Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 25, Wednesday, December 7, 1960 Page: 3 of 8
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Wednesday, December 7, 1960
CONVAIRIETY
Page 3
NORTHEAST’S FIRST—No. 1 Convair 880 jet transport going to Northeast
Airlines was readied in all-out push in Convair SD field operations for last week
delivery date. At left, field operations mechanics check out GE engines. Center shot
shows Arthur DeBaca polishing armrests and Norman Bezio checking installation ot
oxygen masks. At right, first Northeast 880 soars aloft on maiden flight Nov. 26.
Flight to Boston was made in 4 hrs., 17 min.
Caged' Models Expedite
Antenna Development
A refined facility to speed de-
sign of antennas going onto air-
borne vehicles of the future is
under development in Convair SD
electronics’ antenna laboratory.
Models (l/40th scale size) will
be “put behind bars” in the elec-
trodynamic cage in the lab’s
working area on the roof of
Bldg. 51 at Plant 1 to find ex-
actly where antennas must be
located for highest effectiveness.
The cage, an 8-ft. cube, is a
modification of a similar facility
used during design of low fre-
quency antennas on Convair 880
and 990 jet transports. The lab’s
nine other outside pattern ranges
are used during development of
antennas with higher frequencies.
The measurement facility con-
sists of electrically-insulated par-
allel metallic plates, charged,
during tests, with alternating
voltage of 100 volts, at 100,000
cycles per second. The other two
sides, and top and bottom, are
strung with stretched wires at
three-inch intervals with resis-
tors installed between the wires
to keep the electrical field uni-
form. Their specific purpose is to
eliminate “fringing,” or distor-
tion between the two plates.
The model, whether plane, mis-
sile, or space vehicle, is attached
to a non-conducting bar in the
center of the cage. A test probe
(simulating the antenna) is con-
nected to a meter on the model.
As the model is rotated on the
bar, deflection of the meter is
observed and radiation pattern
plotted.
From information gathered, an-
tenna lab research specialists lo-
cate the electrical center of the
aircraft; measure curvature fac-
tor; and establish effective height
of proposed antenna.
“Direction-finding sense anten-
nas must be located exactly at
the electrical center of aircraft,”
Patterson to Assist
GD Board Chairman
W. H. Patterson, assistant to
J. R. Dempsey, Astronautics
manager, is now on a 90-day
special assignment to Frank Pace
Jr., General Dynamics Corpora-
tion board chairman. Patterson
will end his special assignment
Feb. 28, 1961.
explained Milton Chazotte (Dept.
7-10), assistant group engineer
in charge of transport antenna
program. “This point varies with
individual configuration of the
vehicle.
“Whenifthe antenna is properly
placed, the ‘zone of confusion’
CAGED—C. J. LaBrie of Con-
vair SD electronics antenna group
adjusts model of Convair 990 in
electrodynamic cage, new meas-
urement facility under develop-
ment in SD antenna lab.
over the ‘target’ location is re- ^
duced and the exact spot can be
pinpointed at once with reversal
of needles on the pilot’s control
panel.”
The new facility will streamline
research procedure, making
gathering of information infinite-
ly easier, quicker, and safer, said i
Chazotte, who reports to Kirk
Abbey, antenna lab group engi-1
neer.
Although the previous method
used at San Diego—involving a
much smaller electrostatic cage
—required more time, it never-
theless produced the new-concept
ADF antennas familiar on the
upperside of Convair’s jetliners.
Housed in fiber glass panels, they
ride tandem on top of the fuse-
lage and provide highly accurate
over-station behavior. Specifica-
tions require a plus or minus 10-
degree zone of confusion margin,
but Convair’s 880 direction find-
ing antennas proved during FAA
certification flights to be within
one degree!
1,000 Greet Jet 880
On Boston Arrival
Northeast Airlines’ first Con-
vair 880 was greeted by an
enthusiastic crowd of over 1,000
spectators on hand to welcome
the gleaming white ship last
Wednesday as it swept down
to land at Logan International
Airport, Boston, Mass.
Cross-country flight from
San Diego took 4 hrs., 17 min.,
just ten minutes longer than
Pilot W. D. Carrier’s estimated
time. Turbulent air near Boston
delayed descent a few minutes,
he said, though entire flight
was termed “good.”
Average ground speed over
the 2,730-mile route was chalk-
ed at 638 mph with top speed
of 692 mph recorded between
Farmington and Evansville,
Ind. The Convair jet airliner
cruised at around 33,000 feet
as it winged coast to coast.
First of Six Jet 880s
Delivered to Northeast
For East Coast Service
Convair SD last week made
delivery of the first of six 880
jet transports being readied for
Northeast Airlines. The second
jetliner was due for delivery
flight early this week.
First flights and deliveries
followed close on the heels of an
announcement two weeks ago of
a lease agreement between Gen-
eral Dynamics Corporation and
the airline. The 880 jetliners and
necessary spare parts will be
leased to Northeast Airlines for
a seven-year period with options
for renewal and purchase.
Early deliveries of the 880s
were made possible by release of
six delivery positions held by
880s Log Two Million Air Miles
During Six Months With Delta
Convair 880 jetliners have
flown nearly two million miles
during their first six months in
service with Delta Air Lines, first
airline to take delivery on Con-
vair jet transports.
Delta Air Lines, which now
operates seven of the Convair
880s over its airline network in
the East and Middlewest, took
delivery of its first Convair jet
last February. Convair 880s went
into passenger service in May of
this year.
Since then they have flown
1,901,178 revenue miles and car-
ried 99,641 passengers, with an
average load factor of 59.95 per
cent.
Revenue ton miles flown were:
mail, 338,061; express, 86,865;
freight 331,300; and excess bag-
gage, 110,830. The fleet utilized
46.92 per cent of available reve-
nue tons.
Total revenue hours flown were
3,994.
Delta has ordered a total of 12
Convair 880s from the Convair
SD plant with two more sched-
uled for delivery within the near
future.
Convair 880 jet service now is
available between Atlanta and
Chicago; Atlanta and New York;
Atlanta and Dallas; Houston,
New Orleans, Washington/Balti-
more, and Philadelphia; and
Houston, St. Louis, and Chicago.
Round-trip service is starting
this month between Chicago and
Miami and Cincinnati and Miami.
Renamed 990, Follow-on Jetliner
Returns From Ramp Ground Test
Convair’s first 990, formerly
known as the 600, is due back at
the main Convair SD plant this
week as it winds up ground test-
ing at the SD seaplane ramp.
The 990 is the follow-on jet-
liner to Convair’s 880.
Moved out of the factory the
weekend of Nov. 20, plane No. 1
has been in the hands of SD sys-
tems dynamics lab test engineers
the last two weeks and a half
as it was put through vibration
tests. It will go into a series of
operational checkouts before go-
ing to field operations to be
readied for first flight some time
in January.
Jet 990s Nos. 2 and 4 are in
final assembly at Plant 1, while
ship No. 3 was due to go to the
seaplane ramp this week for
a several-month structural test
program.
Hughes Tool Company.
Northeast’s No. 1 plane went
aloft on its maiden flight Satur-
day (Nov. 26) after an all-out
effort by SD field operations
crews, and soared off for the air-
line’s Boston, Mass., headquar-
ters early Wednesday (Nov. 30).
At the controls was W. D. Car-
rier, Convair SD production
flight captain, with Capt. Eugene
Rooney, Northeast pilot, in the
co-pilot’s station. Flight engi-
neers were Jack Rogers of Con-
vair SD and George Brown of
Northeast.
(Both Capt. Rooney and Brown,
together with three other North-
east pilots and one other flight
engineer, were at the San Diego
plant last summer for SD pro-
duction flight’s ground school.)
Carrier and Rogers will re-
main at the Boston airline base
for a month to train Northeast
crews.
In charge of this week’s de-
livery flight of the second 880
to go to Northeast is A. P.
Wilson, Convair SD production
flight captain, and L. J. Rice, SD
flight engineer. Capt. Rooney ex-
pected to return to San Diego to
accompany the second jet on its
flight to Boston.
First Convair 880 will be put
into service the middle of this
month between Boston, Philadel-
phia, and Miami, according to
James W. Austin, Northeast’s
president and general manager.
As the other 880s are delivered
they will all, with the exception
of one reserved for flight train-
ing, go into commercial passen-
ger service over the airline’s
network which serves the East
Coast from Montreal to Southern
Florida.
All of the first four 880s are
scheduled to be in the hands of
Northeast by Dec. 15 with the
remaining two, now in final as-
sembly at Convair SD, due for
first flights and delivery in Feb-
ruary.
In another lease agreement,
Northeast has contracted with
General Electric Co. to provide
turbojet engines for the six 880s.
The Convair jets are powered by
CJ-805-3 engines with reversers
and sound suppressors.
MARKED—Brilliant paint job on Convair's first 990 jet transport displays new anti-shock bodies on wings, designed to cut down air drag for greater speed,
emblem on tail distinguishing latest jetliner from sister series. Shot at left, caught Large pods house General Electric CJ-805-23X engines. In center, V. H. Larson of
during move from SD factory to seaplane ramp for vibration tests, clearly shows SD field operations makes adjustment on new-type GE thrust reverser.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 25, Wednesday, December 7, 1960, periodical, December 7, 1960; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth777500/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.