Convair

Convair was an American aircraft manufacturing company which later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft, and went on to produce pioneering aircraft such as the Convair B-36 bomber, the F-102 Delta Dagger and the F-106 Delta Dart. It also manufactured the first Atlas rockets, including the rockets that were used for the pioneering manned orbital flights of Project Mercury. The company's subsequent Atlas-Centaur design continued this success and derivatives of the design remain in use as of 2010. In 1994 most of the company's divisions were sold by then-owners General Dynamics to McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed, with the remaining components deactivated in 1996.

Origins

Convair CV-240 family

The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner produced by Convair from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement of the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series was able to make some inroads as a commercial airliner and also had a long development cycle which resulted in various civil and military variants. Although reduced in numbers through attrition, the "Convairliners" in various forms continue to fly into the 21st century.

Design and development

The design began life in a requirement by American Airlines for an airliner to replace its Douglas DC-3s. Convair's original design, the unpressurised Model 110 was a twin-engined low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction, with 30 seats. It was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines and had a tricycle landing gear and a ventral airstair for passenger boarding. The prototype Model 110, registration NX90653 first flew on July 8, 1946. By this time, American had changed their requirements to require pressurization and deemed the design too small. The first prototype was used by Convair for development work for the 240 series before being broken up in 1947.

Convair 880

The Convair 880 was a narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller and faster, a niche that failed to create demand. When it was first introduced some aviation circles claimed that at 615 mph (990 km/h) it was the fastest jet transport in the world. Only 65 Convair 880s were produced over the lifetime of the production run from 1959 to 1962, and General Dynamics eventually withdrew from the airliner market after considering the 880 project a failure. The Convair 990 was a stretched and faster variant of the 880.

Design and development

Convair began development of a medium-range commercial jet in April 1956, to compete with announced products from Boeing and Douglas. Initially the design was called the Skylark but the name was later changed to the Golden Arrow, then Convair 600 and then finally the 880, both numbers referring to its top speed of 600 mph (970 km/h) or 880 ft/s (268 m/s). It was powered by General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets, a civilian version of the J79 which powered the F-104 Starfighter, F-4 Phantom and Convair B-58 Hustler.