A Sad Day at Avra Valley

Story And Photos By ANN Contributor Ralph Pettersen

The MATS Connie departed Marana Northwest Regional Airport (AVQ) for the last time on Friday April 1, 2005 bound for a new home in Korea. With Captain Frank Lang at the controls, she lifted off runway 30 at 1007 MST and, after one last flyby, headed northwest to Oakland, CA for the first stop on her journey to an aerospace museum on Jeju Island.

Originally a southern route had been planned but this was changed when it was determined that avgas was not available at Midway Island and the US Military would not allow the aircraft to transit Wake Island. Instead, a northern route was planned with stops at Anchorage, Alaska; Cold Bay, Alaska; Hakodate, Japan; and Incheon, Korea, where the crew and passengers will clear customs.

The next stop on the journey will be the Korean Airlines maintenance facility at Gimhae Airport, near Busan, where the aircraft will be stripped of her MATS colors and repainted in early Korean Airlines colors. This is expected to take about a week after which the grand lady will make her final flight to Jeju International Airport where she will be put on static display next to next to a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 and Airbus A300. Contrary to earlier reports, the aircraft will not participate in any Korean or Japanese airshows this summer and will never fly again.

The longtime home of the MATS Connie at Marana Northwest Regional Airport will be shut down and turned over to a new tenant. Immediately after the departure, JR Kern, Bill Dempsay and a small crew towed the two other resident Constellations (ex-SCAF L1049 N105CF and Columbine II N9463) across the road to join Bill’s stored DC-4’s.

The MATS Connie, active on the US airshow circuit since 1992 will be missed by all aviation enthusiasts. A very sad day at Avra Valley indeed!

(Ralph Pettersen is the editor of a web site dedicated to the shrinking number of operational Constellations worldwide -- ed.)

FMI: www.conniesurvivors.com