Convair was formed by a merger between Consolidated Aircraft Corporation and Vultee Aircraft. In 1946, they designed the Convair 240, the first twin-engine, pressurized airplane. It had a range of 830 miles, a built-in stairway, and was considered a luxury liner. American Airlines, PanAm, Western Airlines, KLM, and other airlines bought these. Initially, the price was $316,000. Although the plane could hold 44 passengers, the seating was normally arranged for 32. This is not the approach that airlines take today, in case you haven't noticed.
Many old airplanes are sent to
desert boneyards. Some planes actually fly again and some end up in museums, while others are used for spare parts. But a lot of them just sit out there and decay. There has been a trend in the last decade to convert shipping containers into housing; an airplane like this seems much more elegant and full of possibilities. I just can't decide if the cockpit should be the living room or the dining room.
Posts
That looks really old Christine,Thanks for sharing this wonderful postcard!
ReplyDeleteI have driven by the airplane graveyard in Mohave California many times. Interesting site, but it has been there many years way before 9/11. Not too far from there is where the space shuttle lands when the weather is bad in Florida.
ReplyDeleteJudy
I saw the dead fleet in Tucson and was quite enamored of them. Row after row. Reminded me of the mothball fleet in Suisun which they are now FINALLY going to move.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. I believe you're onto something. A chicken in every pot and an old plane in everyone's back yard for a playhouse. I want an old 747 with the upstairs piano bar.
I'd like to live in a plane! sure it would be different, but why not!? lol
ReplyDeletei do have the cutest cats and dog....can't help it! just the way it has to be! lol
ciao bella
thanks for coming by
creative carmelina
Hi Christine,
ReplyDeleteWe moved to San Diego from Chicago in 1950 because my father got a job at Convair. He was a design engineer. We never knew exactly what he did and he was always very secretive about it. I assumed it had something to do with the military. I remember that he called us all outside to see a plane fly over that was something very new and unusual and that he had worked on. The one in your postcard is, of course , much older.
P.S. Thanks for visiting and commenting. Imagine my surprise when I went to your blog and found the connection with my father.
I shall never call you Chris!
ReplyDeleteciao bella
thanks for the visit!
carmelina
Oh my gosh,Christine ! I just read your other comment about the cartoonist on my blog. How many coincidences can there be in one day? How do you know him?
ReplyDeleteGreat story Barbara, fun to see people with connections to posts. Tattered and Lost better have a big back yard if they want to get a 747 in it!! The Bomber Restaurant in Milwaukee, OR has a B-17 on stilts in the parking lot that used to be the canopy for some gas pumps- it looms pretty large, and a 747 is more than twice the size, soooo...
ReplyDeleteI agree; Barbara's story is wonderful. I can just picture them all outside looking up at the sky.
ReplyDelete