 Project Constellation
This page is dedicated to a restoration initiative
named "Project Constellation" in the summer of 1996. Here is the story...
June of 1996 was the
end of first year of College for me and job hunting was on the agenda for the summer.
After several attempts and interviews, I found that either the jobs offered were
just not my cup of coffee, and the decent ones were already taken by May. I decided
to then embark on a long summer holiday doing absolutely nothing! (sounds like a
good idea, thinking about it!)
I then called my fellow classmate Raj to tell him that I would be leaving two weeks
after exams to go back to Italy for the summer but then told me to hold my horses
as there might be light at the end of the tunnel...
Raj told me of a flyer posted in a shop by the airport showing desperate need for
volunteers to restore an old airliner...it sounded interesting so we decided to
give it a try.
PHASE I
Getting there was an ordeal for me because
the expenses of college did not permit me to get a car so I had to resort to taking
the no.58 Malton bus to Toronto Airport. We got to the north of the airport at 8:00
in the morning, and you could already feel the heat and humidity kick in. Finally,
we found Hangar 3 where the airplane was laying. We got inside the hangar and talked
to the person responsible of the whole operation. He basically said that he was
in desperate need of volunteers to put "this" in a presentable state... I looked
at the airplane, then looked at Raj, then told him: "..there is no way that heap
of metal is going anywhere - I mean, look at it!"
Basically this is the scenario: the
airplane was a 1954 Lockheed Super Constellation model L-1049, four-engine Pratt
& Whitney Wasp radials lifted it off the ground and was considered a highly successful
airliner in it's time. Three vertical fins at the back distinguished it from the
other airliners, in fact the model that we restored was one of the last in production
at the time (dated 1954).
The Super Constellation's (also called
Super Connie) operator was the late
Trans Canada Airlines (Later Air Canada
bearing the registration CF-TGE).
The objective was to have the SC (Super Connie) fully refurbished inside and out
within two months to put on display as a fully functional bar alongside the Regal
Constellation Hotel near the airport, fully restored to original interior and exterior
- with no livery (for legal reasons).
Phase II
The first day involved the strip down of all the old de-icing
boots off on the wing, tail and stabilizer sections. This took about a week as the
glue that they used really works well - even after 40 years!
This stage posed a problem as most of us started to develop rashes through insect
bites calling the health authorities to come in to fumigate the aircraft.
The next week just consisted of power washing leading to the beginning of most of
the structural repair around. I was assigned to the stabiliser and tail area.
Of course the repair work was no where near industry standards, just purely cosmetic
and effective; however, the use of known industry skills would keep it intact for
a long time. We had engineers from Ohio to calculate the lifting of the wing sections
on to the aircraft. They also had to calculate the center of gravity of the wings
and airframe to construct proper jigs to transport the airframe and wings to it's
final destination. While the engineers calculated, we started the removal and gutting
of all the interior.
We removed a room full of old things from the cabin - old magazines, memorabilia,
clothes, etc. The next task on the agenda was to free the seized flight controls.
Al and Rolando were appointed to this daunting task which, with the help of a cutting
wheel and the biggest sledgehammer I have ever seen, successfully got the rudders
back to neutral. As I carried on with the rest of the structural repairs two lads
from Ireland helped us getting the engine nacelles up. With forklifts and a lot
of muscle and sweat, they finally closed up all the nacelles.
 None of the original engines were on the airplane,
so specially made mounting pods for the four massive propellers were manufactured.
The propellers would then be slipped through these pods and welded in place.
At the end of the first month, the exterior had been
done and painted, the core structural work had been completed.
Lugs were custom machined and welded on the wing structure for
attachment to the fuselage body. Rolando worked on the finishing touches of the
nacelles with Raj, I was then in charge of the mounting pods for the props, and
had a welder attach the shafts to the propellers for final installation. At this
point the whole airframe had been painted. The unfortunate setback was that they
could not spray the paint as they had heaters in the hangar which could pose a fire
hazard, so we had to ROLL the paint on!
Phase III
The second month consisted of interiors, and infrastructure, of
course we had certified electricians do the wiring and plumbers do the piping for
the water and air conditioning. Al the cabin windows had to be removed as almost
all of them were crazed and rotted by the sun. This took over two weeks with the
whole workforce on it. We finally replaced the windows with thick thermoplastic
glass.
We were now getting towards the final phases of the project.
The engineers from Ohio got the jigs and custom made trailers to get the aircraft
from the hangar to the hotel parking lot. One problem was clearing the bridges,
in fact, as you will see in one picture in the
Constellation Gallery, the top of the
fuselage cleared a bridge by only three inches!
Once the experts got the airplane up and down on
the three landing gears, the final assembly and interior finishing was taking place.
We are now in the end of August and after the finishing touches and final 16 hour
shifts, our job was done.
Although, this project will always stay with us for
the rest of our lives, and as long as the Super Connie stands, we will always remember
the hard work and passion that went into our work...this was obviously more than
just a summer job, actually, It did not matter if it was a volunteer job and if
it weren't for that hot June morning, I would have never met the friends and had
the great memories I have today ...that beats any paycheque!
Two
drawings from the project
Project Constellation Gallery
*The Super Connie was then later moved in winter of 1999 from the Regal Constellation
Hotel to the north side of the general aviation sector at Toronto International
Airport.
| 
