlines. Hunting Cargo operated its last V953C flight on 30 September 1996 and donated the aircraft, registered G-APEP, to Brooklands Museum on 17 October 1996.
On 27 October 1965, British European Airways Vanguard registration G-APEE, flying from Edinburgh Airport to London Heathrow Airport during a landing in poor visibility attempted an overshoot but crashed on runway 28R. All on board died - six crew and 30 passengers. On 2 October 1971, British European Airways Flight 706 operated by Vanguard G-APEC crashed near Aarsele in Belgium; the cause was subsequent destruction of the tailplane. All eight crew and 55 passengers died. On 10 April 1973, Invicta International Airlines Flight 435, operated by Vanguard registration G-AXOP crashed near Basel-Mulhouse Airport Switzerland. Four crew and 104 passengers died. On 29 January 1988, Inter Cargo Service Flight 1004, operated by Vanguard F-GEJF crashed on takeoff from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport when takeoff was attempted with only three operable engines. There were no casualties of the three c
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner; the Viscount was well received by the public for its cabin conditions, which included pressurisation, reductions in vibration and noise, panoramic windows. It became one of the most profitable of the first post-war transport aircraft; the Viscount was a response to the Brabazon Committee's Type II design for a post-war small medium-range pressurised aircraft to fly less-travelled routes, carrying 24 passengers up to 1,750 mi at 200 mph. During discussions between the committee and Vickers' chief designer, Rex Pierson, Vickers advocated turboprop power; the committee was not convinced and split the specification into two types, the Type IIA using piston power, which led to the Airspeed Ambassador, the turboprop-powered Type IIB which Vickers was selected to develop in April 1945.
British European Airways was involved in the design and asked that the aircraft carry 32 passengers instead, but remained otherwise similar. The first design in June 1945 was based on the Viking with four turboprop engines and 24 seats and designated the VC-2 or Type 453. A double-bubble fuselage was proposed to give extra underfloor cargo space. Neither was pressurised but it was soon realised that for economical operation an altitude above 20,000 ft was needed, thus pressurisation was required. The decision for pressurisation resulted in the double-bubble and elliptical fuselage designs being abandoned. A circular cross-section variant was offered at the beginning of 1946; the resulting 28-seat VC-2 was financed by the Ministry of Supply with an order for two prototypes. But, before the contract was signed, the government asked for the capacity to be increased to 32; this stretched the fuselage increase from 65 ft 5 in to 74 ft 6 in and meant an increased wingspan of 89 ft. The contract for the aircraft to Air Ministry specification C.16/46 was signed on 9 March 1946 and Vickers allocated the designation Type 609 and the name Viceroy.
Although George Edwards had always favoured the 800 hp Rolls-Royce Dart other engines were considered, including the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba which the government specified for the two prototypes. The choice of the Mamba engine increased the weight but Vickers made sure the engine nacelle would fit either the Mamba or Dart. While the Dart progressed better in development, the government asked in August 1947 for the second prototype to be Dart-powered; the second prototype was named as the Viscount. The first prototype under construction was converted to the Dart as a 630 as well; the resulting Vickers Type 630 design was completed at Brooklands by chief designer Rex Pierson and his staff in 1945, a 32-seat airliner powered by four Dart engines for a cruising speed of 275 mph. An order for two prototypes was placed in March 1946, construction started in the company's Foxwarren Experimental Department. Viceroy after the viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the aircraft was renamed Viscount following India's independence in 1947.
There was work on replacing the Darts with the Mamba, but this was dropped by the time the prototypes were reaching completion. After Pierson's death in 1948, George Edwards took over as chief designer and assumed all technical control over the Viscount project; the prototype Type 630, registered G-AHRF, made its maiden flight from the grass airfield at Wisley on 16 July 1948, piloted by Joseph "Mutt" Summers, Vickers' chief test pilot. The design was considered too small and slow at 275 mph, making the per passenger operating costs too high for regular service, BEA had placed an order for 20 piston-engined Airspeed Ambassadors in 1947. Retrospectively commenting on Britain's aviation industry, Duncan Burn stated: "Had BEA committed itself to full support of the Viscount... it was quite that the smaller version would have gone into production... It was in a sense BEA's lack of enthusiasm for the 630 which made possible the success."Early flight trials, showed the qualities of a turboprop, resulting in a February 1949 order from the Ministry of Supply for a prototype of a stretched version with more powerful engines, the Type 700.
Meanwhile, the first prototype Type 630 was awarded a restricted Certificate of Airworthiness on 15 September 1949, followed by a full certificate on 27 July 1950, which allowed the aircraft to be placed into trial service with BEA on 29 July to familiarise the pilots and ground crew with the new aircraft. It flew scheduled flights between London and Paris, London and Edinburgh until 23 August 1950. 29 July 1950 flight between Northolt and Paris – Le Bourget Airport with 14 paying passengers was the first scheduled airline flight by any turbine-powered aircraft. The second prototype Viscount, the Type 663 testbed, had two Rolls-Royce Tay turbojet engines and first flew in RAF markings as serial VX217 at Wisley on 15 March 1950, it was demonstrated at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September and was used in the development of powered controls for the Valiant bomber. It saw use as a test bed by Boulton Paul Ltd for the development of electronic flight control systems; the designers went back to the drawing board and the aircraft emerged as the larger Type 700 with up to 48 passengers, a cruising speed of 308 mph.
The new prototype G-AMAV first flew from Brooklands on 28 August 1950, served as a development aircraft for
C. D. Howe
Clarence Decatur "C. D." Howe, was a powerful Canadian Cabinet minister, representing the Liberal Party. Howe served in the governments of Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent continuously from 1935 to 1957, he is credited with transforming the Canadian economy from agriculture-based to industrial. During the Second World War, his involvement in the war effort was so extensive that he was nicknamed the "Minister of Everything". Born in Massachusetts, Howe moved to Nova Scotia as a young adult to take up a professorship at Dalhousie University. After working for the Canadian government as an engineer, he began his own firm, became a wealthy man. In 1935, he was recruited as a Liberal candidate for the House of Commons of Canada by Opposition leader Mackenzie King; the Liberals won the election in a landslide, Howe won his seat. Mackenzie King appointed him to the Cabinet. There, he took major parts in many new enterprises, including the founding of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Trans-Canada Air Lines.
When World War II began in 1939, Howe played a crucial role in Canada's war effort, recruited many corporate executives to serve as executives in wartime enterprises. Howe's impatience with the necessity for parliamentary debate of his proposals won him few friends, he was accused of dictatorial conduct by the Opposition; as the Liberal government entered its third decade, it and Howe came to be seen as arrogant. The Government's attempt to impose closure in the 1956 Pipeline Debate led to major controversy in the House of Commons. In the 1957 election, Howe's actions and policies were made an issue by Opposition leader John Diefenbaker. Howe faced a serious challenge in his riding, but was expected to make speeches elsewhere as a major Liberal leader. Howe lost his seat in the election, Diefenbaker became Prime Minister, ending 22 years of Liberal rule. Howe returned to the private sector; the former minister died of a heart attack in December 1960. Howe was raised in Waltham, Massachusetts, in the United States.
The Howes were well-regarded in the local community, William Howe, Clarence's father, was involved in local politics. When not doing political work, William Howe was a house builder. Clarence's mother, the former Mary Emma Hastings, was a teacher and the daughter of a prosperous farmer on whose farm Clarence spent his childhood summers. Clarence did well in school, upon his graduation from Waltham High School in 1903, he took the entrance examinations for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he passed, after taking basic courses at the school, did advanced work in engineering. During the summers, he worked for J. B. Worcester & Co. a firm much of the Boston subway system. While at school, he became a favourite pupil of Professor George Swain. Howe accepted, although the young engineer felt that he should leave the Boston area to begin his career. Soon afterwards, Howe was offered an opportunity to become an engineering professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A popular story about Howe was that Swain had Howe and fellow engineer James Barker toss a coin to see who would get the job.
Barker denied the tale in life, stating he had no interest in the position and no one who knew Howe would be foolish enough to gamble with him, as Howe had shown himself to be uncommonly lucky. In any event, Howe had no better prospects in sight. At the time, Dalhousie was a small university, with only 400 students, members of the teaching staff had a heavy workload. Howe, at age 23, was little older than some of his students, he had little experience in the field, on trips outside Halifax, he and his students would solve problems together. Howe's view was that any problem could be solved through common hard work. Howe took his students to the countryside, where they camped and planning imaginary railroads, his student Denis Stairs, who would go on to lead the Montreal Engineering Company, said of Howe that by the time the camp ended, his students had great respect for him. Student C. J. Mackenzie, who Howe would appoint to the National Research Council presidency, stated that Howe was not a brilliant lecturer, but that his presentations were always clear.
Howe said of university education, "The worker at college continues to work, becomes a successful engineer. The shirker continues to shirk, gets nowhere." In addition to his own work, Howe found time for an active social life in Halifax, considered marrying the sister of one of his students, but she had another husband in mind. After Howe's first year in Halifax, engineering instruction of upperclassmen was taken away from Dalhousie and other universities in the province, placed in a separate technical institute in which Howe had no role. Howe stated that he liked Dalhousie, had this change not occurred, he might have remained there as a professor. In 1913, however, a former colleague at Dalhousie, Robert Magill, appointed chairman of the Board of Grain Commissioners, offered Howe the post of chief engineer, with responsibility for supervising the construction of grain elevators. Howe stated, "I've never seen one of those things in my life, but I'll take the job." The same year, he applied to become a British subject, as Canadians were.
In mid-1913, Howe journeyed to Northwestern Ontario to take up his new post. The Board was headquartered in Fort William, where Canadian wheat was transferre
Lockheed Constellation
The Lockheed Constellation is a propeller-driven, four-engine airliner built by Lockheed Corporation between 1943 and 1958 at Burbank, California. Lockheed built 856 in numerous models—all with the same triple-tail design and dolphin-shaped fuselage. Most were powered by four 18-cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclones; the Constellation was used as a civil airliner and as a military and civilian air transport, seeing service in the Berlin and the Biafran airlifts. The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use, its pressurized cabin enabled large numbers of commercial passengers to fly well above most bad weather for the first time, thus improving the general safety and ease of air-travel. Three of them served as the presidential aircraft for Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lockheed had been working on the L-044 Excalibur, a four-engine, pressurized airliner, since 1937. In 1939, Trans World Airlines, at the instigation of major stockholder Howard Hughes, requested a 40-passenger transcontinental airliner with a range of 3,500 mi —well beyond the capabilities of the Excalibur design.
TWA's requirements led to the L-049 Constellation, designed by Lockheed engineers including Kelly Johnson and Hall Hibbard. Willis Hawkins, another Lockheed engineer, maintains that the Excalibur program was purely a cover for the Constellation; the Constellation's wing design was close to that of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, differing in size. The triple tail kept the aircraft's height low enough to fit in existing hangars, while features included hydraulically boosted controls and a de-icing system used on wing and tail leading edges; the aircraft had a maximum speed of over 375 mph, faster than that of a Japanese Zero fighter, a cruise speed of 340 mph, a service ceiling of 24,000 ft. According to Anthony Sampson in Empires of the Sky, Lockheed may have undertaken the intricate design, but Hughes' intercession in the design process drove the concept, capabilities and ethos; these rumors were discredited by Johnson. Howard Hughes and Jack Frye confirmed that the rumors were not true in a letter in November 1941.
With the onset of World War II, 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. The first prototype flew on January 9, 1943, a short ferry hop from Burbank to Muroc Field for testing. Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen, on loan from Boeing, flew left seat, with Lockheed's own Milo Burcham as copilot. Rudy Thoren and Kelly Johnson were on board. Lockheed proposed the model L-249 as a long-range bomber, it received the military designation XB-30. A plan for a long-range troop transport, the C-69B, was canceled. A single C-69C, a 43-seat VIP transport, was built in 1945 at the Lockheed-Burbank plant; the C-69 was used as a high-speed, long-distance troop transport during the war. A total of 22 C-69s were completed before the end of hostilities, but not all of these entered military service; the USAAF cancelled the remainder of the order in 1945. However, 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 World War II, the Constellation came into its own as a fast civilian airliner. Aircraft in production for the USAAF as C-69 transports were finished as civilian airliners, with TWA receiving the first on 1 October 1945. TWA's first transatlantic proving flight departed Washington, D. C. on December 3, 1945, arriving in Paris on December 4 via Shannon. TWA transatlantic service started on February 6, 1946 with a New York-Paris flight in a Constellation. On June 17, 1947, Pan American World Airways opened the first-ever scheduled round-the-world service with their L-749 Clipper America; the famous flight "Pan Am 1" operated until 1982. As the first pressurized airliner in widespread use, the Constellation helped to usher in affordable and comfortable air travel. Operators of Constellations included TWA, Eastern Air Lines, Pan Am, Air France, BOAC, KLM, Lufthansa, Iberia Airlines, Panair do Brasil, TAP Portugal, Trans-Canada Air Lines, Aer Lingus, VARIG, Cubana de Aviación, Línea Aeropostal Venezolana.
Sleek and powerful, Constellations set a number of records. On April 17, 1944, the second production C-69, piloted by Howard Hughes and TWA president Jack Frye, flew from Burbank, California, to Washington, D. C. in 6 hours and 57 minutes. On the return trip, the aircraft stopped at Wright Field in Ohio to give Orville Wright his last flight, more than 40 years after his historic first flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, he commented. On September 29, 1957, a TWA L-1649A flew from Los Angeles to London in 32 minutes; the L-1649A holds the record for the longest-duration, non-stop passenger flight aboard a piston-powered airliner. On TWA's first London-to-San Francisco flight on October 1–2, 1957, the aircraft stayed aloft for 23 hours and 19 minutes. Jet airliners such as the de Havilland Comet, Boeing 707, Douglas DC-8, Convair 880, Sud Aviation Caravelle rendered the Constellation obsolete; the first routes lost to jet
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