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Aviation Traders Carvair
Miloch wrote in
: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair The Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair was a large transport aircraft powered by four radial engines. It was a Douglas DC-4-based air ferry conversion developed by Freddie Laker's Aviation Traders (Engineering) Limited (ATL), with a capacity generally of 22 passengers in a rear cabin, and five cars loaded in at the front. Design and development Freddie Laker's idea to convert surplus examples of the Douglas DC-4 and its military counterpart the C-54 Skymaster to carry cars was a relatively inexpensive solution to develop a successor to the rapidly aging and increasingly inadequate Bristol 170 Freighter, the car ferry airlines' mainstay since the late 1940s. The Bristol Freighter's main drawback was its limited payload, in terms of the number of cars that fitted into a single aircraft. Even the "long-nosed" Mark 32 was able to accommodate only three cars (in addition to 20 passengers). This made carrying cars by air a very tricky business. If a booked car failed to turn up, the flight instantly became unprofitable as a result of the one-third cut in payload. This situation was made worse by the increasing average length of British cars during the 1950s. The average UK car in 1959 was 25 centimetres (9.8 in) longer than in 1950. The extreme seasonality of the car ferry business furthermore resulted in poor aircraft utilization outside peak periods. Moreover, repeated takeoffs and landings on short cross-Channel flights, in turbulent air at lower altitudes with tight turnarounds of as little as 20 minutes, made the aircraft prone to structural fatigue problems. These necessitated rigorous and costly modification programmes, thereby further increasing the type's operating costs on what were essentially low-yield routes. When the major airlines replaced their obsolete piston airliners with new Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 jets on their prestige long-haul routes, the unit price of second-hand DC-4s dropped to as little as £50,000 (equivalent to £1.2 million today). The conversion of each of these airframes into car-passenger carriers cost about £80,000 (£1.9 million today). This was easily affordable by smaller airlines, such as the car ferry companies. Freddie Laker's cardboard model of a converted DC-4 featuring a door in the nose and a flight deck raised above the fuselage had shown that its payload was superior to the Bristol Freighter/Superfreighter. The aircraft was designed to accommodate five average-sized British cars plus 25 passengers as a result of the DC-4's longer and wider fuselage. British Air Ferries (BAF), for example, operated its Carvairs in a flexible configuration, either accommodating five cars and 22 passengers or two-three cars and 55 passengers, permitting it to change over from one configuration to the other in about 40 minutes. In addition, the DC-4's lack of pressurisation made it ideal for low-altitude cross-Channel flights that did not go high enough to require a pressurised cabin. This made the proposed structural conversion straightforward. The result was a new aircraft christened Carvair (derived from car-via-air). Initially, it was thought that second-hand, pressurised Douglas DC-6 and Douglas DC-7 airframes could be converted into larger, "second generation" Carvairs within 15 years of the original DC-4-based Carvair's entry into service. The conversion of the original aircraft entailed replacing the forward fuselage with one 8 feet 8 inches (2.64 m) longer, with a raised flightdeck in a bulbous "hump" (akin to the later Boeing 747) to allow a sideways hinged nose door. It also entailed more powerful wheel brakes and an enlarged tail, often thought to be a Douglas DC-7 unit, but actually a completely new design. The engines, four Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasps, were unchanged. Role Transport Manufacturer Aviation Traders First flight 21 June 1961 Introduction 16 February 1962 with Channel Air Bridge Status Retired from service Number built 21 conversions Developed from Douglas DC-4 The Carvair was used by Aer Lingus, BUAF and BAF among others, and was used in Congo-Kinshasa during 1960–1964, under contract to the United Nations. Aircraft for Aer Lingus were quickly convertible between 55 seats and 22 seats with five cars. Some aircraft were pure freighters with only nine seats. One aircraft had 55 high-density seats and room for three cars. BAF was the last operator in Europe of the aircraft, keeping them flying into the 1970s. British United Carvairs made an appearance in the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger as Auric Goldfinger and bodyguard Oddjob boarded G-ASDC bound for Switzerland while Goldfinger's Rolls-Royce car was being loaded through the Carvair nose. In the 1967 TV series The Prisoner in the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben", the plane is seen being loaded through the nose, then taking off and landing again. Accidents and incidents Of the 21 airframes, eight were destroyed in crashes: Rotterdam, Netherlands 1962 Karachi, Pakistan 1967 Twin Falls, Canada 1968 Miami, Florida, United States 1969 Le Touquet, France 1971 Venetie, Alaska, United States 1997 Griffin, Georgia, United States 1997 McGrath, Alaska, United States 2007 The first of two catastrophic incidents occurred at Karachi on 8 March 1967 when F-BMHU of Compagnie Air Transport (the fourth produced) suffered a double engine failure on take-off and, as a result of the large cargo carried and the rarified atmosphere, the aircraft lost height rapidly and the pilot was forced to make a landing on the National Highway near the airport but struck the Drigh Road railway bridge and several vehicles, killing four of the crew of six plus seven others on the ground. The second catastrophic incident was near Miami, Florida on 23 June 1969 when HI-168 of Dominicana Aviation (the sixteenth produced), after three aborted taxi-outs due to the crew being unhappy with engine performance, finally took off grossly overloaded but suffered again a double engine failure and in trying to return to the airport crashed into a main street east of the airport. When the entire fuel load exploded and caught fire it set fire to many buildings despite the efforts of the 14 fire trucks that attended and took 45 minutes to quell the fire. The four crew and six on the ground were killed, with another 12 on the ground injured. The accident at Griffin in the United States in April 1997 involved the fifth production Carvair which suffered catastrophic engine failure during the takeoff run and failed to become properly airborne. The aircraft crashed into a vacant Piggly Wiggly supermarket past the airport perimeter, killing both pilots. Who else remembers the most famous Carvair, the one used by...Auric Goldfinger? |
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Aviation Traders Carvair
In article , Mitchell Holman
says... Miloch wrote in : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair The accident at Griffin in the United States in April 1997 involved the fifth production Carvair which suffered catastrophic engine failure during the takeoff run and failed to become properly airborne. The aircraft crashed into a vacant Piggly Wiggly supermarket past the airport perimeter, killing both pilots. Who else remembers the most famous Carvair, the one used by...Auric Goldfinger? As a military dependent back in the day, I've flown in a C-54...one word...noisy!!...four Pratt/Whitney radials and no sound insulation will leave your ears ringing after a long flight. * |
#3
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Aviation Traders Carvair
Miloch wrote in
: In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair The accident at Griffin in the United States in April 1997 involved the fifth production Carvair which suffered catastrophic engine failure during the takeoff run and failed to become properly airborne. The aircraft crashed into a vacant Piggly Wiggly supermarket past the airport perimeter, killing both pilots. Who else remembers the most famous Carvair, the one used by...Auric Goldfinger? As a military dependent back in the day, I've flown in a C-54...one word...noisy!!...four Pratt/Whitney radials and no sound insulation will leave your ears ringing after a long flight. I have heard the Tu 114 failed as an airliner because it was so loud that passengers refused to book trips on it. Even submerged submarines could hear it pass overhead. |
#4
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Aviation Traders Carvair
In article , Mitchell Holman
says... Miloch wrote in : In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair The accident at Griffin in the United States in April 1997 involved the fifth production Carvair which suffered catastrophic engine failure during the takeoff run and failed to become properly airborne. The aircraft crashed into a vacant Piggly Wiggly supermarket past the airport perimeter, killing both pilots. Who else remembers the most famous Carvair, the one used by...Auric Goldfinger? As a military dependent back in the day, I've flown in a C-54...one word...noisy!!...four Pratt/Whitney radials and no sound insulation will leave your ears ringing after a long flight. I have heard the Tu 114 failed as an airliner because it was so loud that passengers refused to book trips on it. Even submerged submarines could hear it pass overhead. Back in the 60s, my father would fly anything available he was rated in just to qualify for his monthly flight pay...often it would be an old B-25. He hated 'em because his ears rang so bad my mother would have to speak louder than normal for him to understand her. When I went into Army aviation, at least we had helmets...his generation was stuck with just earphones (and according to the movies...a 50 mission crush hat!) * |
#5
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Aviation Traders Carvair
Miloch wrote in
: In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair The accident at Griffin in the United States in April 1997 involved the fifth production Carvair which suffered catastrophic engine failure during the takeoff run and failed to become properly airborne. The aircraft crashed into a vacant Piggly Wiggly supermarket past the airport perimeter, killing both pilots. Who else remembers the most famous Carvair, the one used by...Auric Goldfinger? As a military dependent back in the day, I've flown in a C-54...one word...noisy!!...four Pratt/Whitney radials and no sound insulation will leave your ears ringing after a long flight. I have heard the Tu 114 failed as an airliner because it was so loud that passengers refused to book trips on it. Even submerged submarines could hear it pass overhead. Back in the 60s, my father would fly anything available he was rated in just to qualify for his monthly flight pay...often it would be an old B-25. He hated 'em because his ears rang so bad my mother would have to speak louder than normal for him to understand her. My father flew B-26's and had significant hearing problems later on. Of course he did a lot of hunting and that didn't help any..... |
#6
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Aviation Traders Carvair [2/3] - flight helmet clothe.jpg (1/1)
In article , Mitchell Holman
says... Miloch wrote in : In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : I have heard the Tu 114 failed as an airliner because it was so loud that passengers refused to book trips on it. Even submerged submarines could hear it pass overhead. Back in the 60s, my father would fly anything available he was rated in just to qualify for his monthly flight pay...often it would be an old B-25. He hated 'em because his ears rang so bad my mother would have to speak louder than normal for him to understand her. My father flew B-26's and had significant hearing problems later on. Of course he did a lot of hunting and that didn't help any..... Somewhere in my attic I still have both his clothe and leather flight 'helmets' from the 40s...same as these two. In primary, he flew old Ryan PTs with their open cockpits and in advanced flew North American T-6s...so you had to have something on your head! When I went into Army Aviation in '68 we were given these Gentex helmets...later they handed out 'sound-proof' helmets which were no better than the original Gentex! * |
#7
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Aviation Traders Carvair [3/3] - flight helmet vietnam era.jpg (1/1)
In article , Mitchell Holman
says... Miloch wrote in : In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : In article , Mitchell Holman says... Miloch wrote in : I have heard the Tu 114 failed as an airliner because it was so loud that passengers refused to book trips on it. Even submerged submarines could hear it pass overhead. Back in the 60s, my father would fly anything available he was rated in just to qualify for his monthly flight pay...often it would be an old B-25. He hated 'em because his ears rang so bad my mother would have to speak louder than normal for him to understand her. My father flew B-26's and had significant hearing problems later on. Of course he did a lot of hunting and that didn't help any..... Somewhere in my attic I still have both his clothe and leather flight 'helmets' from the 40s...same as these two. In primary, he flew old Ryan PTs with their open cockpits and in advanced flew North American T-6s...so you had to have something on your head! When I went into Army Aviation in '68 we were given these Gentex helmets...later they handed out 'sound-proof' helmets which were no better than the original Gentex! * |
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