Convair 880

Convair 880
A Delta Air Lines 880 in flight shortly after delivery. Delta was a customer of the type, and had the second largest fleet, behind TWA.
Role	Narrow-body jet airliner
Manufacturer	Convair
First flight	January 27, 1959
Introduction	May 1960 with Delta Air Lines
Status	Retired
Primary users	Trans World Airlines Delta Air Lines Japan Airlines Swissair
Produced	1959-1962
Number built	65
Variants	Convair 990

The Convair 880 was a narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller and faster, a niche that failed to create demand. When it was first introduced some aviation circles claimed that at 615 mph (990 km/h) it was the fastest jet transport in the world. Only 65 Convair 880s were produced over the lifetime of the production run from 1959 to 1962, and General Dynamics eventually withdrew from the airliner market after considering the 880 project a failure. The Convair 990 was a stretched and faster variant of the 880.

Convair began development of a medium-range commercial jet in April 1956, to compete with announced products from Boeing and Douglas. Initially the design was called the Skylark but the name was later changed to the Golden Arrow, then Convair 600 and then finally the 880, both numbers referring to its top speed of 600 mph (970 km/h) or 880 ft/s (268 m/s). It was powered by General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets, a civilian version of the J79 which powered the F-104 Starfighter, F-4 Phantom and Convair B-58 Hustler.

The first example of the initial production version, the Model 22, made its maiden flight on January 27, 1959. There was no prototype. After production started the FAA mandated additional instrumentation, which Convair added by placing a "raceway" hump on the top of the fuselage, rather than ripping apart the interiors over the wing area. The final assembly of the 880 and 990 took place at the Convair facilities in San Diego, California.

The airliner never became widely used and the production line shut down after only three years. The 880's five-abreast seating made it unattractive to airlines, while Boeing was able to out-compete it with the Boeing 720, which could be sold much more cheaply as it was a minimal modification of the existing 707. In addition, the General Electric engines had a higher specific fuel consumption than the Boeing's Pratt & Whitney JT3Cs.

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