Historic 'Connie' VIP transport airborne at Chino

Lewis Air Legends’ Lockheed C-121A flies again after seven-year restoration

You can almost feel the combined piston power of 10000hp from the four Wright R-3350 engines as 48-613 is run up on the Chino ramp. — **You can almost feel the combined piston power of 10,000hp from the four Wright R-3350 engines as 48-613 is run up on the Chino ramp.** FRANK B. MORMILLO

Following a seven-year restoration with Fighter Rebuilders, Lockheed C-121A 48-613/N422NA took to the air again at Chino, California on 21 June to become the only example of the Constellation currently flying in the country of its birth.

Acquired by its current owners, the San Antonio, Texas-based Lewis Air Legends from Planes of Fame at Chino during April 2015, the crew for the first flight included Fighter Rebuilders/Planes of Fame boss Steve Hinton in the co-pilot’s seat, Stew Dawson in command, and Jeff Whitesell as flight engineer. It is due to make its public debut at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture show at Oshkosh, Wisconsin during the last week of July.

Probably the most elegant airliner ever built, and thankfully back in US skies: Lockheed VC-121A 48-613/N422NA Bataan makes a test flight from Chino in late June, with P-51 Mustang escort. — **Probably the most elegant airliner ever built, and thankfully back in US skies: Lockheed VC-121A 48-613/N422NA** **Bataan** **makes a test flight from Chino in late June, with P-51 Mustang escort.** MICHAEL O’LEARY

Delivered to the USAF in January 1949, 48-613 was most famously assigned to Gen Douglas MacArthur while he was Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers during the Korean War. MacArthur named it Bataan after the peninsula in the Philippines that had been the final stronghold of his forces while defending the islands against the Japanese for the first three months of 1942.

A more detailed report on Bataan will be featured in the news section of the August issue of Aeroplane, out on 13 July.