Entered service with Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1957. Converted to a freighter in 1960 and operated in Alaska from 1962 to 1972. Acquired by Maurice Roundy in 1983, flown to Auburn / Lewiston and parked outside his house together with stablemate N8083H. Both were purchased together with N974R in 2006 as an ambitious restoration project for Lufthansa, a former Starliner operator, to create a flying example in original airliner format. Rapidly escalating costs caused Lufthansa to terminate the project in 2018. Currently stored disassembled in Germany.

K25 slide scan. Both Starliners N8083H (right) and N7316C (left) in front of then owner Maurice Roundys house.

K25 slide scan. Delivered to TWA 1957, converted to freighter 1960. Alaska Airlines 1962, converted to bulk fuel carrier 1968 for use on the North Slope by Red Dodge Aviation and Prudhoe Bay Oil Distribution, stored Anchorage 1972, Kenai 1974. Onyx Aviastion 1974, Burns Aviation 1975. Abandoned Stewart-Newburgh, NY 1976. Acquired by Maurice Roundy 1983 and flown to Auburn-Lewiston, ME. Acquired by Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung 2006 together with N974R and N8083H, restoration started 2008 in a purpose built hangar. With costs soaring project was cancelled 2018 with the aircraft being dismantled.

K25 slide scan. Built for LAI as I-LIRA 1958. Not taken up but instead delivered to TWA as N8083H. Converted to freighter 1961. Alaska Airlines 1962, retired 1967. Converted to bulk fuel carrier 1968 for use on the North Slope by Red Dodge Aviation and Prudhoe Bay Oil Distribution, stored Anchorage 1972, Kenai 1974. Flown to CHandler, AZ 1981 and overhauled 1983. Used as drug runner, damaged in Colombia late 1983. Flown to San Pedro Sula 1983 and stored. Acquired by Maurice Roundy 1986 and flown to Auburn-Lewiston, ME. Acquired by Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung 2006 together with N974R and N7316C.

Survived with N7316C, parked at Auburn-Lewiston, Maine adjacent to owner Maurice Roundy's house. Flew with TWA from 1958, then acquired by Alaska Airlines as a freighter in 1962, passing through a number of hands from 1968, initially as a bulk oil carrier. Arrived here in 1986. Bought by Lufthansa at a bankruptcy auction in 2007 as part of a restoration project. Not then flyable due to wing corrosion and used as a spares source for N7613C. Refurbished for static display in original TWA colours. Currently in use as a cocktail bar at the TWA Hotel adjacent to the old TWA terminal at JFK Airport.

With her wings removed, N7316C awaits an uncertain future in the Lufthansa Technik hangar.

Aircraft has been used as a spares airplane for Lufthansa's restoration of N7316C. Carlos Gomez and a small crew are reassembling the aircraft for use as a cocktail lounge at TWA terminal hotel project at JFK Airport.

Aircraft has been used as a spares airplane for Lufthansa's restoration of N7316C. Carlos Gomez and a small crew are reassembling the aircraft for use as a cocktail lounge at TWA terminal hotel project at JFK Airport.

Photo taken on a visit to Maurice Roundy's house on a cold January day

Lufthansa purchased all three of Maurice Roundy's Starliners at auction in December 2007. Aircraft was used as a source of spares for the restoration of N7316C. Will be restored and painted in period TWA colors as a cocktail lounge adjacent to the former TWA terminal at JFK Airport. The project, which includes a 500-room hotel, is scheduled for completion in March 2019.

Owned by Maurice Roundy, whose unique house can be seen in the background.

Everyone needs to have a couple of Starliner Super Connies parked in their backyard.

N7316C in the background

With the name on the nosewheel door

Lufthansa is undertaking the mother of all aircraft restorations in a hangar at Auburn-Lewiston Airport. Maurice Roundy's former Starliner has been stripped down to bare bones, with inspection and repair currently underway. No defect is too small to repair and the final product will be as close to the way she came out of the factory in 1957 as humanly possible. Restoration continues in 2017.

Missing her center vertical stabilizer, Starliner N8083H patiently awaits her fate, while her sister N7316C undergoes restoration inside the hangar in the background.

For obvious reasons, the flight engineer was a very important member of the crew!