Pacific Northern Airlines Lockheed L-749A Constellation  N186523     (c/n  2659)

                                        

                                             PNA had this odd habit of putting the registration number under the tailplane on their Constellations.
                                             A close-up of the tail appears below.  The above photo and the painting from a 2007 calendar are
                                             from the RJ Wilmoth collection.      In 1967 PNA merged with Western Airlines.  Some ten years
                                             prior to that event the airline had acquired a number of Lockheed Constellations.  N86523 was orig
                                             inally built as a L-649A for Chicago & Southern Air Lines (later absorbed into Delta).  It was conv-
                                             erted to 749A standard when sold to PNA in April 1955.  It was damaged beyond repair in a hard
                                             landing at Kenai, Alaska on 6 June 1966 and was broken up at Seattle that same year.  The photo
                                             of N1552V below was taken at SEATAC in the early 1960s.  This machine was an original TWA
                                             model but PNA purchased it from BOAC where it had been G-ANTG (after stints with Air India
                                             and Qantas.    Later N1552V was donated  to the City of Kenai, Alaska, in 1969 but a Connie is
                                             a very expense thing to maintain, even as a static exhibit, and hence it was sold to a private buyer
                                             who intended to convert it into a restaurant.  In the event the project fell through   The color painting
                                             at the foot of the page is interesting and depicts another ex Chicago $ Southern / Delta Connie. 

                                                                                                                                                               
                                              
                                              Pacific Northern Airlines Lockheed L-749A Constellation  N1552V     (c/n  2505)

                                           

  
                                                Pacific Northern Airlines Lockheed L-749A Constellation  N846524     (c/n  2660)