The World’s Fastest Subsonic Airliner: The Convair 990A Coronado

Video from the channel Mustard about Convair, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:05. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video tells how Convair developed the 990, presented as the fastest subsonic airliner in history, and why it was a commercial failure.

The Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8 dominated the market for the first American jets. Convair launched the 880 a year later, seeking a niche for a smaller, faster and more luxurious medium-range jet; Delta's first 880 set a transcontinental record on its delivery flight with an average of 665 mph, but it sold barely a few dozen units. In 1958 American Airlines asked for an aircraft that would cross the country at least 45 minutes faster. Boeing considered it impossible, and Convair agreed with a cruise guarantee of 635 mph and penalties worth millions.

The 990 added a fan to the 880's turbojets to create the first commercial aircraft with a turbofan, with 40% more power, a wing with 39 degrees of sweep, and anti-shock bodies on the trailing edge that also served as fuel tanks. It flew in January 1961, but aerodynamic drag and vibrations kept it from reaching the promised speed and range. In autumn 1961 American cut the order and the guarantee dropped to 620 mph, which the 990A ended up meeting. Convair lost close to 500 million dollars on its jets and never built commercial aircraft again; after the fuel crisis of the 1970s, airlines got rid of them.