I did some of my primary training at Leesburg Airport (now Leesburg Executive KJYO) in the early 70s. We used to see Godfrey all the time there. He wasn't in great health then but still flew his Baron. He was a natural pilot; great stick. It was a different time in the Connie days, for sure.

Georgeous plane, a work of art. My favourite commercial plane of all time. She had such beautiful lines.

what a guy that Arthur!..have a Chesterfield..and the cows give 100 octane milk ! a real man !! thanks for this outstanding posting

Thanks for posting this. It is great to be able to view this aviation history.

What a gem, thanks for sharing this

Yes Sir many thanks for this posting a great view of the Connie. The view of the flight attendants and the gallery. Keep them comin partner.

l'âge d'or de l'aviation .....le plus bel avion qui ait existé, des pilotes sympas et relax,des passagers calmes,des hôtesses agréables ,le paradis !

WOW!!! What an airplane!!!!!!!

Thank you for share Glory Days of Aviation Travel

Bravo,Thanks for posting.

My favorite plane, the Super Connie. What a great time to be a passenger.

Thank you so much for posting this gem!. In IBERIA, in the middle fifties, they used the Super G variation with the tip tanks and a superbe decoration. What a pity the jets came in too soon...

WOW! This makes me long for those days when commercial flying was so different. You walked up to the airplane and climbed the portable stairway. You did not have to take your shoes off or going through metal detectors and you family and friends could walk you to the departure gate. Today an airline CEO would be shot for allowing a celebrity in the left seat feathering three engines. Also, very good explanation of the cockpit gage and omni range navigation; this was a lot of fun.

Gracias por este magnífico video. Es verdaderamente maravilloso. Thank you for posting this beautiful video. It´s really really beautiful.Thank you very much Bomberguy.

To the left of the throttle quadrant is where they would keep the scotch. And whatever those dames are cooking sure smells good... But you ain't seen nothin' yet. "Feather FOUR!"

Beautiful bird and amazing vid, T4P !

The Super constellation, the most beautiful plane in the World.

I cannot imagine any airline allowing this type of demonstration today, especially from a TV show host!

he was a real piece of work...

Godfrey, for years of radio & television, pushed Chesterfield Cigs but severed the relationship with them when it was discovered he had lung cancer. True.

I met Arthur Godfrey at the Frederick, MD, airport some time in early 1950. He had landed there in his DC-3. I asked him if he would give me his autograph in my log book and he replied in front of a huge crowd and very brusquely: " I'm not going to sign anyone's logbook." He was nothing but a complete jerk in my opinion after that. He could have just ignored me and I would have been satisfied with that.

'Time for a Chesterfield'...wow :)

I cannot imagine wearing a hat and the jacket in the cockpit. We usually remove even our ties...But this is not important. What a nostalgic video!!

Godfrey was a full multi-engine licensed pilot. He had flown almost every military plane of that era too.

Dad flew for Eastern in the 1970s Dick Merrill picked us up at Dulles in his Queen Air and flew us to Fredrickberg Shannon Airport for the Father's Day Fly in, he hand flew it all the way and stuck his altitudes +- 10 feet all the way I bought this DVD on E bay a few years ago,

the cows out there give a 100 octane milk

was the connie able to maintain level flight on one engine! That is so cool

lol smoking in the cockpit!

I hope dear old arthur pulled the throttles back to idle when hugh " brought in" the feathered engines. What a dope. And for this Capt. Eddie gave him a DC3

I tell you, the Super Constellation was a real gem - and how about Eastern Airlines! I miss them so much... As the old Disney World Easter Airlines ride jingle said: IF YOU HAVE WINGS, IF YOU HAVE WINGS, IF YOU HAVE WINGS, HAVE WINGS, HAVE WINGS!

its a light gun signal. Its aimed at airplanes that don't have radios. Which may have been common in the 40s. Now its mandatory, but you will still find them in towers when an airplane has a radio failure.

That ancient pelican in the right seat is the famous Captain Dick Merrill who safely piloted a single engine Vultee VI in the first round-trip non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic in September of 1936. He made four R/Ts in all and kept the wings filled with ping pong balls for flotation in the event of an ocean landing. "Captain Dick" was Chief Pilot for EAL when this film was made. - Ron David

'Oh boy, this is the life'

that's a signalling lamp to flash at pilots if their radios failed. Although it is not used anymore regularly as there are lost comms procedures they are still found in all the towers I've visited.

the co-pilot looks about 85 years old and he doesn't even smoke!

those were the days of flying, passengers would actually dress up, suit & ties for men, dresses and hi heels for the ladies. Meals were tasty and they had a menu to choose from, wine and cocktails in first class were on the house, a glass of wine was a buck. And (gasp) families were allowed with the passengers right up to the gates and wave bye bye. the cabin crews actually welcomed you on board and smiled. signed ex Pan Amer

@anhacus Yup. Those were days when you actually had to have some class to travel by plane! I still remember when people dressed up to fly. lol

Now that's a REAL airplane. Jets are ok for get'n someplace fast but it has to have 4 round engines to be a REAL airplane. I love the Connie!!!

Eddie Rickenbacker had Eastern Airlines most famous pilot (Dick Merrill) in the right seat to make sure Authur Godfrey didn't bend that 1049C Constellation. There seem to be a lot of inside jokes from the 1950's like the one about Chesterfield cigarettes and rival TV host Jack Paar.

I bet the copilot was thinking of how hard it must of been for him to breathe when they lit up those Chesterfields. Which I don't think they make anymore.

Our seats in the Air Force were facing to the back

And chances are that the guy in the left seat was an air combat vet, having survived the worst that the Luftwaffe (or the Emperor) could hurl at him. But it was also a time when commercial aviation was battling for survival against other forms of intercity transportation. And--and this really is not something we like to remember but was an unfortunate fact- commercial aviation accidents in the US were far more common than now.

That's true, it indeed feels like one is being pressed into the seat during the takeoff, with such airliners. It doesn't feel like this anymore with planes powered by turbofans.

"Indubitably ... er, yes, sir!"

@kwalliander This is Arthur Godfrey, a well-known radio and TV personality - he wasn't really an airline pilot for Eastern (although he was an experienced pilot). The DC3 was his, but it was given to him as a gift.

For crying out loud!!! it was 1958 back before big brother had a firm grip on the country!!!

God Damn! The co-pilot is old enough to be Wilber Wright!

Those pilots enjoyed it back in the days, the same as the pilots todays enjoy the super connie.

Arthur Godfrey was one of the biggest television personalities (and a private pilot) of the early 1950's but the poor old boy fell into some really stinky T.V. shit when he tried to fire (live, on camera) an EXTREMELY popular singer that performed, regularly, on his show (Juluis LaRosa), thinking he (Godfrey) was bigger than the medium itself. In '54 he lost his own pilot license for 6 months after buzzing the Teterboro Airport Tower in his privately owned DC-3.

Dont think they did that on a scheduled flight, but maybe!

The most forgotten man in television. His custom DC3 was supposed to be really nice, off the hook inside. Wonder what became of it?

Although I do have to say that I wonder what the reaction was of the passengers when they looked out the windows and saw three idle propellers. Nice of Eastern to demonstrate the a/c's capabilities without giving any thought to passenger safety. Yes, I know, the passengers were filmed in a studio...still, makes you wonder what Eastern was thinking...

Product placement in the first 10 secs!!

100 octane milk... i think they were in a simulator maybe.. but he prob was certified for the connie.. but this was puff piece by eddy rickenbackers boys..

@nolifemerc No, I wouldn't smoke in a "SEALED" compartment filled with oil and gasoline, nor would they and nor are they. The gas and oil are in tanks in the wings. The crew is in the cockpit...DUH! Time for you to hop on the short bus and get back to school. Generally speaking, unless you are at the controls of a flying gas station like a KC-130, you are in no greater danger smoking in the cabin or cockpit of an aircraft than you are in your own car.

you should fly Business or First these days, they still have metal knives and forks

Anybody knows by any chance the music at 7:33?

Ja, ja, ja, ja The crew is smoking! Thats times.

Also sponsored by Chesterfield, as it seems... ;-) Nevertheless, great video.

My god.

@chloe7829 It did cost a LOT more to fly in those days, so the passengers would have been fairly affluent. Flying is often now the cheapest option; I flew from France to London this year for less than $50 + 2 hours. The train would have cost at least 3 times that sum. To compare routes in the US, New York to Miami by air (in 2 weeks time) would be $110 + 3 hours, or by train for $125 + 27 hours. NY to LA $134 + 6 hours (air) or $197 + 67 hours. No wonder the skies are full...

That "silver falcon" was a Martin 4-0-4, right?

Why the grief for the engineer using the word "indubitably"?

@PreacherSly LMAOROFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

@anhacus yeah I know bro, can't say of today's...

I'm having a little trouble 'swallowing' this engine-out demonstration, especially with only one engine operating and an outboard one at that! Was this at a steady altitude or at a negative VS? I'd sooner believe the latter. While I don't doubt the Connie's performance, I have to believe that she would only sustain flight on a minimum of two engines (opposite wings). And I seriously doubt the FAA would even allow this aircraft to be flown like that...

@anhacus especially since they don't look like they're crammed in there like cattle.

Yeah flies good on one engine. At sea level, no passengers, and minimum fuel.

0:08... Hier sieht man auch deutlich warum es ältere wie ich so schwer haben heutzutage mit dem rauchen aufzuhören. Unsere helden waren am rauchen das die heide wackelt ...*lach*

Didn't he die of a cigarette related disease? I know he had lung cancer and miraculously recovered (miraculous for back then). Seems like he may have died from emphysema. I know garry moore did and I tend to conflate the two. I agree with the guy below--everyone seems so relaxed and laid back. what happened? the media?

Smoking a cigarette while flying the plane??? I'm so sure....

Yeah, not to mention the flight crew smoking!!

I understand the flight engineer died at the page of 49 from lung cancer.

would you smoke in a consilded conpartment filled with oil and gasolin? no, then why do you smoke in a plane?

No that was testicular in nature.

What a commercials for Chesterfield! What a bullshit!!

Notice everyone dresses up to fly....and get real service! Not today....I won't fly any airline now...with TSA n all....gimme back my big smasher...

"the girls".... i think by this time they didn't need to be RN's.... Indubitably...lol

It must be female it is so beautiful sorry. God W h a t a ship as that say in the. U. S. A one day if I’m a good boy god may have one for me to fly or work on the magnificent turbo compound power plants you can keep. Yer blow lamps sorry I meant. Jet s ii

would you smoke in a concealed compartment filled with oil and gasolin? no, then why do you smoke in a plane? the aircrafth industry is even so retatred they intall electrical eqvipment without an on off switch, it cost the life of 350 people a 20 dollar switch.

smoking in a cockpit? LOL!! FYI Godfrey died by lung cancer anyway