Cargo Turboprops & Convair 440 Conversions

[Moseby]

I suggest including two very important aircraft in the available inventory during times that would be appropriate in any particular game.  First, the Vickers Merchantman (a converted Vanguard); this aircraft enjoyed a very active and long service career.  Several have been preserved in UK museums one of which is still flying.  Second, would be the new construction of and conversion of Convair 440s to twin engined turboprops.  Famously, these served with North Central Airlines out of Chicago and Detroit for many years.  I flew them to Madison, Wisconsin and to Duluth, Minnesota (the latter in February 1972, in a blinding white out blizzard with at very best a 500 foot ceiling on final at Duluth, and the captain landed with a grease on as if it were merely routine -- with a 30 knot crosswind to boot and an iced runway).

The Convairs mostly had Allison 501 D Series engines of around 3750shp each.  Also, Napier and Rolls-Royce engines were tried with the R-R engines enjoying some success.  These were real aircraft with the type given as a 580 or 640 depending on the conversion.  Currently, a fully stretched freighter version is available as a 'new' aircraft with the designation being 5800.  It is reported that 2 or 3 aircraft are delivered yearly, mostly in Alaska / Canada service.  BTW, with 7000+ Allison horses available, a lightly loaded 580 could, allegely, out climb an F86 to 12,000 feet should the pilot be so inclined.

Cheers Sami.

[ArcherII]

Sami has said that all the data is ready, but, despite the amount of aircrafts in service even in the 80s in GW2, adding the TP Convairs is not a priority for now... .

Which is kind of odd, given that there's been the addition of D328NEU recently.

[Verto]

Would really like to see the Convair 440 conversion in game - props have much longer lives now with the performance changes.

[Brovine]

I think the biggest problem is you can't get any performance change out of the turbo Convairs without having them a separate fleet group - which makes them not very useful. It may be waiting for fleet grouping overhauls.

The new D328 can be part of the same fleet group, so no big deal to add it.

[ArcherII]

I think the biggest problem is you can't get any performance change out of the turbo Convairs without having them a separate fleet group - which makes them not very useful. It may be waiting for fleet grouping overhauls.

Better noise certification though

[Talentz]

I think the biggest problem is you can't get any performance change out of the turbo Convairs without having them a separate fleet group - which makes them not very useful. It may be waiting for fleet grouping overhauls.

The new D328 can be part of the same fleet group, so no big deal to add it.

This is probably the bigger reason why its on the back burner. Adding to an existing fleet is alot less work vs creating a whole new fleet group. More data, time ect.

Besides, just a straight conversion (within the CV240 ect fleet group) would not be desirable. The biggest improvement of the CV-580 vs the 240/340/440 is cruise speed. It's speed is equal or bit faster then a viscount. Take that away and the CV-580 becomes a marginley better M404... Factor in the new wind/fuel calculations and its much greater range means very little.

In summary, it needs its own fleet group... Plus we haven't address the biggest issue that will come up the sec a CV-580 is converted: Adding another fleet group (most likely a 4th) and causing the player to BK; would just open yet another flame thread about fleet common.


Talentz

[Tha_Ape]

So while very much wanted, not really useful until fleet commonality is reviewed. Hopefully something will come up soon (AWS-wise, that is).
There are some very good ideas in the combined thread, and also in the individual ones. We just need to call Finnair so they give Sami more holidays