This month in 1960, our second jet–the Convair 880–arrived. It set a transcontinental record on its February 10 delivery, flying San Diego to Miami in 3 hours, 31 minutes and 54 seconds. Average speed was almost 642 miles per hour. Sounds like a good reason to share one of my favorite graphics from the Delta Archives: a Convair 880 brochure open to show front and back covers.
You can see where someone wrote on the back cover in pen, listing the new, fast times between cities: Chicago-Houston, 2 hours, 3 minutes; New York-Houston, 2 hours, 59 minutes; Chicago-Memphis, 1 hour, 15 minutes; and Memphis-New Orleans 56 minutes.
We started the world’s first Convair 880 service on May 15, 1960, initially between Houston and New York.
By the way, did you know that one of Delta’s former Convair 880s was purchased by Elvis Presley as his private jet, named “Lisa Marie” after his daughter and is now on display at Graceland, Elvis’ home in Memphis, Tennessee?
Marie Force
Archives Manager
February 27th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Marie,
to date, I think the “Lisa Marie” is the only preserved example of this amazing jetliner. Incidentally, the 880 used the civil version of the same engines as the Air Force’s supersonic B-58.
Brian
February 27th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
When was Delta’s last Convair 880 flight?
I have seen pictures of Lisa Marie, it would look much better in the Delta widget sitting in Atlanta next to Ship 102!
February 27th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I had one flight on an 880–MSY to CVG. As I recall, the seating was 2-3 as on the DC-9. Admission to Graceland includes a tour of the Lisa Marie–it’s worth a visit.
February 28th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I was also curious what New York airport this first flight was to. Was it Idlewild?
February 28th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
My Dad flew the CV-880 for Delta,as an FE and Copilot. Was a very fast airliner,still holds the coast to coast record in the US. Sure could smoke though,remember one pulling away from the gate at IAH,smoke billowing over the blast fence.
Last flight was around 1974,most of the 880s ended up either on charter airlines,or in Central/South America.Later most of the TWA and a few Delta ships,ended up being bought up by Torco,where the engines were to be used for natural gas generators. That plan fell through,and the fleet sat for 20 plus years in the Mojave Desert,finally being scrapped a few years ago.
One of the strongest airframes produced,it’s downfall was the small cabin,high fuel consumption,and competition from Boeing(B-720).
March 1st, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Delta have flight in Romania?
thanks, i’am from [link=http://www.elvisromania.ro]Elvis[/link] Romania Fan Club
March 7th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Yes the 880 was one slick airplane … first of my four flights on the type was in first class aboard Ship 8809 (which is the one parked at Graceland); I also flew on 8801 and a pair of TWA jets
Interesting how DL and TW were about the largest operators of both the 880 and the L10 … both were aesthetically and functionally remarkable pioneers in their class, but both wound up essentially “orphan” types because neither manufacturer was able to get market penetration (880 production was on the order of 65, 720 and 707-100 both about 150, and DC8-10/20 about 50; L10 production was 250, D10/M11 about 650)
March 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
It was the “Delta Queen” (Ship #902) that Mr. Woolman accepted on February 9, 1960 at the Convair plant in San Diego. The speed record that was set the following day, eclipsed the previous coast-to-coast record by twenty-seven minutes! That record was set a month earlier by a Delta DC-8 on delivery from Santa Monica to Miami. Convair delivered a total of 17 CV-880’s to Delta, they served as ship #’s 901 through 917. Interestingly, Delta was the only airline to utilize Convair’s original suggestion for an all-first-class configuration. The “Aristocrat of the Jets” came to Delta with 12 seats in the forward lounge and 74 seats in the main cabin. For a time, every seat on Delta’s Royal Jet Service 880’s, was First Class!
Thanks Marie for remembering a classic, very near and dear to Yukon’s heart!
March 11th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I can remember the view from DL’s cargo terminal at ORD in the 70’s when DL’s and TW’s 880’s would push out and fire up. The gates were across from one another and from our vantage point, it looked like the terminal was on fire from all the smoke.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Wow, the Convair 880 gets people talking! Thanks everyone for sharing your memories of them – I enjoyed reading them.
For those wondering . . . we retired our last 880 in January 1974. Replaced them with the more fuel-efficient Boeing 727-200. Delta’s inaugural 880 flight flew into JFK. Marie
March 14th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Marie, we should talk about the 880 more often!
If historical accounts are correct, Delta introduced the Convair 880 to the world with the departure of Flight 870 from Houston to New York-Idlewild, as it was then known. Ship #902, the “Delta Queen” had the honors for the Inaugural Service, and was followed some 15mins later by Ship #904, which operated Flight 873 from Idlewild to New Orleans.
For those of you who are familiar…
was there ever a commercial jetliner that looked as sleek as an all-white, Delta 880, in the Golden Crown livery???
For the moment, we’ll rule out the Concorde, it that’s okay with Y’all!
March 16th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Yukon -
Alaska Airlines operated a couple of 880s in a gold-and-white color scheme, but in all objectivity I would have to give the subsonic “sleek” award to AA’s bare-metal 990