Lockheed VC-121A Constellation 'Bataan' Flies Again

**Bomber_12th** · June 21st, 2023, 09:38

Rod Lewis' historic Lockheed VC-121A Constellation 'Bataan', which was Douglas MacArthur's personal transport, had a very successful first post-restoration test flight last night at Chino, California, where it had been undergoing an incredibly-extensive restoration over the past 7 years. The pilots were Steve Hinton Sr. and Stewart Dawson, with Jeff Whitesell as flight engineer. Steve Hinton Jr. flew as chase in the P-51.

Displayed static in Valle, Arizona for many years, the Constellation was acquired by Rod Lewis in 2015 and, after much work, it was ferried to Chino, CA in early 2016. Ever since then, it had been undergoing an in-depth, top-to-bottom, complete restoration. Every inch of the aircraft was checked over and has been refurbished to like-new or better-than-new condition. All of the engines were fully overhauled, the landing gear was all stripped out and fully overhauled, all of the cowlings and other removable panels were taken off and restored separately, etc. The whole of the interior was stripped out and all structure cleaned and restored. The cockpit has been completely redone, with an all-new instrument panel, with the concept being to make it as simple/easy/user-friendly to operate as possible.

The aircraft will be flying to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh next month.

**stansdds** · June 22nd, 2023, 02:11

Oh, wow! She looks and sounds great. I'm sure she will get a lot of attention at Oshkosh.

**Josh Patterson** · June 22nd, 2023, 12:39

It's been a while since I've seen a Connie at EAA. (Got spoiled having two for a few years!) Can't wait to see this one! It looks much better now than it did in 2016.

***Tom Clayton*** · June 22nd, 2023, 14:55

Looks like they need to look at the hydraulics on the right main. There was a hiccup in the retraction you can see at about the 0:38 mark in the video. Other than that, she looks beautiful!

**Bomber_12th** · June 24th, 2023, 08:49

Air Classics magazine will be covering the aircraft's restoration/first flights in their next issue, and they shared this Michael O'Leary image on Facebook this morning. Note, the Mustang looks extra tiny in this photo because it is flying down and to the left of the Connie.

**Bomber_12th** · June 24th, 2023, 08:51

A much more official video, produced for the owner, Lewis Air Legends:

**MZee1960** · June 24th, 2023, 09:52

A beautiful piece of 'art deco' flying machinery ! A nice restoration, indeed.

The Pursuit 51 was just the cherry on the cake. I wonder if Steve Hinton of Planes of Fame Air Museum out of Chino, CA was at the controls of 'Wee Willie II' ? A nice tribute to the Yoxford Boys 357th Fighter Group of WWII. This Mustang came to be also as a restoration of an air racer following a crash in 1979, which took it back back to it's roots when it was flown by 1st Lt. Calvert L. Williams.

**MZee1960** · June 24th, 2023, 10:18

Originally Posted by Tom Clayton

Looks like they need to look at the hydraulics on the right main. There was a hiccup in the retraction you can see at about the 0:38 mark in the video. Other than that, she looks beautiful!

The Connie has two hydraulic systems on board. The primary operates off engines 1 and 2, the secondary operates off engines 3 and 4. Primary is for flying controls, secondary is for all else, including landing gears. System pressure is in the high 1600's (psi) normally, but rapidly drops off as the gears begin to retract. When the pressure drops further below a critical threshold, there comes a moment when only enough pressure in the lines exists to raise one of the gears completely, leaving the second and third sagging behind temporarily until the pressure begins to recover past the threshold sufficient to raise the remaining/lagging gears. This essentially creates the visual effect of one gear up at a time. The front being the lightest and closest to the hydraulic supply pump and lines, so it goes up first.