Genève | Lockheed Constellation | Bucherer Collection

This unique piece is emblematic of the Atelier WOCS collection, as it combines two deeply historical representations of the world of tourism and aviation: the Rade de Genève and its water jet on the one hand, and the Lockheed Constellation on the other.

The Constellation marks the peak of the propeller-driven aviation era just before the arrival of jets. It was the first production aircraft with a pressurized cabin, which allowed it to gain high altitude to fly faster and above the clouds, avoiding bad weather areas and their dangers. Its triple fin and Delphinian fuselage give it a truly unique silhouette that has made it a legend.

The Constellation was built by Lockheed in response to a request from TWA. The prestigious American company wanted an aircraft that could carry 40 passengers quickly across the Atlantic. On December 3, 1945, just a few months after the end of World War II, the first Constellation in TWA colors flew between Washington and Paris, a flight with a strong symbolic value for the Allies. A year later, its great rival Pan Am inaugurated its famous flight n°1, the first round-the-world airliner flight, using a Constellation.

The artwork depicts a TWA Constellation over Geneva, a destination visited by TWA in the late 1940s. It illustrates the importance of Geneva in the immediate post-war period. It saw the rise of international organizations, with the transformation of the League of Nations into the United Nations, the arrival of the WHO and the GATT, the precursor of the World Trade Organization. Their needs also benefited the airport. At the turn of the 1950s, when Zurich airport was just being built, Geneva airport was by far the busiest in Switzerland and one of the most important in Europe, with several transatlantic flights.

Even today, Switzerland has a special attachment to the Constellation and its stretched variant, the Super Constellation. One of the last two models in the world still flying, the "Star of Switzerland", is closely linked to our country. Once sponsored by the watchmaker Breitling, it flew over the enchanting landscapes of Switzerland until 2018.