Lockheed Constellation - Part Three...

                                                                         By Scott Schwartz

Known to aircrews as the “Willy Victor”, the WV-2 became the EC-121K in Navy parlance, after aircraft designations became standardized among the services in 1962.  One hundred, forty two of these aircraft were ordered for the Navy, and the first of them were delivered in 1953.

Thirteen of the EC-121K’s were converted into EC-121M “electronic intelligence” aircraft, while another nine were modified to become WC-121N weather-reconnaissance machines.  Other EC-121’s were used by Navy training squadrons- and one of these aircraft served until 1982.

For its part, the USAF received eighty four EC-121’s; the first of these came from the Navy contract, with deliveries to the Air Force beginning in 1953.  Ten of these aircraft- RC-121’s – became TC-121C trainers.  Most of the remainder were used as electronic-monitoring or as radio-broadcast aircraft for use in psychological warfare.

The reader should consider that the WV-2/EC-121 aircraft were operated primarily during an era when satellite surveillance was in its infancy or was non-existent. 

So, it makes sense that the Navy put its WV-2/EC-121’s to use in conjunction with “picket” destroyers for nine years, beginning in 1956.  Flying missions which lasted as long as twenty hours, the aircraft extended the “eyes” and “ears” of the destroyers in the hope of detecting incoming Soviet missiles or bomber aircraft.  Squadrons of EC-121’s covered both the Pacific and Atlantic “barriers” – the operation being known as “Barrier Force”- with operations winding down by 1965. 

But, that wasn’t the end of Navy EC-121 operations altogether, as the aircraft was put to use in hurricane-hunting and intelligence-gathering operations, as well as for training Electronics Warfare Officers. 

As for the United States Air Force; the war in Viet Nam found that service making good use of its EC-121’s in connection with its Operation Rolling Thunder and with the Linebacker I and II operations.  Prior to the war, Air Force EC-121’s were used as adjuncts to land-based radar that was set up along both coasts of the United States.  Cruising three hundred miles off shore, the EC-121’s plugged the holes in early land-based radar coverage.

Once the war in Viet Nam began, however, EC-121’s were used to direct American fighters engaging in combat, as well as to track enemy aircraft.

Since the EC-121’s were designed to detect targets flying over water, terrain and buildings tended to “clutter” the images received on its radar.  EC-121 radar operators, however, drawing upon their experience in tracking aircraft over Cuba, were able to bounce their radar signals off the water.  This enabled them to detect enemy aircraft (those that weren’t flying too high, or too low, that is) up to one hundred, fifty miles away. The tracking EC-121 flew as low as fifty feet above the water, while a back-up EC-121 cruised at 10,000 feet, some distance away.

These EC-121’s made up the Big Eye task force.

Despite the EC-121 radar operator’s ingenuity in tracking North Vietnamese aircraft, most of the MiG’s being detected were far beyond the range of the EC-121’s “height-finder” radar, which meant that the radar operators could not tell U.S. fighter pilots how high the enemy aircraft were flying.  This shortcoming severely limited the EC-121’s usefulness as a fighter director aircraft.

Because the relatively slow EC-121’s were vulnerable to interception by enemy aircraft; therefore, they were protected by F-104’s flying MiG Combat Air Patrol (“MiGCAP”).  So serious was this threat, that EC-121 missions would be canceled if the F-104’s weren’t available.

As if the threat of being shot down wasn’t enough, the heat generated by the radar equipment rendered the on-board air conditioning all-but useless.

Despite these challenges, an EC-121 assisted in the shooting down of two MiG-17’s, by providing airborne radar warnings to two F4-Phantom fighters, on July 10, 1965.  This was the first interception to be controlled by an EC-121.

Beginning in March of 1967, Big-Eye became the College Eye task force, and EC-121 crews took on the additional tasks of directing attack aircraft, as well as helping to keep American Aircraft clear of Chinese air space.  This latter item was in response to a protest by Chinese, after an F-105 entered Chinese air space while in pursuit of a MiG.

August of 1967 saw the addition of Vietnamese-speaking crewmen to one EC-121K, which became known as Rivet Top.  The equipment aboard this aircraft enabled the crew to listen in on the communications between enemy pilots and their ground-controllers.  This may sound like an ideal arrangement, except for one problem; the bi-lingual intelligence specialists flying aboard the EC-121’s weren’t provided with radar screens, because the radar worked in conjunction with then-top secret equipment that could “read” enemy transponders.  Consequently, the intercepted communications could not be matched to specific enemy flights; this severely limited the system’s usefulness assessing threats to American Aircraft.  Even after these restrictions were lifted (in 1972!), American fighter pilots receiving reports were not told where the information was coming from.  What’s more, the poor quality of the radio transmissions from the EC-121’s required other aircraft to provide radio-relay services- which often did not work.  As a result, many fighter pilots were suspicious of the information provided by the EC-121’s, when they received it at all.

These problems were never completely resolved; nevertheless EC-121’s did manage to aid in the shooting down of twenty five MiGs between 1965 and 1973.

Operation of the EC-121 by the Air Force ceased altogether by September of 1978.  By that time, the aircraft had been transferred to the Air Force Reserve, which used them as advance-early-warning aircraft. 

There are roughly twelve EC-121’s in existence today; one of these is EC-121T -serial number 53-0548- which is owned by the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, CA.

Leaving Air Force service in 1979, “0548” was stored at Davis-Monathan Air Force Base, where it sat for five years until it was purchased by Wayne’s Aviation.  The aircraft wound up at Camarillo Airport, in Camarilo, CA where it stayed until January of 2012.

Wayne’s Aviation flew the aircraft to several airshows, but the organization lost its momentum- at least as far as the EC-121 was concerned-and the aircraft sat until it was purchased by the Yanks Air Museum in 2004.

At that point, Yanks Museum Manager Frank Wright and his team of fellow mechanics had their work cut out for them.  Over nearly eight years, the aircraft was slowly brought back to life.

Not surprisingly, corrosion was a big issue.  The type of aluminum utilized by Lockheed in the construction of the aircraft tends to actually peel away in layers as it corrodes.  So, portions of the outer wing panels had to be patched up.  On top of this, the fabric on the rudders had to be replaced, the stainless steel fuel lines had to be carefully inspected (they tend to crack), and, of course, there was the FAA’s extensive list of items that needed to be inspected and/or repaired. 

Still, the big aircraft was ready for the ferry flight to its new home on January 14, 2012.  The FAA stipulated that only essential crew could be on board for the flight, and after completing several orbits over Camarillo in order to make sure that there were no mechanical problems, “0548”  departed the area, detouring over the Mojave desert (in order to avoid populated areas-another FAA stipulation).  Ninety minutes later, the EC-121 touched down at Chino Airport.

According to Mr. Wright, the museum has a few other projects to complete, before it can focus on the EC-121.  The plan, though, is to keep the EC-121 airworthy.  There are a couple of challenges involved- an Airworthiness Directive involving leaking propeller hub seals has to be complied with, but, Mr. Wright asserts that the real problem lays in finding pilots and flight engineers who are qualified to fly this aircraft.  Many of those who are currently flying aircraft like the EC-121 are in their late seventies.  So, it will probably come down to these pilots being able to pass their skills on to a younger generation. 

For now, though, “0548” is in good hands.

EC-121 Data:

Length:  116 ft., 2 in.

Wing span:  126 ft., 2 in.

Empty weight:  69, 210 pounds.

Engines:  Four Wright R-3350 turbo-compound units, eighteen cylinders each.  The engines were originally rated at 3400 HP each, but “0548’s” engines are “de-rated” to 2800 HP, because 145 Octane fuel is no longer available.

Top speed:  299 mph.  “0548” cruised at 200 mph during its ferry flight to Chino.

Service Ceiling:  25,000 feet.