Aviation Traders Carvair

The Aviation Traders ATL -98 Carvair is a special cargo plane, which the British aerospace company Aviation Traders Ltd.. was rebuilt from 1961 to 1969 in 21 specimens from the U.S. commercial aircraft Douglas DC-4. What is striking is the cockpit, which has its place in a hump over the loading area, similar to the Armstrong Whitworth AW650.

History

Towards the end of the 1950s there was a need ( by Sir Freddie Laker and his company charter, the later Channel Air Bridge was and still later part was sold by British United ) on an aircraft, the same cars and their well-heeled owners to their destinations via the English Channel between Britain, Ireland and France transported. The Bristol already used for this purpose 170 Freighter or Super Freighter had become too small due to the increasing volume of traffic. Since many airlines DC -4 aircraft sold out their holdings, Aviation Traders Ltd built. a number of these machines. The cockpit was 2.08 meters long upward over the now continuous 24,74 m and max. 2.03 m high cargo compartment installed, the hull extended, added to the rear pressure bulkhead by 1.2 m to the rear and increases the vertical stabilizer. Overall, the machine was 900 kg heavier by the measures, which could be offset by savings on the interior but again. The bug could be opened for loading and unloading by one to port wegklappende and hydraulically operated flap. The first conversion began in October 1960 and the first flight took place on June 21, 1961, test pilot DB Cartridge instead of driving. The first machine (G- Anyb ) was admitted on 31 March 1962. The Carvair was five cars and transported in a compartment at the rear 22 passengers, the pure passenger version carried 85 passengers, it was desired but other configurations are possible. The name " Carvair " originated as an abbreviation of "Car via Air". The airline British United Air Ferries took early 1962 with this type of operation on, which ended on 1 January 1977. The price for a conversion amounted to about 105,000 pounds per aircraft first.

In the famous James Bond film Goldfinger in 1964 a Carvair made ​​an appearance. As the jumbo jet Boeing 747 flew with similar shape until 1969, it comes here sometimes to confusion.

After the end of the carriage of cars across the English Channel in 1973, most operators sold their Carvair to cargo airlines around the world. Overall, rebuilt 1961-1969 21 DC-4 and flew for Aer Lingus, Aviaco, Ansett -ANA, British United Airways British Air Ferries, Channel Air Bridge and Inter -Ocean Airways. A total of seven Carvairs were lost in crashes. Were three machines in service, of which one at Phoebus Apollo (9J - PAA) in South Africa, Brooks Fuel ( N898AT ) in Alaska and Gator Global Flying Services in Texas in January 2007. Three or four other non- airworthy machines also still exist.

Specifications

The Aviation Traders ATL -98 has the following specifications: