Convair 440 at Billund

[Conc]

I have flown into Billund several times this week and there is a Convair 440 parked on the GA apron. Does anybody know who it belongs to or what it is doing?

[EGAC]

It is registered CP-1040 and is in the colours of NEBA - North East Bolivia Airlines of Cochabamba from where it has had a leisurely delivery flight via Opa Locka in Florida.

I understand it is to be restored to SAS colours to fly for display purposes and possibly for passenger rides too.

Photograph here:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/626866/M/

[EGAC]

Lots more information on the Convair's delivery and future prospects at this link. There's also a further link within to many interior and ramp shots of it at Billund.

http://propliners.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=1106051822&f=6376074032&m=328105467

[Daysleeper]

Well I hope its more successful than Atlantiques foray into the piston Convair world. There is a good reason they put Alison 501s on them you know.

[Biggles Flies Undone]

I caught the SAS Metropolitan flight from Kristiansand to Copenhagen (via Alborg?) a few times in the 70s. I remember that there was so much vibration on take off that stuff used to fall out of the overhead racks. Can’t imagine the modern breed of airline passenger putting up with that – I can just imagine the tabloid headlines.....

[Flip Flop Flyer]

Well, if it is put pack in service for leisure flights, one would imagine that your standard Mr. and Mrs. Bucket would hardly be the target audience! It would probably rather be aeroplane buffs who would throughly enjoy the rattle and shake, and at the end hope the anti-shake function on their digital cameras lived up to the promises made.

I once enjoyed a "thank you" ride in the Lufthansa Traditionsflug tri-motor Junkers, and that still stands as one of "the" moments flying as a passenger.

PS
The "thank you" was for providing them with a complete engine and parts manual for the Wright (R1830?) donks, which LH had foolishly lost moving from ... hmm ... was it Frankfurt to Berlin? Anyway, the company I worked for back then had a very comprehensive library in the cellar, and I was lucky to find a complete, albeit rather dusty, set of manuals. The inhouse off-set printer made copies (including the pages that folds out from A4 to A2, and bound in top quality hardback binders with LH, our Company and Wright logo's - no expenses spared) and we dispatched the books at a token charge of something like USD 25. I belive the copying, printing and binding alone ran into a couple of hundred USD, if not more, but the boss was an old fashioned gentleman who was just happy (as was I) to do his little part in keeping this piece of history flying, so screw the cost and just get it done. Not many of those around today.

[treadigraph]

I had a ride in the Metropolitan Cv-440 LN-KLK many moons ago - whatever happened to that? Great fun! SLR in those days...

[doublewasp]

I remember that there was so much vibration on take off that stuff used to fall out of the overhead racks.

I doubt that.

[The Old Fogducker]

Interesting comment on the vibration. I only flew on two legs as a passenger and sat between the engines each time. I recall a lot of shaking in the cabin, but nothing specific.

On the other hand, in cruise the props were out of sync most of the time. This would cause an area of about 2 square feet of gravel, dust, dead bugs, bits of candy wrapper, loose washers, and who-knows-what-else to vibrate from one side of the aircraft to the other. Some of the stuff would get airborne about a half inch off the floor.

As I'd watch this collection of debris buzz its way across the floor from left to right, I could see it coming my way, and feel it in the seat .... then it would travel into my ear canal and felt like there were a hundred bees trapped in my head!

A few seconds later, it would travel across the cabin in the other direction.

Made me wonder what was happening to the innards of the airframe over thousands of hours.

Regards to all,
Fog

[Biggles Flies Undone]

doublewasp - I promise I'm not making it up. I'm thinking of one particular take off from Kristiansand and maybe some luggage wasn't stowed very well - but I clearly remember several items clattering down during the take off roll.

It was actually quite an interesting flight. Sunday departure with only about 5 pax and solid IMC all the way to Alborg - it was fascinating to watch the ice build up around the engines and then whip away in the slipstream. The pilot gave a short talk about the aircrafts history in about 5 different languages, which I thought was pretty cool.

While we were on the ground at Alborg a stunningly beautiful FA sat opposite me and asked if she could practice her English on me :O She told me that SAS didn't want to get rid of the Convairs because of their low operating costs on the thin routes and that all the crew who flew them belonged to a special 'club'. I think she said it was called the Gooney Bird Club (although I do know that was the nickname for the DC 3).

[doublewasp]

Biggles - I guess that's showbiz. What a shame we don't have aeroplanes with that amount of character these days.

[madman1145]

Hi there;

Yeah, there is a Convair 440 here at Billund Airport, getting a huge major overhaul ..
It's Copenhagen Airports that has bought the bird, for pleasure I suppose (www.cph.dk) ..
It's also the model that was the first SAS plane to fly domestic between Billund and Kastrup, when Billund oppened 40 years ago, so beside a SAS history it also has a history at Billund ..

The word is that she was indeed thirsty, eating some 800 liters of oil for here trip to Denmark. A full-time job pumping that to her engines. Also 3 cylinders wasn't working, they knew that and she had plenty left, so :} ..

So we are looking forward to se her in flying conditions when time comes ..

[Nardi Riviera]

Treadigraph:
LN-KLK is on display in the Stavanger Aviation Museum. Cost of keeping airworthy too high for owner. Believe its last flight was to/from North-Norway (routes operated by SAS CV-440 until fall 1972) celebrating the airline's 50th anniversary in 1996.

Biggles Flies Undone:
The CV-440 club in SAS was called "Nuser All Stars" (Snoopy in danish) and sported a huuuge stuffed toy Snoopy as their mascot.

:rolleyes: :D :p

[Biggles Flies Undone]

That's it - the Snoopy Club! Brings back happy memories of flying in real aeroplanes. Thanks for that :ok:

[Nardi Riviera]

Biggles – Real aeroplanes? Maybe for us "youngsters" – but:

Recall a few statements from the guys who handled those critters in real-time:

Pilots: Crossing the Atlantic in a prop-job was done at relatively low flight levels (playground for the evilest of weather-gods). Invigorating exercise for pilots fighting the controls (no "George") on a looong flights Shannon – Gander. Weather reports then were obviously not as reliable as today's, and alas no radar in the nose.

Mechanics: Starting a cold 2800 was like playing the bass fiddle in a symphony orchestra – if your fingers didn't work together in the right sequence fast enough, the conductor called time-out! Then everybody start from the beginning...

The CV-440 had Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines. As many other a/c before that: http://www.enginehistory.org/NoShortDays/Conclusion.pdf
The DC-3 had (has) Pratt & Whitney R-1830 (Wasp) engines.
The Wright engine was used by the legendary brothers way back around 1903…

Of course turbines are easier to handle than pistons, that's why the 580 was refitted.

There's no better sound than the rumble of radial engines! Miss them very much.

PS: http://www.sasflightops.com/history/Metropol/metro.htm

Happy New Year, all! :D :D :D