Convair CV340

This set contains multiple versions of the Convairliner in multiple series variants. It carries 22 passengers in the game and can be bought from 1951 to 1981.

This entry contains the basic set:

Included are all the required parts and a few liveries:

• Swissair from the 1940s
• Swissair 1965
• Lufthansa
• two generic, Cblend-repaintable versions
• two blank variants

The set requires the Aircraft Toolbox     to work.  Addon kits containing additional European or worldwide liveries or the CV580 turboprop version are available.

It comes with a soundset, multiple animations, internal cameras, aging/dirt effects and can be built as asset.

A few words on the types history:

The Convair 240 series was designed as a larger, more advanced replacement for the DC-3/C-47 that was ubiquitous after WW2. After an initial design by the name of Convair 110 was rejected by the airlines, the greatly revised 240 then featured a modern tricycle landing gear instead of the tailwheel, a further enlarged, much more comfortable pressurised passenger cabin and higher cruising speeds. 

Multiple versions were built of the new aircraft. The 240 series was already a success and sold to many airlines all over the globe. A revision in 1951 added a further passenger row and some minor technical refinements, resulting in the CV340. The ultimate piston-engined version of the series was the CV440 that for the first time had a weather radar installed and also received a major revision to the engine nacelles.  On their trailing edge, an enlarged, square exhaust port was installed which used the fast flow from the engine exhaust stacks to push the engine cooling air out, resulting not only in a little additional thrust but also improved engine cooling. Convair offered a tool and parts kit to the airlines they could install to upgrade the 340s to 440s, most of the 340s received this revision.

The aircraft proved itself well all over the world. It was not until the advent of jet-powered airliners like the 737 in the late 1960s that the Convairs were retired from first-line duty. But this was not the end of the type by far. Many were sold on to smaller operators, some aircraft even had their radial engines replaced by turboprop engines and then were called CV580 or 600 (depending on the engine installed). One very enterprising company even took to lenghtening the fuselage by 5 meters, resulting in the CV5800 freighter.

A few of these aircraft, both piston and turbine powered, are still operational to this day.