Ec-121 Connie
by James Williamson
Title
Ec-121 Connie
Artist
James Williamson
Medium
Painting - Pastel On Paper
Description
EC-121 CONNIE, Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star.
Artwork by artist James Williamson.
Artist James Williamson, ASMA
Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists
The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star 'CONNIE'. The term 'connie' derived from the Air Force version of the Lockheed EC-121 Constellation. Fine art America is proud to offer artwork by this Air Force veteran. There were aspects of my service to our country that one might classify as 'worlds collide'. My never-ending imagination and the Air Force need to conform. Whatever I did in the Air Force there were many that appreciated the moral boosting aspect of my cartoon art. I served as a graphic illustration specialist.
EC-121 CONNIE is a 'blast from the past' for me as I accidentally found the artwork stored away in my studio. Hadn't seen the light of day since the Cold War!
I created the artwork while stationed at Otis Air Force Base, located on Cape Cod.
Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star
The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star was a United States Navy and United States Air Force Airborne early warning and control radar surveillance aircraft. A military version of the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, it was designed 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. EC-121s were also used for intelligence gathering (SIGINT).
It was introduced in 1954 and retired from service in 1978, although a single specially modified EW aircraft remained in service with the U.S. Navy until 1982. The U.S. Navy versions when initially procured were designated WV-1 (PO-1W), WV-2, and WV-3. Warning Stars of the U.S. Air Force served during the Vietnam War as both electronic sensor monitors and as a forerunner to the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS. U.S. Air Force aircrews adopted the civil nickname, "Connie" (diminutive of Constellation) as reference, while naval aircrews used the term "Willie Victor" based on a slang version of the NATO phonetic alphabet and the Navy's pre-1962 "WV-" designations for the aircraft type.
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force between 1954 and 1978 operated EC-121s in three wings at maximum employment, and three independent squadrons as its operations wound down. Until the Vietnam War, the primary mission of EC-121s was to provide complementary early warning radar coverage to the Pacific and Atlantic barriers by flying orbits 300 miles offshore of the continental United States in what was termed "Contiguous Barriers". Their coverage orbits overlapped those of land-based early warning radars.
Initial deployment of EC-121Cs began with the 551st Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, based at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts. Operational on 21 December 1954, the 551st AEWCW subsequently upgraded to EC-121D and later EC-121H Warning Stars. Its Pacific counterpart was the 552nd AEWCW, based at McClellan Air Force Base, California, which became operational on 1 July 1955. After the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the 552nd AEWCW also had administrative control of the 966th AEWCS, based at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida. The 966th had a dual mission: monitoring activity in Cuban airspace and flying Gold Digger missions (continuous tracks of U-2 surveillance missions).
The third Wing to operate EC-121s was the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing, a Vietnam War organization activated in October 1967 and based in Thailand until its inactivation in December 1970 (See BatCat below). In 1966 Lockheed modified 30 ex-USN Super Constellations (2 EC-121P/WV-3 and 28 EC-121K/WV-2) aircraft to EC-121R for the specialized reconnaissance mission flown by the 553rd. Aircraft were delivered to the wing during the course of 1967. The 553rd RW flew over land and off the coast of Vietnam, over Laos and Cambodia, monitoring and retransmitting low-power signals. Usually, they orbited the Ho Chi Minh Trail in eight-hour shifts. As it was expensive to operate, and it exposed a large crew to enemy fire it was replaced in December 1970 by the much smaller (and eventually unmanned drone) QU-22 Pave Eagle sensor monitor.
The 551st AEWCW inactivated in 1969, while the 552d was reduced by a squadron in 1971. On 1 July 1974, the Air Force redesignated the 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing as the 552d Airborne Warning and Control Group when it was downsized to a single squadron. It was inactivated on 30 April 1976. As the USAF prepared to deploy the E-3 Sentry in the later 1970s, the Air Force phased out EC-121 operations by the end of 1975. All remaining EC-121s were transferred to the Air Force Reserve, which formed the 79th AEWCS at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida in early 1976. The active-duty force continued to provide personnel to operate the EC-121s on a 24-hour basis, assigning Detachment 1, 20th Air Defense Squadron to Homestead AFB as associate active-duty crews to fly the Reserve-owned aircraft. Besides monitoring Cuban waters, these last Warning Stars also operated from NAS Keflavik, Iceland. Final EC-121 operations ended in September 1978. Detachment 1 was dissolved and 79th AEWCS was re-designated a fighter squadron on 1 October 1978.
In 1967, five EC-121S became operational with the 193rd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, responsible for psyops missions under project Coronet Solo. From July 1970 to January 1971, they rotated on 30- to 90-day temporary duty deployments to Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, under the name Commando Buzz.
Cold War period
The 551st Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, established and activated in 1954, was charged with tracking air and sea activity along the United States eastern seaboard.
The wing received its first airborne asset on March 2, 1955, when an RC-121D landed at Otis Air Force Base. The plane was the first of many assigned to the 551st to patrol the skies over much of the Atlantic Ocean. The RC-121D was eventually upgraded to the EC-121H Warning Star in 1963. The newer model supplanted the slower voice and manual Teletype data relay system previously employed by the RC-121D and instead provided instantaneous automated relay of air defense surveillance and early-warning information by datalink directly to ground-based communication facilities.
The 551 AEWC Wing provided critical surveillance data to Air Defense Command and Control computers and the North American Air Defense Combat Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., for air defense evaluation and action. The data also enabled more versatile airborne control of interceptor missile and aircraft weapons systems.
During the Cold War period, the 551st provided surveillance support for major world events, including tracking over Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and tracking Russian aircraft and naval vessels off Iceland and the East Coast of the United States.
The wing also provided surveillance over Johnston and Christmas islands during nuclear testing by the Atomic Energy Commission and performed a variety of surveillance services in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
In its first 10 years, the wing flew continuous missions over the Atlantic Ocean 24 hours a day, seven days a week, compiling more than 350,000 flying hours. Among other honors awarded to the wing was the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for its significant performance.
Between 1965 and 1967, three aircraft of the wing crashed into the Atlantic killing fifty members of the wing. The tail numbers of the aircraft were 55-0136, 55-5262, and 53-0549.
The wing was inactivated December 31, 1969.
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August 6th, 2017
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