I flew on a Convair 880-22M owned and operated by the Four Winds travel club round trip Indianapolis - Bahamas in 1976, the return trip on the flight deck. Fantastic aircraft.

I love watching this what these guys were doing a few years before I was born 1961 was remarkable over 60 years later I can board a beautiful aircraft because of their dedication and hard work, most of those people are sadly gone now God bless them all 🙂

My Dad worked on the Lisa Marie (Elvis's Convair 880) at Steward Davis at Long Beach Airport when it underwent an extensive rehab. My Dad was not big on music and one day the guy overseeing the job came into the cockpit where my Dad was working and asked him if he knew whose plane he was working on. My Dad said no and the boss told him this plane belongs to Elvis. My dad said (true) who is Elvis? He told him he is a world famous singer! My father said "I will tell you this when he gets this bill he will sing"!

I loved flying the Convair 880. It was a wow experience especially for a 15 year old!

I wish there was one of these flying today ! What a classy aeroplane.

Thank you for the footage on the Convair 880. I grew up in San Diego and took the bus, (at 12 years old ) to San Diego Airport in the 50s on the weekends to watch the airliners come and go. This was when the terminal was on Pacific Coast Highway. I was fortunate to be at the Airport to see the First Flight of the 880. Very exciting. Thanks for the Good Memories. By the way, I did end up being an Airline Pilot.

I love these old promotional reels! Especially covering the aircraft models that never really caught on. It's good to maintain this history. Thanks so much for posting.

The 880 and 990 were amazing aircraft structurally. The 3M ScotchWeld process eliminated the need for rivets, but rivets were added anyhow. System-wise, they were complicated and over-designed, which meant maintenance-intensive, despite what this film claims. They were fuel guzzlers, even for their day. Despite all this, they have an amazing 'aura' about them, and the five across seating was actually more spacious than the six-across on the Boeings.

These historical films improve with age offering a glimpse into a time of excellent travel,,

I have said this before, but worth repeating. I want to thank you for crediting GDS Creations, that's me, for this footage. I worked hard to acquire the footage from General Dynamics and after quite some time, found a super-nice woman who appreciated my passion for these classic airliners. I was lucky enough to find equally as helpful and nice people at Boeing and LAX for my other two videos. I am happy that you posted these and very much appreciate the credit. These old jets have been my passion since growing up at the end of the approach lights to runway 22-L at JFK in the 1960's. Miss those days!!!

Before people morphed into gigantic human elephants.

2:20 That's not an aisle... that is a highway!

Wow, I honestly never heard of the 880, Damn fine machine!

Flew on the 880 in 68 coming home from Germany to finish out my tour of duty for the Army. It seemed like it was creaking and groaning while we were crossing the Atlantic. A long ride!

I remember being aboard a Delta flight on a Convair 880 many years ago, and noticing as much about the airplane as I could. It turned out that the 880 was certified to use the inboard thrust reversers in flight as speed brakes. The only airplane certified to do so. =PC=

The corporate write off for General Dynamics at the end of the 880/990 programs was the largest in history up to that time. Both programs were enormous failures. BTW, Howard Hughes (TWA) assisted in this debacle.

God love Elvis....He appreciated the 880!

Very interesting!! Thanks for sharing!

My old 1965 passport with a stamped mark of immigration revealed, I rode this Convair 880 from South Korea to Philippines Int’l Airport. Just 6 days ahead of the Beatles coming in 1966 July 3rd. Might have been so terrible in the Airport. The Beatles rode Convair 880 from HongKong however as shown in Esquire magazine photo. The Jet-plane was the fast after all. I didn’t remember the feel and image of the Jet-plane but the fondness the stewardesses had on me as 6 yrs old boy back then 😊

To this day the Convair 880 and 990 still hold various route speed records. The 990 has a top speed of 640 mph!!

Fascinating to see the Scotch Welding process, amazing engineering and assembly techniques advanced in these programs. Meanwhile, NASA was working on the manned moon project!

great video! I do believe this is the same model aircraft purchased by Elvis Presley, he named his Convair, Lisa Marie

I used to work for Marriott in flight catering at FLL we catered for Delta, Eastern, Northwest, National. Delta had the 880 and the 1 time we catered Elvis Presley's Lisa Marie. After Marriott I wound up flying as an F/A for Eastern Airlines from 1976 to 1989 based in SJU and MIA.

Awesome!

I rode on one of these back in 1967 with my grandmother from Pittsburgh to LAX. Didn't know what it was at first, thought it was a 707 till I got inside and asked the hostess why there was only 5 across seating, she told me it wasn't a 707, but a Convair 880. Also thought the door was funny looking but the flight was very good.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I remember flying to or from Florida, from O'Hare to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale in an 880. The crown logo sticks in my head. It seemed to be a more deluxe plane, than the other jets.

As. Plane spotter at Glasgow airport in the 70,s I remember spantax flying them, they were lovely to look at but noisey, smoke driven aircarft

Elvis had one called The Lisa Marie....Man he loved those Gold toilets and sinks.

As a Canadian I watch these vintage jet aircraft videos and I just shake my head in bewilderment and disgust. Why you ask? Nearly 10 years prior to this aircraft and others, Avro Canada had built and flown a Jetliner in the summer of 1949! The Avro Jetliner was the world's 2nd, taking to the skies just weeks after the Dehavland Comet. It was the 1st to fly in North America. Howard Hughes was so impressed he wanted to buy a fleet of them for his new TWA airlines. But of course, in typical Canadian fashion, the lame government of the time put production on hold and the only Jetliner built was grounded and eventually scrapped.

I actually flew these as a pax. They were quieter than any current ship.

The 880 and 990 were both great airplanes.

Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing aka 3M.

Flew on them Atl to Cvg on Delta in the early 60s.

Have a growing collection of civilian and military aircraft documentaries.Especially enjoy early commercial jet airliner programs!

Wow, they sure didn't last over 20 years in service like they were hoping! Surprising how quickly 727 and then 737 swooped in, and look at Southwest, ALL 737 fleet, that's amazing!

like it !!!

Elegant airplane for it's day. Great documentary.Was that Walter Cronkite narrating? =PC

A shame that this company is no longer producing passenger aircraft

I seem to remember 5 abreast seating and not 6. I guess airlines thought they lost money but this was a good plane just the same. Japan Airlines flew them as I recall.

The CV-880 and CV-990 stressed highly on performance at expense of operating economics and both were sold poorly. Had they built a more "economical" variant, things might ended up differently. In contrast Boeing 707 have a much broader appeal with 2 variants and some degree of customization based on airline's request.

its dising is expectacular it is a great a airplane and I am 100% sure that other aircrafts manufactures copy the whole airecraft GOOD FOR CONVAIR CV 880 WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PLANE I WISH A COULD FLY IN THAT TIME BERNARD ARJONA FROM VENEZUELA MORE THAN 20 CONVAIR 580 FLEW IN VENEZUELA

Hard to believe all the exhaust fumes in take offs and landing..those poor people living around the takeoff paths..pouring all over their homes..yikes! Air pollution! OMG! I was born in 1951, I guess that’s the way it was in 1959….I earned my pilots license in 1988..always an aviation enthusiast..I still work in Aviation today as the director of Aircraft Fleet Management ..things have changed!!

What I found bizarre was that Cathay Pacific was running operations from HK to Perth and HK to Sydney with these. They had to operate them as a milk run service to make that kind of distance, topping the tanks as it went.

After the 880, general dynamics built the boeing 757 fuselage

$175,000 oven? Gotta be Thermador and Viking.

Its hard to believe there was actually a time like that in America, the country is in a major decline.

The "880" was Elvis's private plane, The Lisa Marie. I remember the 990 better ...American Air Lines flew them.

They figured they would beat Boeing and Douglas with speed. If you could have come up with the same seating arrangement plus the faster speed, you would have been competitive with Boeing and Douglas. It helped Boeing eminsley that they had already developed the B-52 and the C/KC-135, especially the C/KC-135.

Take a close look, but at about the 31:04 mark, there appears to be a 880 in Capital Airlines colors sitting at the terminal...

What was the name of the military version of the CJ805-3 engine?

It's great to watch commercial airliners moving forward step by step, adding features and creature comforts. The 880 didn't seem to be very competitive, 4 or 5 across vs 6 with the DC-8 and 707. As an aviation junky speed means more to me than most PA's who are far more concerned with departure times that a 8 minute advantage over it's competitors and there would be a fuel cost to get that speed. No wonder Delta went heavy on the DC-8 and TWA with the 707, rather than buying more 880's

I feel so sorry for that Vice President. It was a dismal faliure and they were out of touch with the customer.

Note the lack of any safety equipment

It seems that more resources go into the construction than the product! And all for a few planes, about 50 or so (?), B.T.W. whats a ' rowt ' (15.10) or is he Canadian?

In 1963 I drive to the airport in my 1963 Pontiac Catilina with a421 super duty under the hood. Then I climb aboard my Convair 990 and fly to Los Vegas life is grand I just need lots of fuel.

Ahora en el XXI siglo falta poco que la gente viaje en calsoncillos y a pata pela...

6:40 - 0 chem, safety equipment .... niiiice

It looks like they burned coal! Those were some smokers on the wings!

What happened to the company? I've never heard of them until watching this film.

M. D

No one talks like this anymore. Shame.

19:20 What a dirty bird!

Video is moot as the Boeing 707 became the industry standard--Convair was the Hudson Auto Company of the aviation world...fine airplanes but rejected

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Boeing killed them!

Total bust.

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