Boeing747-400 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (13 years 9 months 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 527 times:
The other day, I was at a samll airport, a very small airport. There was Convair 440 sitting in the grass. It seemed to be still in good shape, but it was completely dark grey. It seemed to be quite a big aircraft to land in a very small airport. How big is a Convair 440 considered to be, it seemed way to big for that airport with a very short runway.
L1011 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 1589 posts, RR: 10 Reply 1, posted (13 years 9 months 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 506 times:
Eastern's Convair 440s seated 52, and they seemed ideal for short runways. They were similar to the Martin 4-0-4, which were also used on short runways, such as Key West.
CV990 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (13 years 9 months 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 505 times:
Hi!
the Convair 440 is not a big plane at least for what we're used now, but the dimensions are:
Span: 32,12m
Lenght: 24,84m
Height: 8,59m
The 440 was an evolution from the good old 240 that started in 1947 with an order from American Airlines. Then it came the 340, a strech from the 240 with 1,38m and also the wing area was increased to operate with higher weights. The first airline service was in 1952. Finnally it came the 440 also known as Metropolitan and it flew in 1955, this was a very popular short range airplane specially in Europe were many airliners flew it, Swissair, KLM, Iberia, Sabena, Jat etc.
Coronado From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 1009 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (13 years 9 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 502 times:
Is it possible you saw the turbo-prop conversion of the CV440 which became the CV580?
Northcentral operated a large fleet of them, which was then inherited by Republic and then by Northwest. I recall most of the Northwest 580's stayed white with red Northwest tiles but a few were repainted into the Northwest battleship gray with red tails.
The 440 airframe is a top 5! When allison turbo repowered, the resultant 580 was the best winter plane ever with tremendous take off and stopping power and outstanding cross wind performance. I remember landing in many a blizzard in places such as Green Bay Wisonsin , and CMX and MQT in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
I think the last of the NW 580's were retired only in the early '90's.
The Original Coronado: First CV jet flights RG CV 990 July 1965; DL CV 880 July 1965; Spantax CV990 Feb 1973
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