Convair CV-240 family
The Convair CV 240 ConvairLiner is a passenger aircraft for short-haul of the U.S. aircraft manufacturer, Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. The low-wing monoplane had a pressurized cabin as the first twin-engined airliner. Production started in late 1947, set in 1958. According to new demands from the United Airlines CV was further developed for CV 340 240 in the early 1950s.
Construction
As of March 1945, Convair developed for civil aviation by tendering the American Airlines Convair CV 110 The machine with 30 seats was not built in series due to the limited payload and the lack of pressurized cabin. Convair then built with more powerful engines, the slightly larger CV 240 with 40 seats and cabin pressure. The seating arrangement was 10 rows with 2 2 seats and aisle. The new type was rectangular instead of round cabin windows. Two doors with built gangway reduced the dependence of ground facilities and accelerated passenger handling.
The two Pratt & Whitney R -2800 radial engines drove three-bladed variable pitch double fixed speed of ( constant speed ). The retractable undercarriage was fitted with a nose wheel. The wing had a sweepback of about 4 °, the tail unit was designed conventionally. The rudder and the wing trailing edge are made of fiberglass reinforced plastic. On March 16, 1947, the prototype of the Convair factory airfield started in San Diego ( California ) to the first flight.
Civilian use
American Airlines ordered 75 aircraft of this type in order to use from 1 July 1948 for the short-haul traffic. Soon after, Pan American Airways ( 20), KLM (12) Western ( 10), Garuda ( 8), Sabena (6) Continental ( 5), Trans Australia ( 5), Swissair was followed by ( 4), Ethiopian Airlines (3 ) and LOT ( 2 ) with further orders. A total of 176 aircraft were to airlines and other private owners. So the guy was commercially successful. A CV 240 became famous because it was used by John F. Kennedy during his election campaign as a VIP machine.
Between 1957 and 1961 continued the German Air Service GmbH (as of November 1, 1961 Condor service) five acquired by KLM machines charter a (D - BELU, D- BEPE, D- BESI, D- BATA, D- BOBA ). D- BELU crashed on July 31, 1960 during the approach from the airport of Rimini. Between September 1960 and September 1961 D- BOBA flew loan for Lufthansa.
The CV 240 remained with the major carriers to about the mid-1960s in use, only to give way to the emergence of modern short -haul jets like the Boeing 737. Many machines were sold to airlines in Asia, Africa and Central and South America and used there until the year 2000. 41 machines were provided with an additional reinforcement of the cell and a seating of 48 seats from the mid-1960s with Rolls- Royce Dart turboprop engines ( Dart RDa.10 / 1, Mk.542 with 2223 kW/3025 WPS power) and as CV 600 continue to operate.
Military use
The United States Air Force ( USAF) ordered in 1954 the type with a large cargo door as cargo aircraft Convair C- 131A Samaritan. With this pattern, which was designed primarily for the transportation of casualties, up to 27 wounded were transported in a lying or sitting 37 injured. From the C- 131A 26 pieces were procured. In 1959, the USAF ordered 369 machines as training aircraft Convair T -29, which was used to train navigators, bombardiers and radar operators. In the late 1970s, almost all of these military aircraft variants were retired. The National Guard, however, used the C- 131A and T -29 in part until about 1995.
Stock
In May 2004, were still 14 machines available, 7 of them airworthy. 78 were lost due to accidents.