Comments on: Convair 880: Speed and Beauty

By: cloudpainter

cloudpainter — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:28:32 +0000

Delta Convair 880: a new picture with this link:
http://cloudpainter.canalblog.com/archives/2011/03/04/20546742.html
Atlanta airport, the arrival of the all first class Convair 880

By: Cloudwalker

Cloudwalker — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:08:35 +0000

I had the privilege of flying the 880, first out of the Chicago base, then Atlanta. I flew all of Deltas 880s before Elvis bought his, so I flew the Lisa Marie (which I toured at Graceland). Here’s how the story goes:
Shortly after Elvis earned enough money to buy his own airplane, he hired a retired Delta Captain as his pilot and gave him his choice of airplanes to purchase. Memphis was earlier a Delta pilot base flying Super Connies, and many Delta pilots retired there. This captain retired from Delta on the CV-880, and like all of us who flew it, believed it the strongest 4-engine jet built, despite it’s common electrical problems. He arranged the purchase from Delta and hired his son as his co-pilot. The Lisa Marie sat lonely, for years, on the Cincinnati ramp, before the new terminal was constructed there. Beware Gene Raymond, the head 880 FAA Check Pilot who enjoyed eating us alive!

By: jrl22

jrl22 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:11:59 +0000

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

By: Yukon 880

Yukon 880 — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:36:31 +0000

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!

By: Marie Force

Marie Force — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:14:39 +0000

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

By: mayor

mayor — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:21:37 +0000

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.

By: Yukon 880

Yukon 880 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:00:05 +0000

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!

By: jrl22

jrl22 — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:05:14 +0000

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)

By: elvisromania

elvisromania — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:00:41 +0000

Delta have flight in Romania?

thanks, i’am from [link=http://www.elvisromania.ro]Elvis[/link] Romania Fan Club

By: mattymattel

mattymattel — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:44:23 +0000

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).