Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

what is it?

The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star is 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 two 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.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 piston engines with propellers · 38.5 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 481 km/htop speed
• range 6,843 kmwithout refuelling
• size 65 tmax take-off weight
• built 232made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 77 years ago, in 1949.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 38.5 m: about 9 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 11 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 6,843 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1949

introduced

1954

retired

1978

status

retired

number built

232

role

airborne early warning and control

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Lockheed Corporation

engines

4× Wright R-3350-34 turbo compound / R-3350-34 Turbo Compound

crew

11

length

35.4 m

wingspan

38.5 m

height

7.5 m

max take-off weight

65 t

top speed

481 km/h

cruise speed

410 km/h

range

6,843 km

ceiling

7,620 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.