Starliner rollout

With the rollout of this Lockheed L-1649A Starliner (1018) from its hangar at Lufthansa Technik Hamburg, on 17 January 2025, the restoration has reached a new phase. Now the propliner has been almost completely assembled, it will be painted in Lufthansa-colours as 'D-ALAN'.

The ultimate destination is the airport of Frankfurt, where the Starliner will be put on display in Spring of 2026.

The restoration of this icon, former TWA N7316C Star of Tigris, already started in 2008, with the opening of a purposely built hangar at Auburn-Lewiston Airport (ME). The Starliner had been parked there since 1983, arriving after a flight from its previous storage location Stewart Airport (NY).

In 2008 the owner of at that time three (!) Starliners, Maurice Roundy, sold N7316C to Lufthansa with the intention to be restored to flying condition. The first flight of the restored aircraft was planned for sometime in 2017 to 2018.

After putting EUR150 million into the project, Lufthansa announced in March 2018 that it was moving the restoration to Germany. Decisions about further restoration were said to be made after it arrived in Germany, but they were no longer planning to provide commercial flights. In February 2021 Scramble reported that the plane was relocated from its storage in Bremen harbour to Paderborn-Lippstadt airport due to shelter availability there. Since then the Lockheed was trucked to Hamburg where the final assembly took place.

The Starliner is owned by the Lufthansa Berlin Foundation, which has the purpose to safeguard the legacy of the German airline. It also owns an, also static, Junkers Ju-52 (D-CDLH), painted as 'D-AQUI', and an airworthy Bf-108 Taifun and a Dornier Do-27.

Of the 45 Starliners built (one prototype, N1649, and 44 production aircraft) only four examples have survived. The original D-ALAN (MSN 1040) is on display as N974R at the Fantasy of Flight museum in Polk City (FL).

Photos by Dirk Grothe www.digroaero.com