The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star is an American airborne early warning and control radar surveillance aircraft operational in the 1950s in both the United States Navy (USN) and United States Air Force (USAF).

Title: WV-2 Warning Star in Flight. Caption: A side view of a WV-2 shows the ventral and dorsal radomes of this airborne early warning version of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation Super...

The big four-engine radar guard, a Super-Constellation type known as the WV2, last reported about 3 a.m. Thursday on a routine flight to the Azores from its base in Argentia, Nfld. It said then it was 1,000 miles from Newfoundland and about 200 from the Azores.

These aircraft, designated WV-2 (Willy Victor), were capable of remaining airborne for over 20 hours, thanks to added tip tanks on the wings . Midway Island, a naval facility since World War II, underwent significant development to support these operations.

The original Navy designation for the airborne early warning version of the Warning Star was WV, prompting the crews to adopt the nickname “Willie Victor.” During the Cold War WV/EC-121 aircraft...

On tracks that extended out over both of these great bodies of water; from the Aleutian Islands to Midway Island in the Pacific and from Argentia, New Foundland to the Azores in the Atlantic, the Navy flew WV-2s on a twenty- four hour, seven day a week schedule.

The US Air Force RC-121 and EC-121 series of airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft were modifications of the Lockheed models 1049A and 1049B Super Constellation passenger airliner. US Navy versions were the WV-2.

The U.S. Navy versions when initially procured were designated WV-1 (PO-1W), WV-2, and WV-3. Warning Stars of the U.S. Air Force served during the Vietnam War as both electronic sensor monitors and as a forerunner to the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS.

Title: WV-2 Warning Star over USS Midway. Caption: A WV-2 of Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VW) 1 overflies the aircraft carrier Midway (CVA 41) in 1962.

The Lockheed PO-2W/ WV-2 was an early warning aircraft based on the Super Constellation airliner. The Navy took delivery of the first Lockheed PO-1W early warning aircraft on 9 June 1949, and on 14 July 1950 it placed an order for six PO-2W airborne early warning aircraft, which would be based on the Super Constellation.