Editing Lockheed Constellation (section)

{{Short description|Family of US airliners with 4 piston engines, 1943}}
{{Infobox aircraft
| name = Constellation
| image = File:C-69.jpg
| caption = A USAF [[Lockheed C-69 Constellation|C-69]], the military version of the Constellation
| type = Airliner and transport
| manufacturer = [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]]
| designer =
| first_flight = January 9, 1943
| introduction = 1943 with [[Air Transport Command|USAAF]]<br />1945 with [[Trans World Airlines|TWA]]
| retired = 1990s, airline service<br />1978, military
| status = In very limited service
| primary_users = [[Super Constellation Flyers Association]]<br />[[Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS)]]
| produced = 1943–1958
| number_built = 856
| developed_from = [[Lockheed Model 44 Excalibur|L-044 Excalibur]]
| variants = [[Lockheed L-049 Constellation|L-049 Constellation]]<br />[[Lockheed C-69 Constellation|C-69 Constellation]]<br />[[Lockheed L-649 Constellation|L-649 Constellation]]<br />[[Lockheed L-749 Constellation|L-749 Constellation]]<br />[[Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation|L-1049 Super Constellation]]<br />[[Lockheed C-121 Constellation|C-121/R7V Constellation]]<br />[[Lockheed L-1249 Super Constellation|R7V-2/YC-121F Constellation]]<br />[[Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star|EC-121 Warning Star]]<br />[[Lockheed L-1649 Starliner|L-1649A Starliner]]
| developed_into = [[Lockheed XB-30]] (Unbuilt)
}}
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.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/lockheed-constellation-airliner-twa-hotel/ Historic airliner trucked 300 miles to be a hotel bar] CNN Travel. By Thom Patterson. 13 October 2018. Downloaded Oct. 21, 2018.</ref>

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-Cyclone]]s. 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 Blockade#Start of the Berlin Airliftlift|Berlin]] and the [[Biafran airlift]]s. Three served as the presidential aircraft for [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], one of which is at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]].