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Marty Batura, of Worldwide Aircraft Recovery, checks equipment on the body of a TWA plane, which is being moved to JFK Airport to enter the TWA hotel complex as a cocktail bar. Andrea Kehn/Sun Journal

Worldwide Aircraft Recovery

Worldwide Aircraft Recovery

AUBURN - After sitting outside the Auburn-Lewiston Airport for 30 years, a rare new-look Lockheed L-1649A "Super Star" Constellation is headed to New York to serve as a cocktail lounge outside an International Airport John F. Kennedy.

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Marty Batura of Worldwide Aircraft Recovery checks equipment on the fuselage of the "Super Star" aircraft, which will begin its 328-mile journey to Queens at 7 a.m. Tuesday. "There will be many double things" from observers, he said. Photos by Andrea Kehn/Sun Journal

The rare craft's wings, body and tail will travel in a six-truck, mile-long convoy to Queens to become part of the TWA hotel complex.

MCR CEO Tyler Morse paints a sign that reads, "Queens or Perish," before hanging it on the back of the 150-foot hull. Visitors to the plane, which has been converted into a cocktail lounge, "will feel like they've stepped into 1962," he said.

During Monday's launch ceremony, Tyler Morse, CEO of MCR and Morse Development, behind the TWA Hotel project, hand-painted "Queens or Bust!" signed and hung on the back of the 150-foot fuselage as it sat on the back of the airport platform.

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The 328-mile journey to JFK will begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday as part of a six-mile truck convoy.

The aircraft, built in 1958, is one of two Constellations once owned by Maurice Roundy and parked at the AL Airport since the 1980s. The second Constellation is currently packed and awaiting its return to Germany after a ten-year effort by Lufthansa Technik to restore it to flying form.

Morse said it is one of four Lockheed L-1649As still in existence. He eyed it for five years for a hotel project, and finally bought it from Lufthansa last year.

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"Constellation was designed by Howard Hughes - he was the owner of TWA Airlines when the Eero Saarinen building (TWA terminal) was built at JFK," Morse said. “This aircraft was the aircraft that the building was designed around. A big part of the historic fabric of the TWA terminal at JFK, and this aircraft being a cocktail lounge and coming back to life at JFK is very historically accurate and really brings the project together and it brings together the old world and the modern world. ."

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The renovation began in May. Morse declined to disclose the cost, other than to say it was "expensive" and part of the project's overall $265 million budget.

In its new home, the plane will be placed with a crane in its place. As a salon, it will accommodate 110 people and allow visitors to sit at the controls.

"You will feel like you are stepping into 1962 when flying was very special," said Morse. “We'll have flight attendants with caps on, the whole nine yards. You will be able to sit in the hole, pull the yoke, press the throttle, just like you used to do."

The move has to be made: someone had to map almost every foot of the route by looking at the space around telephone poles, fire hydrants and bridges.

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"This truck is so big and the load is so long that we have to deflate the tires to clear a few underpasses because we went down to 2 inches," Morse said.

Marty Batura of Worldwide Aircraft Recovery in Omaha, Nebraska, said this was his fourth time transporting a Constellation, but his first time moving aircraft 1649A. The trip is scheduled to last three days.

Bettyann Sheats, who chairs the airport's board of directors, said she was excited when Lufthansa first bought the two planes with plans to restore one, but worried about what would happen to the one that wasn't flying.

Worldwide Aircraft Recovery

"We thought it was going to break up," she said. “We are very happy to see that this aircraft is now being used for a great purpose, where people can enjoy it. You made us part of something that will have a long-lasting history.”

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"We are now connecting Auburn-Lewiston with John F. Kennedy Airport, which is one of the busiest airports in the world," he said. “We talk about the impact we have and what we do in this community, we talk about our production and what we do for the world. This is another example as far as I'm concerned."

Simon Graham, of Custom Canvas and Upholstery in Lewiston, was part of the months-long restoration, rebuilding the pot from a stripped metal interior, paneling the walls and restoring four chairs – a pair for the pilot, one for a navigator and another for the engineer. – in Italian leather, bringing back their original retro look.

It took Graham and his assistant three weeks, often sewing the back of a truck with a bed parked in front of the plane.

"I'm 41 years old and I rode that plane I don't know how many times growing up," said Graham. “It's from the era when airplanes were airplanes. I always looked at it and imagined how much I would love to get on that plane and fly that plane, and then suddenly the plane had something else for me."

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"Obviously it was a lot of fun," Olke said. "I'm a pilot myself, so I'm at the airport all the time."

"You want to be a part of it because it's been around forever," he said. “They sat and sat and sat. They were an iconic sight to see when someone drove in.”

The plane headed towards the hotel and the Lufthansa-owned aircraft were two of 44 Lockheed L-1649A "Super Star" constellations built more than half a century ago.

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The restructuring of Lufthansa began in 2008 and sometimes hundreds of people were hired. The company announced in March that the project would stop here, before it could fly, and continue in Germany.

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The wings have since been removed and placed in the hangar. Lanman said it is ready to ship whenever a shipping date and location is determined.

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