Aircraft Digest

When the Convair 880 was first introduced in May 1960, it was the fastest commercial aircraft ever built. Subsequent variants of the aircraft would hold this record until 1968, when the supersonic Tu-144 was introduced. Even today, at a time when all commercial aircraft fly subsonic (for the minute anyway!) the Convair 880 is still among the fastest airliners in history! (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Pre-Convair 880 During WWII, American aircraft manufacturers Convair and Vultee were among the largest manufacturers in the country. In 1943, both companies chose to merge with one another forming Consolidated Vultee (otherwise known as Convair). For the most part, both manufacturers had only ever made military aircraft. In 1951, the company ha...

Before the BAC-Aérospatiale Concorde was the fastest airliner in our skies, there was the subsonic Convair 990 Coronado. Just as with its supersonic friend, the Coronado was a complete failure. But why was that? When it was released, the airline industry was growing tremendously. Each new day, airlines were becoming larger, and were buying more airliners. So you'd think that the airliner would sell well... In its two years of production, the airliner only sold 37 copies. In the same period, the contemporary Boeing 707 sold 192 copies, whilst the DC-8 sold 83 copies. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Pre-Coronado In the years following WWII, the vast majority of airliners were turboprops, with the largest and fastest being the likes of the Bo...