Convair 880 variant
Convair 880 880 (Model 22)
Initial production version of the Convair 880, covered by the FAA Model 22 type certificate. It first flew on 27 January 1959 with no prototype ever built: the first production airframe was also the first to fly. Four General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets in underwing pods, a three-crew flight deck and five-abreast seating for up to 110 passengers.
- January 27, 1959
- First flight
- 48
- Units built
- 4,578 km
- Range
- 110
- Passengers
History
An airliner designed to be the fastest
Convair began work on a medium-range commercial jet in April 1956 to compete with the products Boeing and Douglas had already announced. The design was called Skylark first, then Golden Arrow, then Convair 600 and finally 880: both figures referred to the intended top speed, 600 mph or 880 ft/s. Model 22 was the type-certificate designation covering that initial version.
The powerplant was the General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojet, the civil version of the military J79 that powered the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom and Convair's own B-58 Hustler. That inheritance explains the aircraft's main selling point: on its introduction some in aviation circles claimed that at 990 km/h it was the fastest jet transport in the world.
From first flight to the FAA hump
The first Model 22 took off on 27 January 1959. There was no prototype: Convair certified the production version directly. Once manufacturing had started, the Federal Aviation Administration mandated additional instrumentation, and Convair solved the problem by adding a dorsal raceway hump along the top of the fuselage to route the wiring, rather than tearing apart the interiors over the wing area. That spine is the 880's most recognisable feature and was carried over to the 990.
Final assembly of both the 880 and the 990 took place at Convair's facilities in San Diego, California.
Figures for this version
The technical data attached to this variant come from the 22 / 22M comparison table published in Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965-66: empty weight of 87,400 lb and maximum take-off weight of 184,500 lb, against the higher figures of the 22M. The tabulated range, 2,472 nautical miles, assumes a 22,500 lb payload and 14,000 lb of reserve fuel.
Undercut by the Boeing 720
Five-abreast seating made the type unattractive to airlines, and Boeing was able to offer the 720 — a minimal modification of the 707 already in production — at a significantly lower price. On top of that, the General Electric engines had a higher specific fuel consumption than the rival's Pratt & Whitney JT3Cs. The result was a short production run and an orderly Convair exit from the commercial airliner market.