The engines purred like kittens and roared like lions. The "Queen of the Skies", "The Mona Lisa of Airplanes" flew once again. The flight was highly suspenseful like in the movies. If you only fly once every dozen years, as this airplane has, I thought it was important to be on time. After working at a fevered pitch for months, from sun up to sun down seven days a week, with many glitches and a second engine failure to contended with in August, the starliner departed on time with many hundreds of people watching, waving and cheering from both sides of the airport in Sanford, FL., coming from as far away as South Africa to witness this event. The lady in the control tower said "good by Connie, have a good flight". I thanked her and the good people at the Orlando/Sanford Airport for their kindness and help over the years. No one at the airport ever thought the Starliner would ever fly again, but they were kind to me anyway.

As in any good high suspenseful movie, the highest suspense came just before the end. As we approached the "Worlds Greatest Aircraft Collection" which is the name of the airport where "Fantasy of Flight" is located, Flight Engineer Carlos Gomez reported "the number two hydraulic system lost all of its fluid". "Not to worry", I said as second Engineer, "the number one system would extend the wing flaps", which was required in order to land on the 5000 foot grass strip; the landing gear was already down. Captain Frank Lang called for approach flaps, which was selected by copilot Jane Theberge. The indictor showed no movement of the flaps. I guess the flaps were a little stiff from the limited use in the last twelve years. All the preflight testing was done with both systems one and two helping each other. Captain Frank said "I think I feel the flaps coming down". I ran aft to check. Back to the cockpit I came and shouted "negative on the flaps" Captain Frank had a few words to say about that, which I can't repeat. But his words suggested to me that he though that my mechanical abilities and work in preparing the airplane for this flight was somewhat less than it should have been. I ran aft again and directed flight mechanic Paul Jenny and Ben Dual to try again to shift the hydraulic transfer lever located under a floor panel, that would make it possible to transfer some Mil 5606 hydraulic fluid to system two reservoir. They had been working on the lever for the valve previously, with no success. I explained, without being able to transfer hydraulic we will not be able to extend the flaps, and will need to divert to a larger airport for a no flap landing. I ran forward to advise Captain Frank what we were doing. He asked for a heading to Lakeland and told me to get on the radio and tell them we were coming. My heart sank. I had begged, borrowed and spent every possible resource and ounce of energy to get this Starliner to Fantasy of Flight. Now the prospect of having the plane on the ground in Lakeland, with more resources needed, was very discouraging. Flight mechanics Ben and Paul were hammering the hell out of the valve lever back in the cabin and reported they had mostly shifted the valve. After pumping the wobble pump handle in a furious blur, trying to pump fluid into system two, faster than it could leak out, First Engineer Carlos shouted the flaps are coming down. I watched the indicator as it ever so slowly crept down. Engineer Carlos, now on the floor behind Captain Frank's seat furiously continued worked the handle of the wobble pump. We convinced the Captain we could go back and land at Fantasy of Flight. Having almost reached Lakeland, we did a 180 and I called final for The Worlds Greatest Aircraft Collection. After contending with two sets of high tension wires on short final which necessitated a go-around on the first attempt, we landed using only half of the 5000 foot runway, with all four engines in full reverse.

Lockheed 1649A Super Constellation Starliner N974R now resides at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, FL., Exit 21 on I-4, twenty minutes west of Disney World. The entrance fee at Fantasy of Flight is $25, but for $30 you can get a yearly pass, so you can visit the Starliner as often as you want. We plan to continue the restoration, install an interior, and taxi the old lady up and down the runway from time to time. If you have a pass, you will be welcome to ride along.

Best regards to all you Connie fans and thank you for your interest and help over the years.