Aircraft pics

[427TJ]

Good eye Mike, that is indeed an L-1649 "Starliner" Constellation. The 1649 model, an outgrowth of the earlier L-1049 "Super G" Constellation, had longer wings which moved the engines farther out and quieted down the cabin. Larger diameter, slower turning propellers and larger spinners too. The 1649 was the ultimate piston-engined airliner but the jet age, well underway when TWA took delivery of its 1649s in 1957, had already rendered it obsolete. The Douglas DC-7C was its main competition at the end of the piston-engined airliner era.

Here's a great head-on shot of a TWA "Jetstream" 1649A on short-final to the south complex at Los Angeles in the late 1950s.



And another "Tee-Dub" 1649 comes over the fence at LAX. Note the wider-stance main landing gear and the big props and spinners.