The Convair 880 and 990 were part of the first generation of jet airliners, manufactured in the United States. These aircraft seated people five abreast and were some of the fastest subsonic aircraft in the world.
Unfortunately they were not very successful, with just 65 Convair 880s and 37 Convair 990s built. The latter is the fastest subsonic aircraft ever produced.
Convair 990 Video
An interesting video about the Convair 990 is on YouTube and linked below. It details the issues with the aircraft and why it was not a sales success.
In order to get the amount of speed required, the aircraft burned a lot of fuel. Due to this need for speed, the cabin was thinner than the competing aircraft such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 which meant it carried less passengers also.
American Airlines and Swissair were the main operators of the aircraft, while TWA and Delta Air Lines operated the 880 version. Once oil skyrocketed in the early 1970s, they were quickly withdrawn from service.
The company lost a huge amount of money on the programme and exited the commercial aviation business. This is why we are not flying on these aircraft today.
Overall Thoughts
The video is very interesting in that it shows some of the issues that Convair had with the aircraft. It certainly would have been great to fly on board one, as it was apparently quite luxurious on board.
Flying at the dawn of the jet age would have been quite a lot of fun. In addition to the 880 and 990, you could fly on the Boeing 707, Douglas DC-8, Vickers VC-10, de Havilland Comet 4, and the Hawker Siddeley Trident among others. I think I’d have liked the variety!
Did you ever fly on a Convair 880 or 990 or one of the early jets? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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I flew on all of the Swissair CV990 aircraft as a child, even the one that was a victim of sabotage in 1970 – they did London Geneva in the mid sixties to early 70s, used to love watching these, noisy, smoky and exciting. Once landed in a strong crosswind and all the contents of the overhead shelves (no lockers in those days) were deposited on the opposite side of the plane, made for a lot of fun when people disembarked!
The Convair 990 would have been great fun to go on. I believe there is one Swissair one preserved in pretty much perfect condition in a museum in Switzerland. That’s something I must visit. Great that you got to fly on board so many times. That crosswind landing would have been an experience to go through, especially with the overhead contents flying across the cabin! Thanks for the comment!
Fantas tic plane for a young coplot I was not easy with the dutchroll tendency in all configutations
I heard those early jets had a tendency to dutch roll. The early 707s had the same kind of thing. Must have kept it challenging!
As a airline mechanic I have worked on the 990 , dc8 and 707/720’s and yep the convair was a hot rod! With the aft fan version of the j79 engine!.
Would have been really something to fly on board on one those! Thanks for the comment!
I flew a Convair 880 (DL) in 1967 from MIA to ATL in 1 hour and 13 minutes (take-off to landing). It was the second jet type that I ever flew on (the first being a DL DC-8(51). When we reached cruising altitude the engines became so quiet that you could hear the wind rushing past the fuselage. I believe the plane had the nickname “Super Scooter!” Great airplane in its day!
That’s really quick! Awesome that you have flown both the DC-8 and the Convair 880. The question is, do you still choose Delta today? Haha! The Super Scooter – love it! Thanks for the comment, that was really interesting 🙂