First flight of Constellation ‘Bataan’

After eight years of restoration Lockheed C-121A Constellation N422NA (c/n 2605) made its first flight on 21 June 2023. The Connie is named ‘Bataan’, which dates from the time that the propliner was flown as USAF 48-613 and was used as a VC-121A personal transport by General Douglas MacArthur. He flew ‘Bataan’ during the days that he was the Supreme Commander Allied Powers during the Korean War.

The restoration by Fighter Rebuilders in Chino (CA) was carried out for Lewis Air Legends of San Antonio (TX). The owner Rod Lewis acquired ownership in April 2015. He bought the Connie from the Planes of Fame (POF) Air Museum in Chino (CA) with the idea of bringing the plane into the warbird circuit. After a temporary fix, N422NA was flown from the POF storage in Valle (AZ) to Chino in January 2016. Then the actual restoration was taken up.

As USAF 48-613 the C-121A was taken on charge in January 1949, and became one of the 4-engined transport taking part in the Berlin Airlift. Conversion into VC-121A, as mentioned before, took place in 1950. It served as a VIP plane until 1965 when it was withdrawn from use. But not for long as it became NASA N422NA and served in the Apollo space program until 1969. The plane was then flown to the US Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker but it obviously did not fit in the collection. And so N422NA ‘Bataan’ was sold to the Planes of Fame Museum in May 1993.

A nice impression of 'Bataan' s first flight can be found in this Youtube footage: https://youtu.be/fqgZL7z4Nx0 .

Photo: still from Youtube footage by Daniel Ponder