Image talk:Lockheed Constellation, Air France.jpg
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Is this aircraft truly a Lockheed Constellation? Doesn't look like it to me, the Connie was a tri-gear airplane, and this one is clearly a taildragger, and much smaller.
Reply: Note the tear-drop shape rudder and its close proximity relative to the plane's body....I think one of the values of this sort of a photo is that it gives a good sense of scale.
Also, the early versions of the Constellation only carried 44 passengers. The very small Air France lettering on the plane and the logo on the rudder would indicate an early time frame.
Reply: There are a few reasons why I continue to disagree:
- As can be seen in this image: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1088333/L/ , the Connies had square doors; this aircraft has a rounded one.
- This aircraft seems too low to the ground to be the Connie, which was an aircraft that sat very tall on its landing gear; I restate that the Connie was a trigear, and this appears to be closer to a taildragger, as it is being accessed with a very small set of stairs.
- The aircraft does not posess the distinctive wingroot assembly present on all Connie models, even the very first protoype; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:049-connie-gov.jpg .
- The aircraft lacks the tip of the horizontal stabilizer which
protruded from the outermost tail on all Connie photos I can find; and while teardrop-shaped, the forward edge of the tailfin is rather more curved than a Connie's.
I suggest this aircraft be properly identified and the image renamed to prevent further confusion.
- All of the points in the reply are correct. This aircraft is almost certainly a Sud-Est SE-161 Languedoc. I'm moving it accordingly. ericg ✈ 23:46, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for your keen perceptions on this photo.....Sba2
