Lockheed EC-121 Inside Walk Through Tour

View Eisenhower's "Air Force One" VC-121 walk through tour here:    • Lockheed VC-121E Air Force One Comple...  

Right front outside 0:01
Left Wing, Engines 0:18
Fuselage Aft Entrance Door 1:02
Aft Crew Bunks 1:06
Combat Information Monitor Consoles 1:20
Vertical Plotting Board 2:01
Electronic Technician Station 2:23
Radar Magnetron 3:35
Radio Operator Station 3:49
Navigator Station 4:09
Galley 5:00
Lavatory 5:19
Crew Rest Area 5:38
Cockpit 6:20
Flight Engineer Panel 6:46
Moving aft through the Crew Rest Area 7:37
Galley 7:59
Navigator Station 8:15
Electronic Technician Station 8:38
Vertical Plotting Board 8:55
Combat Information Monitor Consoles 9:27
Information Board 9:49
View of outside the aircraft from entry stairs 10:42
Outside walk around 10:48
AN/APS-95 Radar Dome 12:46
Right Wing Engine Nacelles 13:32

The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star was an American Airborne early warning and control radar surveillance aircraft operational in the 1950s in both the United States Navy (USN) and United States Air Force (USAF).

The military version of the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation was used to serve as an airborne early warning system to supplement the Distant Early Warning Line, using 2 large radomes (a vertical dome above and a horizontal one below the fuselage). It replaced the TBM-3W used by the USN. Some EC-121s were also used for Signal Intelligence gathering (SIGINT). The EC-121 was introduced in 1954 and phased out in 1978, although a single specially modified EW aircraft remained in USN service until 1982.

Since 1943 the Lockheed Constellation had been in USAAF service as the C-69. The use of the Constellation by the USN for patrol and airborne early warning duties was first investigated in 1949, when the USN acquired 2 Lockheed L-749 Constellations. First flown on 9 June 1949, the PO-1W carried large, long-range radars in massive radomes above and below the fuselage. As the radomes possessed considerably more side area, the vertical stabilizers of the PO-1W had to be enlarged. After the PO-1W (redesignated WV-1 in 1952) had proved that it was possible to operate large radars on aircraft, the USN ordered the WV-2 based on the L-1049 Super Constellation. The WV-1s were transferred to the Federal Aviation Agency in 1958–1959.

The WV-2/EC-121D was initially fitted with a dorsal AN/APS-45 height finder and a ventral AN/APS-20 search radar. These were later upgraded to AN/APS-103 and AN/APS-95 radars, although not simultaneously. The crew commonly numbered 18, 6 officers (2 pilots, 2 navigators, 2 weapons controllers) and 12 enlisted (2 flight engineers, 1 radio operator, 2 crew chiefs, 5 radar operators, 2 radar technicians).[4] However, when North Korea shot down a Navy EC-121 in 1969, a crew of 31 was on board.

Orders were placed totaling 142 PO-2W Constellations based on the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation with deliveries beginning in 1953. The PO-2W was redesignated WV-2 in 1954. In 1962, with standardization of aircraft designations within the Department of Defense, the WV-2 then became the EC-121K. A total of 13 of these were converted to WV-2Q Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) aircraft (becoming EC-121M in 1962). 9 were converted to WV-3 weather reconnaissance aircraft (WC-121N in 1962). The EC-121K was also operated by Training Squadron 86 (VT-86) at NAS Glynco, Georgia for training of Student Naval Flight Officers destined to fly both the EC-121 and the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye. At NAS Glynco closure VT-86 transferred to NAS Pensacola, Florida in 1973, the squadron's last EC-121 was also flown to NAS Pensacola being stored in the collection of the National Museum of Naval Aviation where it still remains. A single aircraft became an NC-121K, the electronic warfare variant assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 (VAQ-33) at NAS Key West, Florida. The aircraft was the last EC-121 in operational service, flying until 25 June 1982.

The USAF received 10 RC-121C and 74 EC-121D Warning Stars also based on the L-1049 beginning with diversions from the Navy contracts in October 1953. The 10 RC-121Cs became trainers, designated TC-121C. Between 1966 and 1969, 30 retired USN EC-121s were transferred to USAF and converted in EC-121Rs as sensor-monitoring aircraft. Of the 74 EC-121s, 42 were converted to the EC-121H upgrade beginning in 1962 and in 1969, 15 of the remaining EC-121Ds and 7 of the EC-121Hs were further upgraded into the final operational variant, the EC-121T, serving as an AWACS prototype in Southeast Asia in 1972. Five EC-121Ds were modified to be broadcasting aircraft for psychological warfare operations, the predecessors of the EC-130 Commando Solo.

From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockhee...

USAF S/N: 52-3418
US Civil Registration: N4257U

Video by Eric Friedebach