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Description
| Manufacturer: | Lockheed | |
| Base model: | R6O | |
| Designation: | XR6O | |
| Version: | -1 | |
| Nickname: | Constitution | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Navy / Marines | |
| Designation Period: | 1931-1962 | |
| Basic role: | Transport | |
| Status: | Experimental | |
| See Also: | ||
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Recent comments by our visitors
| george acaley pottsville, PA | When Sun Line Helicopter put this plane up for auction at Opa Locka I was high bidder. ($1500 dollars or 2 cents a pound if I had to cut it up.) They said I was the new owner but latter notified that the bid was not high enough. In the mean time I had tried to lease a 200 ft vacant lot on the west side of the airport on Red Road to put it as a tourist attraction.
At that time I had a C-46 fuselage that I had made into a rocket ship with NASA film and the voice of Alen Shepard with a trip to the moon traveling the US. One of the first portable flight simulators later copied by others. The picture that was in the Miami Herald that I have has become very dark and I would like to have another if possible. My No is 570-573-0242 02/19/2008 @ 17:58 [ref: 19729] |
| Richard Pike , TN | I was a line boy at MAC at Opa Locka in the late 60's and saw the Constellation when it came in and landed. It parked at Hangar One on the east side of the field, and we were told it was going to be flown to Spain and become a restaurant. Then we heard that there were some financing issues that were holding things up, and then a fire "mysteriously" occurred in the mid section of the airplane. The FAA would not give it a ferry permit since the center section of the spar might have been compromised and it sat on Hangar One's ramp for quite a while. Eventually they decided it was taking up too much space, and the called us to bring our tug and move it back off the edge of the ramp, since we had a very large tug with hydramatic.
Eventually we figured out what sort of towbar would fit it and we hooked it up. The tires had to be pumped up somewhat since it had sat for a while, but even so, we could not move it. The tug weighed over 6,000 pounds, but in first gear with the towbar hooked to the rear of the tug, the tug would gradually raise it's front wheels off the ground. With the towbar hooked to the front of the tug, the tug sat and slowly spun it's tandem wheels on the asphalt. They eventually got a huge wrecker of the sort used to move 18 wheelers to come and move the airplane. I did go through the airplane, you got into it via a ladder just behind the nose gear that went into a lower fuselage section. The aft end of that section terminated at the main spar, which was from floor to ceiling. There was a ladder from there into the upper section, and looking aft into the passenger section, the floor was somewhat distorted from the heat of the fire, so likely it was unairworthy. Went into the cockpit, got in the left seat, and was amazed at how light the controls felt. Being only a student pilot at the time, and accustomed to C150's, it seemed odd to look over your shoulder and see the ailerons moving up and down so far away. Eventually it was hauled to a scrap yard just outside the airport where it met it's final end. 10/16/2007 @ 16:34 [ref: 18213] |
| Barry Puklavage Pembroke Pines, FL | If you need help with the book, let me know if I can be of help. My dad had taken me to see the Constitution when I was probably 8-9 years or so. Since that time it seems I was always at the right place at the right time as far as being there when the plane was moved down the streets of Opa-Locka (have pictures, if I can find them)in the summer of 1975 (where I lived at the time by the way) to the the time I met a gentleman and his wife visitiong the plane who turned out to be the pilot of one of the Constitutions anyway, Swede Larson in the summer of 1976.
Finally, and sadly to say and see, as I was passing the site of the plane one day there was a huge crane with a huge chunk of metal shaped like a chisel that I believe they refer to as a bullet pounding the plane to bits, only to haul the scrap to MINTONs or whatever scrap yard they used across the street. It was also helpful in the fact that my high school buddies dad, Frank Sosa and his company of investors were the ones who purchased the plane from Opa-Locka airport (Dade County) in hopes to start some kind of imaginary flight that would bring you to different imaginary countries to eat, similar to EPCOT, I think that was the plan. Barry 03/03/2006 @ 14:28 [ref: 12690] |
| Willy Logan Walla Walla, WA | (Actually, according to the Los Angeles Times, Stanley Beltz died in the crash of an F-94B Starfire, not a PV-2 Harpoon.) 11/23/2005 @ 12:56 [ref: 11779] |
| Willy Logan Walla Walla, WA | My grandfather's late wife told me about seven years back that her brother, Stanley Beltz, flew the Lockheed Constitution while he was a Lockheed company test pilot before getting killed in the crash of a modified PV-2 Harpoon in 1955. I would like to know if anyone knew him while he was flying the Constitution and if they known anything about his experience flying the Constitution. Thank you!
-Willy Logan willy@wilhelm-aerospace.org 09/01/2005 @ 17:09 [ref: 11139] |
| Larry Christy Zeigler, IL | My father Howard W. Christy Jr. was a Flight Engineer on the Constitution (I believe he was crew 2) during 1947/48.
I met Mr. Frank Powers and he has gathered over the years a lot of information on photos on the 2 airplanes and has turned it over to me to organize it in to a book. We are looking for stories and photos, news clippings to include. I hope to have the book ready for publication by 2007 and we will post it across the airplane sites on the internet when ready. If you have a story about you or a friend or family member with the R60s Constitution - please forward them to me (ALL PHOTOS, NEWS ARTICLES or the like will be returned) If you scan them in and email me to them - please include as much information as you have. Thanks Larry Larry Christy %Concepte of Illinois 1007 N. McLeansboro St. Benton, IL 62812 618-438-5005 larrydee@larrydee.com 06/23/2005 @ 00:55 [ref: 10553] |
| Mel Davidow Miami, FL | In 1950 I flew as a passenger from North Island, San Diego, to NAS Sandpoint, Seattle in one of the R6Os. I recall going on board and thinking what a huge cabin I was in. Then I turned around and saw just as much space in the other direction. I was directed up a ladder to the upper cabin which seemed almost as spacious. I had just completed an electronics course at North Island and was reporting to NAS Whidbey for operational training in P2Vs.
Mel Davidow, LT USNR (Ret) 03/07/2005 @ 20:34 [ref: 9645] |
| Michael Townsend , KS | My grandfather LT. Norman Townsend was a Radio/Radar officer on board the R-60. My grandmother has some excellent photos taken by the Navy when the aircraft was delivered to Moffett Field, and a model of the aircraft made by Lockheed. I have long been fascinated by the aircraft and any information about it. I never met my grandfather (he passed away in late 1950), but grew up near Moffett Field (Los Gatos).
Just wanted to say thank you to those that wrote to the web site with information about the aircraft. When I am next in California I will make copies of the Navy photo's my grandmother has and post them on the site. 02/21/2005 @ 20:03 [ref: 9498] |
| Bill Henson Gainesville, FL | The Constitution that was parked at Opa Locka, I have the push to talk button from the left seat yoke. It's wired to a Pacific Plantronics headset usable in modern aircraft. 12/28/2004 @ 20:42 [ref: 9002] |
| Billy , FL | Hello, I have the "starboard" side of the #164 Constituition that used to sit at Opa Locka. It is just the word "Constitution" and the Lockheed logo beneath it.It is about 9'x 3'. I think that this one sat at Sebring, Fla. airport before coming to Opa Locka as i saw it in old car racing films that were run there. 11/28/2004 @ 10:02 [ref: 8727] |
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