L649/749 Constellation

The L649 and L749 were the first true commercial Constellations and received their type certificate in March 1947. Essentially an iterative development of the L049, the type certificate was an add-on to the L049 certificate. Delivery of the first L649 went to Eastern Airlines in May 1947 with Air France receiving the first L749 a month earlier in April 1947. Pan American operated the first L749 service in June 1947 when it inaugurated its Round the World service using a leased L749 (NC86520 c/n 2503). The L749 was essentially a L649 with an additional 1,130 gallons of fuel for longer range. Only fourteen L649 s and six L649A s were produced for Eastern and Chicago and Southern. Most aircraft were upgraded to L749A standards sometime during their lifetime.

An interesting note is that in 1947, with orders for the Constellation at low ebb, Lockheed was considering canceling the project. The US Air Force placed an order in September 1947 for ten C-121A/B s, essentially L-749 s, which kept the production line going until more civilian orders were forthcoming.