Editing Lockheed Constellation (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Lockheed Constellation 1943 NAN15Feb43.jpg|thumb|The first Lockheed Constellation on January 9, 1943]]
[[File:Lockheed Constellation Record 1944.ogv|thumb|1944 newsreel about a Constellation flight from California to Washington, D.C.]]
With the onset of [[World War II]], the TWA aircraft entering production were converted to an order for '''[[Lockheed C-69 Constellation|C-69 Constellation]]''' military transport aircraft, with 202 aircraft intended for the [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF). The first prototype (civil registration NX25600) flew on January 9, 1943, a short ferry hop from Burbank to [[Muroc Field]] for testing.<ref name=Jane1993 /> [[Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen]], on loan from [[Boeing]], flew [[Pilot in command|left seat]], with Lockheed's own [[Milo Burcham]] as copilot. Rudy Thoren and Kelly Johnson were also aboard.

Lockheed proposed the model '''L-249''' as a long-range bomber. It received the military designation [[XB-30]], but the aircraft was not developed. A plan for a very long-range troop transport, the C-69B ('''L-349''', ordered by [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] in 1940 as the '''L-149'''),<ref name="Stringfellow and Bowers" /> was cancelled. A single C-69C ('''L-549'''), a 43-seat VIP transport, was built in 1945 at the Lockheed-Burbank plant.

The C-69 was mostly used as a high-speed, long-distance troop transport during the war.{{sfn|Pace|2003|p=17}} In total, 22 C-69s were built before the end of hostilities, but seven of these never entered military service, as they were converted to civilian L-049s on the assembly line.  The USAAF cancelled the remainder of the order in 1945. 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]].