Born from the ashes of WWII, Convair grew to become one of the largest aircraft manufacturers of its time. Yet, within 43 years of it being founded, the company had ceased all operations, with the world forgetting Convair ever existed.
A pioneer in both military and civil aviation (even if the latter was a resounding failure) the company was able to expand into the space industry, producing rockets used during the height of the Space Age…
Incredibly, a few of the rockets Convair designed are still used by NASA today!
Pre-Convair: Consolidated And Vultee
In 1923, former US Army Aviator-turned industrialist, Reuben H. Fleet, chose to use his knowledge and passion for aircraft to form a brand new aircraft manufacturer, which he called the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.
As a former military aviator, Fleet drew upon his memories learning to fly – something that was quite dangerous in the 1920’s – to begin designing basic military trainers, which soon proved to be quite popular with both the US Army and US Navy.
Capitalizing on his success producing military trainers, Fleet would begin producing airmail and passenger aircraft, coinciding with the rise of the first airlines as we know them today, with these aircraft similarly selling extremely well too.
In 1932, Gerard Vultee and Vance Breese would form the Airplane Development Corporation, which would soon be merged into another aircraft manufacturer, AVCO, which designed and produced singe engine airliners, namely the Vultee V-1.
In November 1939, Gerard Vultee would reorganize AVCO, establishing Vultee Aircraft as a separate company. Vultee immediately set out to design and produce basic trainers for the US military, which soon sold extremely well, due to the onset of WWII in September 1939.
The success of Vultee’s basic trainers gave Vultee the money it needed to finance development of its first fighter aircraft, the Vultee P-66 Vanguard, which soon became instrumental in the Pacific Theater (especially in Chinese hands!)
Pre-Convair: Enter WWII
Although WWII had technically started in September 1939, the US (where both Vultee and Consolidated were based) had mostly stayed out of the war, with its only real involvement being the establishment of Lend-Lease in March 1941.
Despite the US officially being neutral and not a real threat to them, Imperial Japan chose to attack the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Although the most of the ships were later repaired, this attack was seen as a declaration of war by the US.
First, the US declared war on Imperial Japan, who’d attacked them. Then, the US declared war on Japan’s ally, Germany, who was currently in the midst of fighting the British (who the US had been helping for several months through Lend-Lease).
This move essentially brought the US into WWII, with the US military requiring thousands of new aircraft to help fight the Axis. As long-established military contractors, both Consolidated and Vultee received lucrative government contracts to develop new aircraft.
However, Vultee’s aircraft were seemingly too advanced for the time, with the US military not being interested in the highly advanced Vultee aircraft.
Not wanting their factory space to go to waste, Vultee would contact aviation giant, Vought TBU, to license-build its brand-new TBY Sea Wolf (as Vought had no capacity to produce the Sea Wolf due to orders for the F4U Corsair).
Although it saw limited combat, the Sea Wolf would soon prove to be an invaluable WWII aircraft.
Forming Convair
In November 1941, prior to both Lend-Lease and US involvement in WWII, founder of Consolidated Reuben H. Fleet, would sell his stake (34.26%) in Consolidated to AVCO, with the assumption that Consolidated would be merged into AVCO’s Vultee subsidiary.
However, US law stated that if AVCO wanted to do this, they needed to be the majority shareholder in Consolidated Aircraft, thus requiring AVCO to own 75% of the company. And Consolidated Aircraft’s other shareholders weren’t selling.
Alas, by March 1943, AVCO had managed to acquire the remaining 41% of Consolidated Aircraft stock it required to become Consolidated Aircraft’s largest shareholder, thus merging the two into Consolidated Vultee Aircraft.
Whilst still a subsidiary of AVCO, this newly formed company was the fourth largest corporation in the US, in terms of the value of government contracts it had, even being in front of aviation giants Boeing, Douglas Aircraft and Lockheed!
Due to the company’s long name, the company began to be colloquially referred to as Convair (as in Consolidated Vultee Aircraft) by both the aviation community as well as by the press, eventually leading to the company’s employees using the name!
Seeing this the company soon changed its name from Consolidated Vultee Aircraft to simply Convair, a name it would continue to use
Over the course of the war, Consolidated Vultee would build over 35,000 aircraft (with the US producing 300,000 aircraft in total) which was more than any other US aircraft manufacturer during the war!
Post-War Expansion
The end of WWII in 1945 would devastate the aviation industry as a whole. During the war, companies had sunk billions of dollars to increase production for the war effort, which often saw massive factories be built, covering hundreds of square miles.
With the end of the war, many of these factories sat dormant, often being sold for a fraction of their true value, before being torn down to make way for new sports stadiums, commercial airports or for real estate development.
Not long after the war, however, the friendship between the East and West broke down. Within 18 months of the war ending, the world was now locked into the Cold War, with the threat of a Third World War hanging in the balance.
Hoping to dissuade the Soviets from further aggression through a show of force, the US began to ramp up its military once again, awarding the largest aircraft manufacturers (at the time) numerous contracts for brand new aircraft.
Although technically one of the largest aircraft manufacturers of its day, Convair hoped to impress the US military with one really good aircraft that the military actually needed, rather than several mediocre aircraft the military didn’t really need.
This aircraft would be the huge B-36 Peacemaker nuclear bomber. Whilst more expensive than its counterparts, the Peacemaker was the only aircraft of its time that could carry the extremely large first-generation hydrogen bomb to the USSR without needing to be refueled mid-flight.
Owing to the Peacemaker’s huge size (being one of the largest aircraft of its day), Convair attempted to produce a military transport variant of the Peacemaker – the XC-99, although this never got past flight trials.
Between 1946 and 1954, a total of 384 B-36 Peacemakers would be produced.
Entering The Jet Age
During WWII, British and German engineers had produced the first jet engines. A few years later, both the Soviets and Americans would develop jet engines of their own, thus opening up the concept of faster, jet-powered fighters to both sides.
As one of the US’s largest aircraft manufacturers, Convair was extremely excited about the invention of jet engines in the United States, with the company beginning to design new jets almost instantly.
Initially, the company focused on trying to use eight jet engines to create a jet-powered bomber, which it called the YB-60, that was designed to rival Boeing’s brand-new, jet-powered B-47 Stratojet, all to no success.
Seeing this, as well as the lucrative contracts for all-new fighter jets, the company vowed to focus solely on producing fighters. To that end, the company designed the F2Y Sea Dart twin jet seaplane for the US Navy, which would first fly in 1953.
Although only five F2Ys were ever built, 1953 would also see the first flight of the famed F-102 Delta Dagger all-weather interceptor, which would sell 1,000 times (and later be developed into the F-106 Delta Dart, which would sell 342 times).
Despite its earlier vow, the mid-1950’s would see the company develop the world’s first supersonic jet bomber, the B-58 Hustler, which would be feared by the Soviets due to its immense speed, and ability to carry nuclear weapons!
Entering The Civil Market
In 1947, Convair would release the CV-240 turboprop airliner, which the company intended to be the successor of the famed Douglas DC-3. Whilst the CV-240 never lived up to the DC-3’s success, the CV-240 was still quite a successful aircraft.
Over the course of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, Convair would develop many variants of the CV-240, both for commercial and military use, which has seen the CV-240’s service life expand even to today!
In total, almost 1,200 CV-240s (including its many variants) would be built, between 1947 and 1954.
Despite the CV-240’s success, the company was forced to cease production of the type, as they were focused on trying to stay modern. In the 1950’s, this meant producing jet airliners (since de Havilland had released the Comet in 1952).
To that end, the company would design and build the Convair 880. Whilst a shorter aircraft than its competitors, like the 707 and DC-8, the company had made the jet one of the fastest on the market, banking on the hope that airlines preferred speed over capacity.
In order to make the jet even more attractive, the company also packed as much cutting-edge tech (for the 1950’s anyway) into the jet, before it entered service with Delta in 1960.
Yet, despite its superior speed and technology, airlines wanted a mixture of speed and capacity, not just speed. As a result, the jet only sold 65 times, with Delta soon retiring the CV-880 in favor of the 707.
Trying to salvage the deal, the company would develop a longer variant of the CV-880, which it called the Convair 990 (known as the “Coronado” in Swissair service) which similarly sold quite poorly, selling only 37 times!
Sub-Contractor
In 1947, AVCO sold its controlling share Convair to American investment firm, Atlas Corporation. Seven years later, in 1954, Atlas Corporation would sell the company to General Dynamics, where it would become the Convair division of General Dynamics.
Over the course of developing both the CV-880 and CV-990, General Dynamics had sunk a fortune into both aircraft, with the combined 102 copies sold not even covering a fraction of the jets’ development costs.
Not wanting to ever repeat this again, General Dynamics forbade Convair engineers from designing new aircraft in its entirety.
On the surface of things, it appeared as though Convair had gotten out of the aviation game, instead focusing on producing military aircraft. In reality, however, Convair had simply removed the risk.
You see, General Dynamics accountants had realized that the commercial aviation industry was growing at a rate far greater than they’d expected, with aircraft manufacturers having far too many orders to fulfill.
Having the production lines and trained staff (who’d built the CV-880 and CV-990), General Dynamics’ Convair subsidiary soon began negotiating contracts to become a sub-contractor for civil aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas.
Although it occasionally did other sub-contracting jobs, Convair’s specialty was manufacturing aerostructures and airframes, building the airframes for the 747-100, 747-200s, Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, DC-10 and MD-11.
This is something it would do from 1965 until the subsidiary’s dissolution in 1996.
Enter The Space Age
As one of the US’s major aerospace companies following WWII, Convair chose to diversify their interests beyond just aircraft, following Boeing’s lead by establishing a missile subsidiary in the early 1950’s.
Over the course of the 1950’s, Convair-built missiles would become a staple of US ICBM bases as well as US Navy ships (with most of their naval surface-to-air missiles having been built by the company!)
As time progressed, however, Convair expanded beyond missiles. You see, in 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, thus starting the Space Race, with Kennedy claiming that they’d put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s.
Essentially starting from scratch, Convair would develop numerous rockets that would be launched into space.
Although these rockets would never carry humans, they were instrumental in launching the US’s own satellites, which have gone on to play a huge role in modern US history.
In 1965, the company would announce that it would cease producing new aircraft.
At the same time, the company would cease designing any new missile systems and/or rockets, although they didn’t immediately stop producing them, instead choosing to complete its remaining contracts.
The company would only break this rule on one occasion, when it developed the AGM-129 stealth, nuclear, air-launched missile, in 1983, in conjunction with its parent company, General Dynamics.
Dissolution
On August 15 1990, the majority shareholder of General Dynamics, billionaire industrialist Henry Crown, died. Following his death, the new CEO of General Dynamics chose to divest many of the company’s less profitable subsidiaries.
Despite being the crown of the General Dynamics empire (no pun intended) and still quite profitable, the new CEO set about selling off the Convair subsidiary in its entirety!
Unable to find a buyer for the entire subsidiary, General Dynamics was forced to sell the various divisions of the subsidiary to different customers.
In 1992, General Dynamics announced that Convair’s Missile Systems division had been sold to Hughes Aircraft, merging it into the company’s pre-existing missile systems division.
Two years later, in 1994, Convair’s Space Systems division would be sold to the Martin Marietta, who’d similarly merge it into their pre-existing space division.
Over the course of the 1960’s and 1970’s, both Martin Marietta and Convair’s space divisions have worked closely with one another due to both company’s receiving overlapping contracts from the US Government.
For much of the early 1990’s, General Dynamics had tried to sell of the fuselage sub-contracting part of Convair. However, unable to find a buyer, General Dynamics and the other aircraft manufacturers terminated their remaining contracts in July 1994.
What Remains of Convair Today?
Following all of this, General Dynamics would deactivate all remaining legal rights of the Convair subsidiary, including its name and logo. Despite not using the name officially, however, parts of the former Convair subsidiary still live on today…
After Hughes Aircraft’s acquisition of Convair’s Missile Systems division, Hughes itself would be acquired by Raytheon in 1997. Hughes’ Missile Systems division would become the Raytheon Missiles Systems division of the company.
Likewise, Martin Marrietta (who acquired Convair’s Space Systems division) would merge into Lockheed Corporation, forming Lockheed Martin. Today, Lockheed Martin’s space division is almost entirely comprised of the former Convair Space Systems division!
Having been headquartered in San Diego for its entire corporate existence, most of the company’s factories had been located in and around the city. Since the subsidiary was dissolved, however, these factories had stood empty.
After all, the companies that bought the remnants of Convair no longer needed the old Convair factories, as they had their own.
In an attempt to give these factories a second life, many of these factories have been converted into stadiums and shopping malls, or even used car dealerships!
Alternately, these factories have been torn down to make way for residential housing, with the street names having aviation-themed names, that allude to the aircraft that had previously been built on the land.
Convair had also been the city’s largest employer, with as many as 18,000 San Diegans being employed by the company at its height. Since being sold off, however, these San Diegans have left the city due to their jobs no longer being in San Diego.
Legacy
Despite having been officially out of business for almost three decades, Convair has left an incredibly large impact on the aviation industry as a whole, one that we can still see today!
Aviation Industry
During its heyday, every major aircraft manufacturer in the United States relied on Convair in order to make its famed jets, giving the company an incredible amount of power on the industry. Even whilst the company itself didn’t make any airliners…
With the dissolution of Convair in 1996, the US aerospace industry went from having four major commercial aircraft manufacturers to only three.
Although this may not seem like much, this allowed the US commercial aircraft manufacturing industry to become a triopoly, which thus opens up Pandora’s box to a whole bunch of other problems!
However, that’s not all. The year previously, in 1995, Lockheed merged with Martin Marietta, forming today’s Lockheed Martin. The failure of the TriStar had pushed Lockheed out of the commercial aviation market, which was then carried over to Lockheed Martin.
By August 1997, Boeing had amassed such a market share on the US aviation industry, that it was able to acquire McDonnell Douglas, thus giving the US two major aircraft manufacturers, only one of which still produces commercial aircraft!
General Dynamics
For much of its corporate history, Convair would be a subsidiary of aerospace giant, General Dynamics. Although not one of its most profitable divisions, the Convair subsidiary would be one of General Dynamics’ most famous!
In terms of revenue, the Convair subsidiary was also one of General Dynamics’ largest, with its government contracts for missiles, rockets and fighter jets being particularly lucrative (although high costs prevented it from being the most profitable).
Despite this, General Dynamics would not be out of the aviation business for long. Despite General Dynamics vowing that it would never re-enter the aviation industry, the company would buy private jet manufacturer Gulfstream, in 1999.
Since taking control of Gulfstream, many of Convair’s former employees have returned, moving to Gulfstream’s headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, and have helped to make some of Gulfstream’s more recent (and most successful) private jets!
Do you remember Convair? Which is your favorite Convair aircraft? Tell me in the comments!