Lockheed EC-121T Constellation - Pima ASM, Tucson, AZ - Static Aircraft Displays on Waymarking.com

The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star was a US Navy and US Air Force airborne early warning (AEW) radar surveillance aircraft. A military version of the Lockheed Constellation, it was designed to serve as an airborne early warning system to supplement the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, using two large radomes, a vertical dome above and a horizontal one below the fuselage. EC-121s were also used for intelligence gathering (SIGINT).

It was introduced in 1954 and retired from service in 1978, although a single specially modified EW aircraft remained in service with the US Navy until 1982. The US Navy versions when initially procured were designated WV-1 (PO-1W), WV-2, and WV-3. Warning Stars of the USAF served during the Vietnam War as both electronic sensor monitors and as a forerunner to the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS. USAF aircrews adopted the civil nickname, "Connie" (diminutive of Constellation) as reference, while naval aircrews used the term "Willie Victor" based on a slang version of the phonetic alphabet and the naval version of the aircraft's pre-1962 designation of WV-1, WV-2 or WV-3.


Since 1943 the Lockheed Constellation had been in USAAF service as the C-69. The use of the Constellation by the US Navy for patrol and airborne early warning duties was first investigated in 1949, when the Navy acquired two 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 produced considerable more side area, the fins of the PO-1W had to be increased. After the PO-1W, which was redesignated WV-1 in 1952, had proved that it was possible to operate large radars on aircraft, the US Navy ordered the WV-2 based on the L-1049 Super Constellation. The WV-1s were later 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 radar and a ventral AN/APS-20 air search radar. These radars were later upgraded to AN/APS-103 and AN/APS-95 radars, although not simultaneously. The crew commonly numbered 18, six officers-2 pilots, 2 navigators & 2 weapons controllers-and 12 enlisted personnel-2 flight engineers, 1 radio operator, 2 crew chiefs, 5 radar operators & 2 radar technicians. 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 type was redesignated WV-2 in 1954. The WV-2 was familiarly known to its crews as "Willy Victor". 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 aircraft (which became EC-121M in 1962), and nine 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, GA, for training of Student Naval Flight Officers destined to fly both the EC-121 and the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye. When NAS Glynco was closed and VT-86 transferred to NAS Pensacola, FL, in 1973, the squadron's last EC-121 was also flown to NAS Pensacola for transfer to the collection of the National Museum of Naval Aviation where it remains today. A single aircraft became an NC-121K, an electronic warfare variant assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 (VAQ-33) at NAS Key West, FL. This 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 Navy EC-121s were transferred to the 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 seven of the EC-121Hs were further upgraded into the final operational variant, the EC-121T, which served 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.

WV-2s served from 1956 to 1965 in two "barrier" forces, one off each coast of the North American continent. These barrier forces consisted of five surface picket stations each manned by radar destroyer escorts and an air wing of WV-2s that patrolled the picket lines at 3,000-12,000ft/1,000-4,000m altitude in six- to 20-hour missions. Their objective was to extend early warning coverage against surprise Soviet bomber and missile attack as an extension of the DEW Line.

The Atlantic Barrier (BarLant) consisted of two rotating squadron detachments, VW-13 and VW-15 home based at NAS Patuxent River, MD, and one squadron, VW-11, permanently based at Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland. The mission was to fly orbits to the Azores and back. There was an AEW Training Unit based at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. BarLant began operations on 1 July 1956, and flew continuous coverage until early 1965. The Barrier was shifted to cover the approaches between Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom (GIUK) barrier in June 1961. Aircraft from Argentia were staged through NAS Keflavik, Iceland, to extend coverage times.

The Pacific Barrier (BarPac) began operations with one squadron operating from NAS Barbers Point, HI, and a forward refueling base at Naval Station Midway, on 1 July 1958. Its orbits overlapped the radar picket stations of the ships of Escort Squadron Seven (CORTRON SEVEN), from roughly Kodiak Island to Midway. Normally four or five WV-2s were required at any single time to provide coverage over the entire line.

Barrier Force operations were discontinued by September 1965 and their EC-121K aircraft placed in storage. However Navy EC-121 operations continued until 1975 in four other squadrons. VQ-1 and VQ-2 operated EC-121M intelligence gathering aircraft at NAF Atsugi, Japan, and Naval Station Rota, Spain, respectively. VW-4 operated Willy Victors between 1954 and 1975 as Hurricane Hunters, with its primary base at NAS Jacksonville, FL and a forward base at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, while its Pacific counterpart, VW-1, flew out of Agana, Guam, tracking typhoons. The aircraft was also operated by Training Squadron 86 (VT-86) at NAS Glynco, GA, for training Student Naval Flight Officers and by Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 (VAQ-33) for the Fleet Electronic Warfare Systems Group (FEWSG) at NAS Norfolk, VA, and later at NAS Key West, FL. At the time of its retirement in the late 1970s, the VAQ-33 aircraft was the last EC-121 operated by the Navy.

The USAF operated three wings of EC-121s between 1954 and 1978, and three separate squadrons. Until the Vietnam War, the primary mission of EC-121s was to provide complementary early warning radar coverage to the Pacific and Atlantic barriers by flying orbits 300 miles offshore of the continental United States in what was termed "Contiguous Barriers". Their coverage orbits overlapped those of land-based early warning radars.

Initial deployment of EC-121Cs began with the 551st Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, based at Otis AFB, MA. Operational on 21 December 1954, the 551st AEWCW subsequently upgraded to EC-121D and later EC-121H Warning Stars. Its Pacific counterpart was the 552nd AEWCW, based at McClellan AFB, CA, which became operational on 1 July 1955. After the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the 552nd AEWCW also had administrative control of the 966th AEWCS, based at McCoy AFB, FL. The 966th had a dual mission: monitoring activity in Cuban airspace and flying Gold Digger missions (continuous tracks of U-2 surveillance missions).

The third Wing to operate EC-121s was the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing, a Vietnam war organization activated in October 1967 and based in Thailand until its inactivation in December 1970. In 1966 Lockheed modified 30 ex-USN Super Constellations aircraft to EC-121R for the specialized reconnaissance mission flown by the 553rd. Aircraft were delivered to the wing during the course of 1967. The 553rd RW flew over land and off the coast of Vietnam, over Laos and Cambodia, monitoring and retransmitting low-power signals. Usually they orbited the Ho Chi Minh Trail in eight-hour shifts. As it was expensive to operate and it exposed a large crew to enemy fire, it was replaced by a smaller airplane.

As the USAF prepared to deploy the E-3 Sentry in the later 1970s, both the 551st and 552nd AEWCWs phased out EC-121 operations by the end of 1975. All remaining EC-121s were transferred to the Air Force Reserve, which formed the 79th AEWCS at Homestead AFB, FL, in early 1976. The active duty force continued to provide personnel to operate the EC-121s on a 24-hour basis, assigning Detachment 1, 20th Air Defense Squadron to Homestead AFB as associate active duty crews to fly the Reserve-owned aircraft. Besides monitoring Cuban waters, these last Warning Stars also operated from NAS Keflavik, Iceland. Final EC-121 operations ended in September 1978. Detachment 1 was dissolved and 79th AEWCS was re-designated a fighter squadron on 1 October 1978.

In 1967, five EC-121S became operational with the 193rd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, responsible for psyops missions under project Coronet Solo. From July 1970 to January 1971 they rotated on 30-to-90-day temporary duty deployments to Korat RTAFB, Thailand, under the name Commando Buzz.

EC-121s were used extensively in Southeast Asia between 16 April 1965, and 1 June 1974, particularly in support of Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Linebacker/Linebacker II to provide radar early warning and limited airborne control of USAF fighter forces engaging MiG interceptors. Flying orbits over the Gulf of Tonkin and later over Laos, they were the forerunners of Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft. Other operations included Big Eye, College Eye, Rivet Top, Kingpin, Disco and Batcat.

The US Navy used a variant, the NC-121, in their Blue Eagle unit from 1965–1972. The Blue Eagles were radar jamming and radio broadcast airplanes. The Blue Eagles were based in Patuxent River, MD, and were part of oceangraphic squadron VXN-8.

Source: Wikipedia

Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Lockheed EC-121T Constellation Tail Number: (S/N): s/n 53-0554 Construction:: original aircraft Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Located at Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ inside / outside: outside Other Information:: Pima Air & Space Museum 6000 E Valencia Rd Tucson, Arizona 85756 Phone 520-574-0462 Open 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Daily Last admittance at 4:00 PM $15.50-Adults $12.50-Pima Co Residents $12.75-Seniors $ 9.00-Children FREE---Children 6 & under $ 7.00-AMARG $13.50-Group Rate Access restrictions: None

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