Convair 880

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The Convair 880 was a 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, faster and safer, a niche that failed to create demand. Only 65 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. A stretched and faster model of the 880 was the Convair 990.

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 remains, after the 990, the fastest US built airliner, cruising at around Mach 0.87 powered by General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets (a civilian version of the famous J79 turbojet). After production the FAA mandated additional instrumentation, which Convair added by placing a "raceway" on the top of the fuselage, rather than ripping apart the interiors over the wing area.

The first production version, the Model 22, first flew on January 27, 1959; there was no prototype testing. The design entered service with Delta Air Lines just over a year later, in May 1960, slightly modified as the 880-22m, having newer version 805-3B engines. 880s were flown by Alaska, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Japan, KLM, Northeast, Swissair, TWA and VIASA, and one of Elvis Presley's private jets was an 880. The last aircraft was withdrawn from commercial service in 1974.

As they left commercial service, many 880s were bought by American Jet Industries for various uses. One example was converted to freighter use in 1974, and flew until 1982 with various companies. Another was used to train FAA flight examiners until it was destroyed in a minor explosion in the cargo hold in 1995. Most of the remaining examples were scrapped in 2000. One was used as a movie prop for the Amazing Stories television program. The 58th Convair 880 is now serving as a restaurant in East London, South Africa. (see Goleta Air and Space for more information)

According to renowned Convair 880/990 expert and author Niall Booth, there are only nine airframes left in the world as of December 2005 - 5 in the United States, and one each in Haiti, Portugal, Venezuela and South Africa. None are airworthy, and only one is properly preserved - Elvis Presley's Lisa Marie (named after his daughter), at Graceland in Memphis.

The 880 was introduced too late to become a real player in the jetliner market, and the greater speed came at the cost of increased fuel use. The plane never became widely used and the production line shut down after only three years. General Dynamics lost around $185 million over the life-time of the project, although some sources estimate much higher losses. It is generally agreed that the losses incurred in the Convair 880/990 were the largest losses incurred by a corporation up to that time. The aircraft was involved in 17 accidents and five hijackings.

A modified version of the 880 became the Convair 990 Coronado, produced in parallel between 1961 and 1963.

1 Specifications
2 Users
- 2.1 Civil Operators
- 2.2 Military Operators
3 External links

[edit] Specifications

Wing span: 36.58 m
Length: 39.42 m
Height: 11 m
Passengers: 88-110
Crew: 3
Power: 4 General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets (52.85 kN)
Weight: 42 tons (empty), 83 tons (maximum)
Range: 5120 km
Ceiling: 10,700 m

[edit] Users

[edit] Civil Operators

Operator of CV880 (Unsorted): Delta Air Lines, Trans World Airlines, Northeast, VIASA, Swissair, Cathay Pacific, Japan Air Lines, Civil Air Transport, Airtrust Singapore, Air Viking, Four Wings Inc., Indy Air, Freelandia Travel Club, Central American Airways, Inair Panama, LatinCarga, Groth Air, Monarch (USA), Profit Express and SECRA