You can now tour the Qantas Founders Museum's restored 1953 Super Constellation
The Queensland, Australia-based Qantas Founders Museum is allowing visitors to climb aboard a restored 1953 Lockheed Super Constellation "Connie" aircraft. This iconic plane was the airline's first that was pressurized.
The Connie flew on Qantas' popular kangaroo route from Sydney to London, a 12,000-mile flight that took 96 hours to complete.
The Connie's fuselage, originally used by the U.S. Navy, sat in an aircraft graveyard in Manila for 25 years. The museum bought it in 2015 and the restoration began. It was a huge undertaking, since the plane's instruments were gone and it had definitely seen better days. "Looking at it, at first when it was all lined with fiberglass, and hanging wires and dirt and dust, you'd think, 'There is no way in the world we are going to be able to do anything with this!'," museum curator Tom Harwood told Australia's ABC News.
The fuselage restoration took seven months alone. Volunteer restorer Roger Goode has a unique history with the Connie, and shared it in a museum blog post. The one he helped restore was built in 1953, the year he was born. His father Cyril flew the Connie for Qantas, and Roger remembers a unique flight he took with his dad from San Francisco to New York, then London to Sydney in late 1959 in the back of a Connie freighter. The younger Goode became a licensed aircraft engineer for Qantas, working his way up to becoming a pilot, flying the airline's Boeing 747s and 767s before retiring in 2006.
The restored plane will open for visitors in April 2020. It joins one of only 20 restored Connies in the world, including one being used as a cocktail lounge at JFK Airport's TWA Hotel.
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10X | Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel |
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Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel75,000 bonus milesAnnual Fee
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Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X card is one of the best all-round travel credit cards ever launched. Not only is it offering a tremendous welcome bonus, but cardholders can earn tons of miles on everyday spending and receive a 10,000-mile anniversary bonus to boot. Its annual fee is $395, but cardholders can count on up to $300 in statement credits toward travel booked through Capital One Travel each year and other valuable benefits like access to Priority Pass lounges and Capital One’s own growing family of airport lounges.Pros
- Excellent welcome offer worth 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months.
- Up to $300 in annual travel statement credits toward bookings make through Capital One Travel.
- 10,000 bonus miles (worth $100 toward travel) each account anniversary.
Cons
- The $395 annual fee might be expensive for some, but this card’s benefits provide much more value than that.
- If you don’t travel frequently, this might not be the best card for you.
- Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
- Receive up to $300 back annually as statement credits for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of options
- Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
- Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
- Unlimited complimentary access for you and two guests to 1,300+ lounges, including Capital One Lounges and the Partner Lounge Network
- Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Named editors' choice for "Best New Credit Card of 2021" by The Points Guy
- Earn 10 miles per dollar when you book on Turo, the world's largest car sharing marketplace, through May 16, 2023