Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star – Fotos e Vídeo

O Lockheed EC-121 Estrela de Aviso is 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. Soñé 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.

Fonte: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star na Wikipédia

O Lockheed EC-121 Estrela de Aviso was a four-engine low-wing aircraft, developed for military use from the original Lockheed L-049 Constellation passenger airliner, produced by the American company Lockheed Corporation in the 1950s and used, mainly, as an AEW aircraft for electronic warfare by the United States Navy and the United States Air Force.
O EC-121 foi equipado com dois grandes radomes, uma cúpula vertical acima e outra horizontal abaixo da fuselagem, que abrigavam sofisticados sistemas de radar para alerta e controle aéreo antecipado. O EC-121 também realizou missões de inteligência de sinais (SIGINT) e serviu como um posto de comando aerotransportado durante a Guerra do Vietnã.
O EC-121 was derived from the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, which was itself an improved version of the L-749 Constellation. The first prototype of the EC-121, designated PO-1W (later WV-1), flew for the first time on June 9, 1949. The most produced variant was the WV-2 (later EC-121D), which entered service in 1954 and was delivered in 142 units.
O EC-121 foi retirado de serviço em 1978 pela USAF e em 1982 pela USN, depois de ser substituído por aeronaves mais avançadas, como o Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS. Um total de 232 EC-121 foram construídos em várias versões para ambos os serviços.