diff --git a/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py b/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
index c729ae1a..eddb0b67 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ class Urllib3HttpConnection(Connection):
             maxsize=10, **kwargs):
 
         super(Urllib3HttpConnection, self).__init__(host=host, port=port, **kwargs)
-        self.headers = {}
+        self.headers = urllib3.make_headers(keep_alive=True)
         if http_auth is not None:
             if isinstance(http_auth, (tuple, list)):
                 http_auth = ':'.join(http_auth)
-            self.headers = urllib3.make_headers(basic_auth=http_auth)
+            self.headers.update(urllib3.make_headers(basic_auth=http_auth))
 
         pool_class = urllib3.HTTPConnectionPool
         kw = {}
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
index ec5bf800..7795b541 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
@@ -35,17 +35,24 @@ class TestUrllib3Connection(TestCase):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(timeout=42)
         self.assertEquals(42, con.timeout)
 
+    def test_keep_alive_is_on_by_default(self):
+        con = Urllib3HttpConnection()
+        self.assertEquals({'connection': 'keep-alive'}, con.headers)
+
     def test_http_auth(self):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth='username:secret')
-        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.headers)
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0',
+            'connection': 'keep-alive'}, con.headers)
 
     def test_http_auth_tuple(self):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth=('username', 'secret'))
-        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.headers)
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0',
+            'connection': 'keep-alive'}, con.headers)
 
     def test_http_auth_list(self):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth=['username', 'secret'])
-        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.headers)
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0',
+            'connection': 'keep-alive'}, con.headers)
 
     def test_uses_https_if_specified(self):
         with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w: