TWA Lockheed L-1649A Starliner (1957)

Last crawled date: 11 months, 3 weeks ago

This aircraft was the last icon of 1950’s luxurious air travel, the super long range L1649A Starliner, built for US West Coast to Europe non-stop thanks to the new 150 ft (46 m) wing and four Wright R-3350 988 TC18-EA-2 turbocompound radial engines. Lockheed said the new L-1649A would deliver 58 passengers over a range of 6,500 mi (10,500 km) at 350 mph (560 km/h), or from Paris to New York City three hours faster than the DC-7C. Airline service began on June 1, 1957 on a TWA flight from New York to London and Frankfurt. In September 1957, a Starliner made the first nonstop flight from Los Angeles to London. TWA called their L-1649s 'Jetstreams' and flew them on longer domestic routes and on flights from New York to Europe and beyond. In July 1958 TWA scheduled 60 flights a week from Europe to New York. Boeing 707s replaced the last TWA transatlantic passenger L-1649 in October 1961. Thanks to 'PM3D' for the exterior of the aircraft.