Post by volkerboehme on Feb 2, 2009 12:16:40 GMT -5
Not a California-based plane, but a piece of aviation history nevertheless. THis is the documentation found in the download of the plane by Jon Walton.
Enjoy,
Volker Böhme
===================================
Outline of the Carviar by FSAviator
===================================
Strictly speaking the Aviation Traders AT98 Carvair is not a California Classic, though perhaps only because it began operations from California after the classic era had ended. By 1982 Aero Union were sometimes operating the Carvair within California.
www.airliners.net/open.file/0996383/M/
Many pilots who were demobilised from the R.A.F. after WW2 hoped to stay in aviation. Most just looked for a job with an airline. A few decided to take the risk of starting an aviation business. Most were bankrupt within a year. Some took much longer to go bankrupt. One enterprising pilot formed a company which would later be known as Aviation Traders with the intention that it would be involved in whatever aspect of aviation would turn a profit. That enterprising young pilot was Freddie Laker.
The story of both Aviation Traders, and subsequently the Carvair, is intimately associated with what had been Rochford Aerodrome before the war, but would become Southend Airport afterwards. During the war Rochford was a Fighter Command satellite airfield, returning to civilian status at the end of 1946. Laker chose the new Southend airport as the base for Aviation Traders.
To understand the Carvair it is necessary to understand the nature of commercial aviation in the United Kingdom during the 20th century. It was dominated by one or more very large government owned and taxpayer subsidised airlines which served the wide horizons of Empire. There were at the same time a large number of regional private sector airlines serving their regional communities and filling the niche markets that the huge government owned airline(s) did not wish to fill.
Since the British Isles consist of dozens of inhabited islands there was plenty of room for air services between those islands and from those islands to Britain. The south east corner of Britain is only twenty miles from France. However for anyone in Britain wishing to travel east of France it was generally more convenient to enter Europe via Belgium or Holland. An extensive ferry network existed to satisfy that need, but boats are slow and must wait for tides.
Southend was ideally placed to serve both Belgium and Holland. Before the war Southend Flying Services operated a scheduled Short Scion service from Rochford to Ostende in Belgium. After WW2 this route was taken over by East Anglian Flying Services (later Channel Airways), initially with Dragon Rapides, but it soon expanded in all directions and in aircraft size. It looked as though East Anglian had the scheduled services from Southend sewn up. There was however an obvious opening for a Southend based charter operator and Laker soon obliged with Air Charter who were soon operating war surplus Douglas C-54s from his Aviation Traders maintenance facilities. Air Charter were mostly engaged in trooping contacts, flying the British Army and its equipment around the Empire, but later Air Charter would also operate a C-54 passenger schedule from Southend to Calais.
Whilst many post war private sector British airlines were truly independent from one another others were in reality the local branches of a larger holding company owned by the same shipping interests that operated the passenger and car ferries from Britain to Europe. More than a dozen of these 'local' airlines would eventually merge to form the British United group of airlines.
The shipping interests behind BUA soon realised that the best unexploited niche in the market was the carriage of vehicles by air. Neither the state owned BEA, nor independents such as East Anglian Flying Services, had any intention of carrying vehicles. Outside the U.K. this was considered to be something that only the military needed to do, but within the U.K. there were a substantial minority of wealthy businessmen and wealthy land owners who wanted to take their cars backwards and forwards to Europe without suffering the delays associated with boats. No sooner was WW2 over than Bristol were offering the nose loading Bristol 170 Freighter to perform that role. The problem with the Bristol 'Frightener' was of course that it was a taildragger and that made the loading and unloading of vehicles though the nose a painful process.
Air Charter soon expanded into the vehicle carrying business, probably with shipping company financial backing. Their Bristol Freighter services from Southend to Ostende, Rotterdam and Calais would later split off into a separate airline known as Channel Air Bridge. However the tide soon turned in the opposite direction and the merging of these many small airlines progressed towards the formation of the British United group within which Laker became more and more influential. During 1958 four British airlines, Hunting Clan, Airwork, Transair and Laker's own Air Charter merged to form British United Airways. Soon afterwards Laker became managing director of BUA which would briefly become the largest of the British private sector airlines.
The shipping companies behind the British United group nevertheless continued to divide their fleet of Bristol Freighters between two airlines, Channel Air Bridge based at Southend mostly serving Belgium and Holland, and Silver City Airways based at Lydd mostly serving France. They did not merge when Air Charter merged into BUA. However Laker was keen to see the merger of the vehicle carrying fleet as well. He argued that the more than thirty Bristol Freighters must be replaced by a nosewheel aircraft as soon as possible and that the new fleet should be operated by a single airline to be known as British United Air Ferries (BUAF). The working name for the nosewheel aircraft project was Car-via-air.
Laker who had operated and maintained C-54s for many years, and who just happened to own a company that specialised in major aircraft overhaul, was now in a position within the British United group to both influence and provide the solution.
The U.S. had already solved this problem with the C-130 Hercules and the U.K. was about to solve it with the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, but both were far too expensive for the needs of Channel Air Bridge and Silver City Airways. Most UK airlines operated ultra short haul routes. Few exceeded 200 miles. Each aircraft made many return trips every day clocking up thousands of wing spar cracking landings every year. It is the act of landing that wears an aircraft out, and the act of take off that wears engines out. Ultra short haul can only be profitable in cheap aircraft because they will be worn out rapidly.
Laker realised that the world wide C-54 fleet offered a large number of used aircraft which had spent their 15 to 20 years of prior existence long hauling. They had accumulated very few landings compared to their flying hours. They were now cheap, and mostly unwanted because they were unpressurised and therefore very slow. Yet they were a tough military aircraft with a nosewheel which might withstand a further 15 to 20 years of intensive ultra short hauling well below the altitudes at which pressurisation was relevant, over stage lengths so short that cruising speed was unimportant. The slow cruising speed of the Bristol Freighter had never been the problem. Laker soon calculated that the DC-4 could be converted to carry five British cars with baggage already stowed inside and up to 22 occupants in airline seats in the original rear cabin aft of the original entrance door. It was also certificated for the carriage of up to 85 paying passengers.
The first Aviation Traders Carvair conversion flew in 1961 and was soon in service with Channel Air Bridge at Southend, with continuing maintenance on hand from Aviation Traders. The merger of Channel Air Bridge and Silver City Airways into British United Air Ferries was then imposed since all the Carvairs would have their engineering base at Southend courtesy of Aviation Traders even if they were operating from Lydd. BUA, BUAF and Aviation Traders were all different companies with different shareholders, but Laker had effective control of all three and BUAF Carvairs were flown in BUA livery for several years. Laker no doubt hoped that Carvairs would replace Freighters one for one, but something unforeseen happened. Mr. Hertz and Mr. Avis were going to spoil the party.
It simply became too easy to hire a car at the destination airport. Only 23 Carvairs were created by Aviation Traders over about seven years. The need for civilian vehicle carriage by air in North West Europe was actually beginning to diminish by the time that BUAF was created, but the British United group would operate Carvairs until 1979. However before then BUAF would become BAF Cargo and, at least within the UK, Carvairs would be relegated to general cargo charter work within 15 years of their creation. In the 1970s they flew further afield, Turin becoming an important destination.
Although it was the intention that the Carvair should eventually replace the Bristol 170 it was at first used to serve longer range destinations not just from Southend but also from three other UK airports which were Lydd, Coventry and Bournemouth. From here the Carvairs soon served Basle, Geneva, Bremen, Liege, and Strasbourg as well as augmenting Bristol 170s on the high frequency Southend - Ostende and Southend - Rotterdam services. There was also a summer only Carvair services from Coventry to Calais. However both Coventry and Bournemouth were soon abandoned as BUAF hubs. It was then decided that the Carvair would never take over the less than fifty mile Lydd - Calais and Lydd - Le Touquet services.
Freddie Laker was already creating a quite different aircraft to fly the 'Le Touquet Rocket' service. That would be the BAC-111, the UK terminus would move to Gatwick, BUA would take the route from BUAF, Calais would slowly be abandoned and Lydd would wither away as an airport. BUAF flew their last Bristol Freighter service about 1967. All the Carvairs would now operate from Southend co-located with Aviation Traders, until Aviation Traders moved to Stansted in 1974 where new opportunities beckoned.
BUA became British Caledonian. BUAF split into BAF Cargo operating the Carvairs and BAF which became the world's largest operator of the Handley Page Herald. But Southend traffic was in steep decline from 1974 onwards. BAF quit scheduled flying in 1979 and BAF Cargo put all the Carvairs up for sale at same time. BAF would soon become British World Airways under new management.
Laker was long gone and now had his own airline bearing his own name and he was no longer interested in ultra short haul routes. He was going head to head with BOAC and he would soon be destroyed. Be that as it may the Carvair gave eighteen years of high frequency, short haul service from the UK on the routes above before it disappeared from British shores for pastures new.
Laker wasn't alone in believing that the Carvair was a winning formula. The Irish Government soon developed the false belief that tourism to Ireland would increase significantly if their subsidiary Aer Lingus was forced to operate Carvair services from Britain and France. Aer Lingus were ordered to buy three and operated them fairly briefly from Cork to Bristol and from Dublin to Bristol, Liverpool and Cherbourg.
They were a commercial disaster and were soon sold on to Luxembourg based Interocean Airways. During the classic era commercial aviation was dominated by the IATA cartel which rigged prices and kept them artificially high. Many governments insisted that their airlines obey IATA rules. Situated in the heart of the most densely populated area of Europe Luxembourg did not, and Luxembourg based airlines could offer world wide freight charters below IATA rates. However it seems that they were unable to attract a sufficient number of charters for outsize loads. Their Carvair fleet roamed far and wide, but not very often, and they were soon sold again.
The Spanish airline Aviacion y Comercio (Aviaco) was a subsidiary of the government owned airline Iberia, established to link the offshore islands to mainland Spain. Aviaco were the airline who opened up Palma de Majorca as a mass tourist destination using 55 seat Bristol 170 Wayfarers based there to pick up tourists from Paris. They also used the Bristol 170 Freighter to maintain a fresh produce seasonal schedule to London from various airports in Spain. Aviaco were natural customers for the Carvair. Their Carvairs were all based in Palma serving Valencia and Barcelona with high frequency.
Another early adopter of the Carvair was the Italian airline Alisud who existed to link Sicily to the Italian mainland. From 1963 they operated frequent Carvair services from Palermo to Naples and Rome, but these routes made losses and they soon sold their Carvairs to the French airline Compagnie Air Transport who existed mostly to link Corsica to the French mainland. They made much better use of the Carvairs, retained them for much longer, and used them to substantially expand their route network outside France. Cie Air Transport had two mainland Carvair hubs at Nimes and at Nice eventually serving Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi, Palma and Ibizza. Later the Carvair services to Palma flew a branch service to Perpignan before returning to Nimes or Nice via Palma.
Cie Air Transport Carvairs were also chartered to carry vehicles and other outsize loads along the old Air France DC-4 route to Saigon, especially during the Vietnam war. One of these crashed at Karachi in March 1967.
Transporta Aeriens Reunis were another French Carvair operator based in Nice offering outsize cargo charters especially to Corsica perhaps in succession to Compagnie Air Transport. They did not operate from Nimes or Perpignan but also offered Carvair services from Marseilles to Corsica, Palma and Ibizza as well as long haul charters to Indo China and the former French colonies in Africa. I don’t think they flew Carvairs for very long since they purchased a CL-44 to undertake this work in 1974.
The final original customer for the Carvair was Ansett - Australian National Airways. Their aircraft had the nose door hinges further aft creating a larger aperture which allowed one larger agricultural vehicle to be loaded last and carried in the bulged nose. Ansett ANA wanted the Carvair mostly for the vehicle service from Hobart to Melbourne (Essendon), but they probably roamed across much of Eastern Australia during their time with Ansett ANA.
With completion of the last Carvair for Ansett, Aviation Traders began conversion of Vickers Vanguards into Merchantman cargo haulers.
The next airline to make substantial use of the Carvair, and the only other significant user in the classic propliner era was perhaps not surprisingly Eastern Provincial Airways based in Gander who initially used three Carvairs to operate a car ferry service from Gander and Deer Lake in Newfoundland to both Twin Falls and Wabush in Labrador.
However EPA took over the larger Maritime Central Airways at about the time they acquired their Carvairs. MCA existed to link Prince Edward Island to mainland Canada and Newfoundland and so I suspect that the EPA Carvairs then worked over most of the MCA network which at the time of the takeover linked Charlottetown to New Glasgow, Halifax, Summerside, Moncton, the Magdelen Islands, Seven Islands, Stephenville, St John's, Gander, Goose Bay, Saglek and Frobisher. Perhaps not all of these had runways large enough for a Carvair at the time, but the Carvairs took over the general cargo hauling that had been done by Maritime Central's pair of C-46s. The EPA Carvairs also sometimes hauled outsize cargo from Montreal to Gander.
The last Carvair regularly hauling cargo in Canada belonged to Hawkair who operated it from Terrace in British Columbia. From there it positioned to Bronson Creek airstrip to transport unrefined gold ore ferrying it to Wrangell where it was offloaded for onward shipment to Japan. The mine shut down in 1999 leaving the Hawkair Carvair with an uncertain future, (but see photos and links far below).
I will let the story of just two other surviving Carvairs speak for the post classic era.
Although it was based at Johannesburg (Germiston) Pheobus Apollo Aviation used their only Carvair acquired in March 2002 to haul outsize cargo from Johannesburg (Jan Smuts) airport to Harare, Lusaka and Gaberone until it was put up for sale in 2005. Now registered as 9J-PAA her story is fairly typical of Carvairs that always operated outside the U.K.
She started life as a C-54 with the USAAF at the end of WW2, but was immediately surplus to requirements and was resold to Douglas for conversion to a DC-4 for PAA, with whom she served for 13 years before passing to JAL in 1958. In 1965 still a DC-4 she passed to Ansett-ANA of Australia. In 1968 she made the long journey to Southend where she became a Carvair before returning to Ansett ANA where I think she mostly flew the Melbourne - Hobart car ferry service until 1974. Four years later she was sold to Nationwide Air in New Zealand where she ferried cars and later general cargo between the North and South Islands. In 1996 she passed to Hawaii Pacific Air operating inter island car ferry and general cargo services tramping between the Hawaiian Islands before moving to South Africa in 2002.
The story of N89FA (Fat Annie) may stand for all the ex BUAF Carvairs. She was also delivered to the USAAF at the end of 1945, sold back to Douglas, converted to a DC-4 for WAL in 1946. WAL sold her to Guest Aerovias Mexico ten years later, but within a year she was leased to Aerovias Panama Airways before being sold to Lloyd Aereo Boliviano in 1960. A U.S. aircraft broker spotted the potential and purchased her in 1962 quickly reselling her to Aviation Traders for Carvair conversion.
She began her new life in the U.K. as a Carvair with British United Air Ferries in July 1963, acquiring the name "Fat Annie" in 1970. During 1978 she was briefly leased to the Red Cross for relief work in the Congo before passing to the U.S. based Falcon Airways in 1979. At that time she acquired the registration N89FA which she still bears. However Falcon Airways failed to make the mortgage payments and so she as repossessed by the Mercantile National Bank of Dallas in 1980. She passed to Custom Air Service in Griffin Georgia who sold her to Academy Airlines in 1996, serving with them until the end of 2000. After a period with little use she passed to Gator Global Flying Services during 2003 serving with them to this day. I believe she now operates a three times weekly outsize cargo run from Dallas to Portland. In between freight runs Fat Annie is also used to drop up to 85 parachutists at air shows and at parachute conventions around the United States.
That should provide everyone with a variety of realistic routes over which to operate a Carvair, but before providing a few links to interesting photos on the web a few words about Carvair flight dynamics.
All Carvairs were fitted with R-2000-7M2 engines. These were almost identical to the 11M2 in the real post war DC-4 producing 1450hp for TOGA, but they lacked the high speed blower. The Carvair runs out of puff at much lower altitude than either the DC-4 or the C-54 but the Carvair has 400 more horse power than a C-54 at low altitude and can operate at higher weights. The lack of high speed blower is of little consequence since the Carvair was not intended to operate above FL100 by day or FL80 by night under British Civil Airworthiness Regulations.
Carvairs were modified to allow operation at higher weights than either a DC-4 or a C-54, but in practice most could not actually use those higher weights. The maximum landing weight of the Carvair is 64,170 pounds which is 670lbs more than a DC-4 but still far below the maximum take off weight of either commercial aircraft or even the lower max gross of a C-54.
Most Carvair routes were very short hauls, often under an hour. The Carvair should always be cruised, (using the on screen handling notes), so that it burns less than 1500 PPH, so in those cases the maximum take off weight becomes 64170 + 1500 = 65670. Carvair max gross is 73800 but you cannot use it on short hauls. For short hauls you must depart at least 8000 pounds below max gross and for ultra short hauls 9000 pounds below max gross. You will need to remove 9000 pounds of fuel using the FS9 on screen menu for short hauling, but don’t remove it if you hope to fly in stages from France to Vietnam. Even when all the tanks are full a Carvair has much less fuel than a real DC-4 and less than most C-54s.
The Carvair had a larger tail and rudder than the DC-4. Despite this I think it is likely that yaw authority was degraded and according to Aviation Traders cruising speed at the same power settings fell by 6.4% compared to a real DC-4. This also eats into the available range when long hauling. Those changes are reflected in the AT98 flight dynamics and the associated on screen handling notes.
For a general overview of Carvair technology go here;
www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=49
Some interesting photos of the Carvair covering more than forty years of outsize cargo hauling are listed below beginning with an early setback typical of winter operations in Northern Europe. Propliner flying in the classic era was a dangerous business and even the professionals sometimes got it badly wrong.
Channel Air Bridge Carvair upside down after crashing at Rotterdam 1962;
aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19621228-1&vnr=1&kind=C
***************
From the official accident report:
The Carvair was making a visual approach to Rotterdam in conditions of snow (visibility 1460m). During the final approach the landing gear struck a 6 feet high nice girl, 800 feet short of the runway threshold. The plane bounced and struck the ground heavily 200 feet further on. The right wing became partially detached from the fuselage and the aircraft rolled rapidly to the right. The Carvair came to rest after sliding inverted for some 700 feet.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The accident was due to the fact that the commander carried out the final stage of approach below the normal glide path with insufficient engine power, as a result of which the speed of descent was too high in relation to the horizontal distance still to be covered to the beginning of the runway. Consequently, the aircraft, at a high vertical speed, hit a nice girl, after facing the direction of approach. The Board is of the opinion that even if there had been no nice girl, and it was not an obstruction of any significant height, the aircraft would still have hit the ground a considerable distance short of the runway threshold, although possibly with less fatal consequences than in the present instance."
****************
Due to the location of the cockpit in the Carvair the captain was killed, the co-pilot seriously injured, the flight engineer and stewardess had minor injuries, but the 14 passengers in the cabin behind the car deck escaped with nothing more than bruises!
Channel Air Bridge Carvair in better shape probably at Southend 1962
www.aahs-online.org/BackIssues/Imagev47n2_11.htm
BUA Carvair about 1962
www.photovault.com/Link/Technology/Aviation_Cargo/show.asp?tg=TACVolume01/TACV01P13_06.0361
BUA Carvair showing scissor lift about 1962
www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/farmer/120/carvair.html#
BUAF Carvair demonstrating scissor lift loading about 1962
www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0061b.shtml
BUAF Carvair demonstrating ramp from scissor lift unloading about 1962
www.historyofaircargo.com/i-Loading-cars-into-a-British-Air-Ferries-.html
BUAF (untitled) Carvair at Rotterdam 1964
1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Damen/3943.htm
Aer Lingus Carvair at Bristol 1965;
www.answers.com/topic/aviation-traders-carvair
Aer Lingus Carvair side view colour painting about 1965
avia.russian.ee/air/england/at_carvair.html
Aviaco Carvair in Spain about 1965
www.photovault.com/Link/Technology/Aviation_Cargo/show.asp?tg=TACVolume01/TACV01P13_05B.0361
www.photovault.com/Link/Technology/Aviation_Cargo/show.asp?tg=TACVolume01/TACV01P13_05.0361
Interocean Airways Carvair at Luxembourg about 1965
www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/image_bank/dig_image.cfm?Lang=e&id=KM670
BUA Carvair at Lydd 1965
www.apda61.dsl.pipex.com/Av2/Carvair.JPG
Cie Air Transport Carvair at Le Bourget 1968
www.airliners.net/open.file/0915093/M/
Various photos of Ansett ANA Carvairs around Australia 1968-71
www.ernmphotography.com/Pages/Aviation/Aircraft/Civil/Carvair/Carvair.html
Eastern Provincial Airways Carvair crash at Twin Falls (Labrador) 1968
aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19680928-0&vnr=1&kind=C
Eastern Provincial Airways Carvair at Churchill Falls (Newfoundland) 1969
1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Trempe/2467.htm
British Air Ferries (BAF) Carvair at Southend 1971;
www.airliners.net/open.file/1008712/M/
Transporta Aeriens Reunis Carvair landing at Southend 1972
www.airliners.net/open.file/0919671/M/
BAF Carvair landing at Southend 1972
www.airliners.net/open.file/0962042/M/
BAF Carvair 'Fat Albert' night flight from Turin 1972
www.fly-net.org/aeromedia/lb587.html
BAF Carvair showing crew entrance ladder at Turin 1972
www.fly-net.org/aeromedia/lb416.html
BAF and BAF cargo Carvair livery changes mostly at Ostende 1969 to 1977
www.al-airliners.be/b-c/baf/baf.htm
Nationwide Air Carvair at Christchurch NZ 1977
www.flickr.com/photos/flissphil/12110847/in/set-565180/
BAF Cargo Carvair at Southend about 1978
www.airliners.net/open.file/1047370/M/
BAF Cargo artwork and photo for repainters also about 1978
www.classic-airlines.com/carvair.html
www.cofe.ru/avia/A/photos_avia_A-114.htm
BAF Carvair starts up at Guernsey bound for Bournemouth late 1979
www.eavb.co.uk/air/carv.html
Aero Union Carvair at Chico Municipal (California) 1982
www.airliners.net/open.file/0996383/M/
Carvair parked at Tucson 1985
members.aol.com/airnikon/doug32.jpg
Hawaii Pacific Air Carvair about 1998
www.aerofiles.com/carvair.html
Hawkair Carvair at Terrace B.C. 1999
www.ruudleeuw.com/cgaah.htm
Fat Annie at Opa Locka 1999
www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=461674
Pheobus Apollo Aviation Carvair at Johannesburg (Germiston) 2005
www.airliners.net/open.file/0974907/M/
Pheobus Apollo Aviation Carvair in flight probably near Jo'burg 2005
images.africanpilot.co.za/PhotoDetail.php?PhotoId=185
Ex Hawkair Carvair Cockpit with all modifications incorporated by 2005
www.ruudleeuw.com/temp-carvair-stu.htm
Gator Global Flying Services 'Fat Annie' at Rantoul National Aviation Center (Illinois) 2005
www.airliners.net/open.file/0994220/M/
Fat Annie crew training at Detroit (Willow Run) 2005
www.airliners.net/open.file/0989072/M/
Enjoy,
Volker Böhme
===================================
Outline of the Carviar by FSAviator
===================================
Strictly speaking the Aviation Traders AT98 Carvair is not a California Classic, though perhaps only because it began operations from California after the classic era had ended. By 1982 Aero Union were sometimes operating the Carvair within California.
www.airliners.net/open.file/0996383/M/
Many pilots who were demobilised from the R.A.F. after WW2 hoped to stay in aviation. Most just looked for a job with an airline. A few decided to take the risk of starting an aviation business. Most were bankrupt within a year. Some took much longer to go bankrupt. One enterprising pilot formed a company which would later be known as Aviation Traders with the intention that it would be involved in whatever aspect of aviation would turn a profit. That enterprising young pilot was Freddie Laker.
The story of both Aviation Traders, and subsequently the Carvair, is intimately associated with what had been Rochford Aerodrome before the war, but would become Southend Airport afterwards. During the war Rochford was a Fighter Command satellite airfield, returning to civilian status at the end of 1946. Laker chose the new Southend airport as the base for Aviation Traders.
To understand the Carvair it is necessary to understand the nature of commercial aviation in the United Kingdom during the 20th century. It was dominated by one or more very large government owned and taxpayer subsidised airlines which served the wide horizons of Empire. There were at the same time a large number of regional private sector airlines serving their regional communities and filling the niche markets that the huge government owned airline(s) did not wish to fill.
Since the British Isles consist of dozens of inhabited islands there was plenty of room for air services between those islands and from those islands to Britain. The south east corner of Britain is only twenty miles from France. However for anyone in Britain wishing to travel east of France it was generally more convenient to enter Europe via Belgium or Holland. An extensive ferry network existed to satisfy that need, but boats are slow and must wait for tides.
Southend was ideally placed to serve both Belgium and Holland. Before the war Southend Flying Services operated a scheduled Short Scion service from Rochford to Ostende in Belgium. After WW2 this route was taken over by East Anglian Flying Services (later Channel Airways), initially with Dragon Rapides, but it soon expanded in all directions and in aircraft size. It looked as though East Anglian had the scheduled services from Southend sewn up. There was however an obvious opening for a Southend based charter operator and Laker soon obliged with Air Charter who were soon operating war surplus Douglas C-54s from his Aviation Traders maintenance facilities. Air Charter were mostly engaged in trooping contacts, flying the British Army and its equipment around the Empire, but later Air Charter would also operate a C-54 passenger schedule from Southend to Calais.
Whilst many post war private sector British airlines were truly independent from one another others were in reality the local branches of a larger holding company owned by the same shipping interests that operated the passenger and car ferries from Britain to Europe. More than a dozen of these 'local' airlines would eventually merge to form the British United group of airlines.
The shipping interests behind BUA soon realised that the best unexploited niche in the market was the carriage of vehicles by air. Neither the state owned BEA, nor independents such as East Anglian Flying Services, had any intention of carrying vehicles. Outside the U.K. this was considered to be something that only the military needed to do, but within the U.K. there were a substantial minority of wealthy businessmen and wealthy land owners who wanted to take their cars backwards and forwards to Europe without suffering the delays associated with boats. No sooner was WW2 over than Bristol were offering the nose loading Bristol 170 Freighter to perform that role. The problem with the Bristol 'Frightener' was of course that it was a taildragger and that made the loading and unloading of vehicles though the nose a painful process.
Air Charter soon expanded into the vehicle carrying business, probably with shipping company financial backing. Their Bristol Freighter services from Southend to Ostende, Rotterdam and Calais would later split off into a separate airline known as Channel Air Bridge. However the tide soon turned in the opposite direction and the merging of these many small airlines progressed towards the formation of the British United group within which Laker became more and more influential. During 1958 four British airlines, Hunting Clan, Airwork, Transair and Laker's own Air Charter merged to form British United Airways. Soon afterwards Laker became managing director of BUA which would briefly become the largest of the British private sector airlines.
The shipping companies behind the British United group nevertheless continued to divide their fleet of Bristol Freighters between two airlines, Channel Air Bridge based at Southend mostly serving Belgium and Holland, and Silver City Airways based at Lydd mostly serving France. They did not merge when Air Charter merged into BUA. However Laker was keen to see the merger of the vehicle carrying fleet as well. He argued that the more than thirty Bristol Freighters must be replaced by a nosewheel aircraft as soon as possible and that the new fleet should be operated by a single airline to be known as British United Air Ferries (BUAF). The working name for the nosewheel aircraft project was Car-via-air.
Laker who had operated and maintained C-54s for many years, and who just happened to own a company that specialised in major aircraft overhaul, was now in a position within the British United group to both influence and provide the solution.
The U.S. had already solved this problem with the C-130 Hercules and the U.K. was about to solve it with the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, but both were far too expensive for the needs of Channel Air Bridge and Silver City Airways. Most UK airlines operated ultra short haul routes. Few exceeded 200 miles. Each aircraft made many return trips every day clocking up thousands of wing spar cracking landings every year. It is the act of landing that wears an aircraft out, and the act of take off that wears engines out. Ultra short haul can only be profitable in cheap aircraft because they will be worn out rapidly.
Laker realised that the world wide C-54 fleet offered a large number of used aircraft which had spent their 15 to 20 years of prior existence long hauling. They had accumulated very few landings compared to their flying hours. They were now cheap, and mostly unwanted because they were unpressurised and therefore very slow. Yet they were a tough military aircraft with a nosewheel which might withstand a further 15 to 20 years of intensive ultra short hauling well below the altitudes at which pressurisation was relevant, over stage lengths so short that cruising speed was unimportant. The slow cruising speed of the Bristol Freighter had never been the problem. Laker soon calculated that the DC-4 could be converted to carry five British cars with baggage already stowed inside and up to 22 occupants in airline seats in the original rear cabin aft of the original entrance door. It was also certificated for the carriage of up to 85 paying passengers.
The first Aviation Traders Carvair conversion flew in 1961 and was soon in service with Channel Air Bridge at Southend, with continuing maintenance on hand from Aviation Traders. The merger of Channel Air Bridge and Silver City Airways into British United Air Ferries was then imposed since all the Carvairs would have their engineering base at Southend courtesy of Aviation Traders even if they were operating from Lydd. BUA, BUAF and Aviation Traders were all different companies with different shareholders, but Laker had effective control of all three and BUAF Carvairs were flown in BUA livery for several years. Laker no doubt hoped that Carvairs would replace Freighters one for one, but something unforeseen happened. Mr. Hertz and Mr. Avis were going to spoil the party.
It simply became too easy to hire a car at the destination airport. Only 23 Carvairs were created by Aviation Traders over about seven years. The need for civilian vehicle carriage by air in North West Europe was actually beginning to diminish by the time that BUAF was created, but the British United group would operate Carvairs until 1979. However before then BUAF would become BAF Cargo and, at least within the UK, Carvairs would be relegated to general cargo charter work within 15 years of their creation. In the 1970s they flew further afield, Turin becoming an important destination.
Although it was the intention that the Carvair should eventually replace the Bristol 170 it was at first used to serve longer range destinations not just from Southend but also from three other UK airports which were Lydd, Coventry and Bournemouth. From here the Carvairs soon served Basle, Geneva, Bremen, Liege, and Strasbourg as well as augmenting Bristol 170s on the high frequency Southend - Ostende and Southend - Rotterdam services. There was also a summer only Carvair services from Coventry to Calais. However both Coventry and Bournemouth were soon abandoned as BUAF hubs. It was then decided that the Carvair would never take over the less than fifty mile Lydd - Calais and Lydd - Le Touquet services.
Freddie Laker was already creating a quite different aircraft to fly the 'Le Touquet Rocket' service. That would be the BAC-111, the UK terminus would move to Gatwick, BUA would take the route from BUAF, Calais would slowly be abandoned and Lydd would wither away as an airport. BUAF flew their last Bristol Freighter service about 1967. All the Carvairs would now operate from Southend co-located with Aviation Traders, until Aviation Traders moved to Stansted in 1974 where new opportunities beckoned.
BUA became British Caledonian. BUAF split into BAF Cargo operating the Carvairs and BAF which became the world's largest operator of the Handley Page Herald. But Southend traffic was in steep decline from 1974 onwards. BAF quit scheduled flying in 1979 and BAF Cargo put all the Carvairs up for sale at same time. BAF would soon become British World Airways under new management.
Laker was long gone and now had his own airline bearing his own name and he was no longer interested in ultra short haul routes. He was going head to head with BOAC and he would soon be destroyed. Be that as it may the Carvair gave eighteen years of high frequency, short haul service from the UK on the routes above before it disappeared from British shores for pastures new.
Laker wasn't alone in believing that the Carvair was a winning formula. The Irish Government soon developed the false belief that tourism to Ireland would increase significantly if their subsidiary Aer Lingus was forced to operate Carvair services from Britain and France. Aer Lingus were ordered to buy three and operated them fairly briefly from Cork to Bristol and from Dublin to Bristol, Liverpool and Cherbourg.
They were a commercial disaster and were soon sold on to Luxembourg based Interocean Airways. During the classic era commercial aviation was dominated by the IATA cartel which rigged prices and kept them artificially high. Many governments insisted that their airlines obey IATA rules. Situated in the heart of the most densely populated area of Europe Luxembourg did not, and Luxembourg based airlines could offer world wide freight charters below IATA rates. However it seems that they were unable to attract a sufficient number of charters for outsize loads. Their Carvair fleet roamed far and wide, but not very often, and they were soon sold again.
The Spanish airline Aviacion y Comercio (Aviaco) was a subsidiary of the government owned airline Iberia, established to link the offshore islands to mainland Spain. Aviaco were the airline who opened up Palma de Majorca as a mass tourist destination using 55 seat Bristol 170 Wayfarers based there to pick up tourists from Paris. They also used the Bristol 170 Freighter to maintain a fresh produce seasonal schedule to London from various airports in Spain. Aviaco were natural customers for the Carvair. Their Carvairs were all based in Palma serving Valencia and Barcelona with high frequency.
Another early adopter of the Carvair was the Italian airline Alisud who existed to link Sicily to the Italian mainland. From 1963 they operated frequent Carvair services from Palermo to Naples and Rome, but these routes made losses and they soon sold their Carvairs to the French airline Compagnie Air Transport who existed mostly to link Corsica to the French mainland. They made much better use of the Carvairs, retained them for much longer, and used them to substantially expand their route network outside France. Cie Air Transport had two mainland Carvair hubs at Nimes and at Nice eventually serving Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi, Palma and Ibizza. Later the Carvair services to Palma flew a branch service to Perpignan before returning to Nimes or Nice via Palma.
Cie Air Transport Carvairs were also chartered to carry vehicles and other outsize loads along the old Air France DC-4 route to Saigon, especially during the Vietnam war. One of these crashed at Karachi in March 1967.
Transporta Aeriens Reunis were another French Carvair operator based in Nice offering outsize cargo charters especially to Corsica perhaps in succession to Compagnie Air Transport. They did not operate from Nimes or Perpignan but also offered Carvair services from Marseilles to Corsica, Palma and Ibizza as well as long haul charters to Indo China and the former French colonies in Africa. I don’t think they flew Carvairs for very long since they purchased a CL-44 to undertake this work in 1974.
The final original customer for the Carvair was Ansett - Australian National Airways. Their aircraft had the nose door hinges further aft creating a larger aperture which allowed one larger agricultural vehicle to be loaded last and carried in the bulged nose. Ansett ANA wanted the Carvair mostly for the vehicle service from Hobart to Melbourne (Essendon), but they probably roamed across much of Eastern Australia during their time with Ansett ANA.
With completion of the last Carvair for Ansett, Aviation Traders began conversion of Vickers Vanguards into Merchantman cargo haulers.
The next airline to make substantial use of the Carvair, and the only other significant user in the classic propliner era was perhaps not surprisingly Eastern Provincial Airways based in Gander who initially used three Carvairs to operate a car ferry service from Gander and Deer Lake in Newfoundland to both Twin Falls and Wabush in Labrador.
However EPA took over the larger Maritime Central Airways at about the time they acquired their Carvairs. MCA existed to link Prince Edward Island to mainland Canada and Newfoundland and so I suspect that the EPA Carvairs then worked over most of the MCA network which at the time of the takeover linked Charlottetown to New Glasgow, Halifax, Summerside, Moncton, the Magdelen Islands, Seven Islands, Stephenville, St John's, Gander, Goose Bay, Saglek and Frobisher. Perhaps not all of these had runways large enough for a Carvair at the time, but the Carvairs took over the general cargo hauling that had been done by Maritime Central's pair of C-46s. The EPA Carvairs also sometimes hauled outsize cargo from Montreal to Gander.
The last Carvair regularly hauling cargo in Canada belonged to Hawkair who operated it from Terrace in British Columbia. From there it positioned to Bronson Creek airstrip to transport unrefined gold ore ferrying it to Wrangell where it was offloaded for onward shipment to Japan. The mine shut down in 1999 leaving the Hawkair Carvair with an uncertain future, (but see photos and links far below).
I will let the story of just two other surviving Carvairs speak for the post classic era.
Although it was based at Johannesburg (Germiston) Pheobus Apollo Aviation used their only Carvair acquired in March 2002 to haul outsize cargo from Johannesburg (Jan Smuts) airport to Harare, Lusaka and Gaberone until it was put up for sale in 2005. Now registered as 9J-PAA her story is fairly typical of Carvairs that always operated outside the U.K.
She started life as a C-54 with the USAAF at the end of WW2, but was immediately surplus to requirements and was resold to Douglas for conversion to a DC-4 for PAA, with whom she served for 13 years before passing to JAL in 1958. In 1965 still a DC-4 she passed to Ansett-ANA of Australia. In 1968 she made the long journey to Southend where she became a Carvair before returning to Ansett ANA where I think she mostly flew the Melbourne - Hobart car ferry service until 1974. Four years later she was sold to Nationwide Air in New Zealand where she ferried cars and later general cargo between the North and South Islands. In 1996 she passed to Hawaii Pacific Air operating inter island car ferry and general cargo services tramping between the Hawaiian Islands before moving to South Africa in 2002.
The story of N89FA (Fat Annie) may stand for all the ex BUAF Carvairs. She was also delivered to the USAAF at the end of 1945, sold back to Douglas, converted to a DC-4 for WAL in 1946. WAL sold her to Guest Aerovias Mexico ten years later, but within a year she was leased to Aerovias Panama Airways before being sold to Lloyd Aereo Boliviano in 1960. A U.S. aircraft broker spotted the potential and purchased her in 1962 quickly reselling her to Aviation Traders for Carvair conversion.
She began her new life in the U.K. as a Carvair with British United Air Ferries in July 1963, acquiring the name "Fat Annie" in 1970. During 1978 she was briefly leased to the Red Cross for relief work in the Congo before passing to the U.S. based Falcon Airways in 1979. At that time she acquired the registration N89FA which she still bears. However Falcon Airways failed to make the mortgage payments and so she as repossessed by the Mercantile National Bank of Dallas in 1980. She passed to Custom Air Service in Griffin Georgia who sold her to Academy Airlines in 1996, serving with them until the end of 2000. After a period with little use she passed to Gator Global Flying Services during 2003 serving with them to this day. I believe she now operates a three times weekly outsize cargo run from Dallas to Portland. In between freight runs Fat Annie is also used to drop up to 85 parachutists at air shows and at parachute conventions around the United States.
That should provide everyone with a variety of realistic routes over which to operate a Carvair, but before providing a few links to interesting photos on the web a few words about Carvair flight dynamics.
All Carvairs were fitted with R-2000-7M2 engines. These were almost identical to the 11M2 in the real post war DC-4 producing 1450hp for TOGA, but they lacked the high speed blower. The Carvair runs out of puff at much lower altitude than either the DC-4 or the C-54 but the Carvair has 400 more horse power than a C-54 at low altitude and can operate at higher weights. The lack of high speed blower is of little consequence since the Carvair was not intended to operate above FL100 by day or FL80 by night under British Civil Airworthiness Regulations.
Carvairs were modified to allow operation at higher weights than either a DC-4 or a C-54, but in practice most could not actually use those higher weights. The maximum landing weight of the Carvair is 64,170 pounds which is 670lbs more than a DC-4 but still far below the maximum take off weight of either commercial aircraft or even the lower max gross of a C-54.
Most Carvair routes were very short hauls, often under an hour. The Carvair should always be cruised, (using the on screen handling notes), so that it burns less than 1500 PPH, so in those cases the maximum take off weight becomes 64170 + 1500 = 65670. Carvair max gross is 73800 but you cannot use it on short hauls. For short hauls you must depart at least 8000 pounds below max gross and for ultra short hauls 9000 pounds below max gross. You will need to remove 9000 pounds of fuel using the FS9 on screen menu for short hauling, but don’t remove it if you hope to fly in stages from France to Vietnam. Even when all the tanks are full a Carvair has much less fuel than a real DC-4 and less than most C-54s.
The Carvair had a larger tail and rudder than the DC-4. Despite this I think it is likely that yaw authority was degraded and according to Aviation Traders cruising speed at the same power settings fell by 6.4% compared to a real DC-4. This also eats into the available range when long hauling. Those changes are reflected in the AT98 flight dynamics and the associated on screen handling notes.
For a general overview of Carvair technology go here;
www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=49
Some interesting photos of the Carvair covering more than forty years of outsize cargo hauling are listed below beginning with an early setback typical of winter operations in Northern Europe. Propliner flying in the classic era was a dangerous business and even the professionals sometimes got it badly wrong.
Channel Air Bridge Carvair upside down after crashing at Rotterdam 1962;
aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19621228-1&vnr=1&kind=C
***************
From the official accident report:
The Carvair was making a visual approach to Rotterdam in conditions of snow (visibility 1460m). During the final approach the landing gear struck a 6 feet high nice girl, 800 feet short of the runway threshold. The plane bounced and struck the ground heavily 200 feet further on. The right wing became partially detached from the fuselage and the aircraft rolled rapidly to the right. The Carvair came to rest after sliding inverted for some 700 feet.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The accident was due to the fact that the commander carried out the final stage of approach below the normal glide path with insufficient engine power, as a result of which the speed of descent was too high in relation to the horizontal distance still to be covered to the beginning of the runway. Consequently, the aircraft, at a high vertical speed, hit a nice girl, after facing the direction of approach. The Board is of the opinion that even if there had been no nice girl, and it was not an obstruction of any significant height, the aircraft would still have hit the ground a considerable distance short of the runway threshold, although possibly with less fatal consequences than in the present instance."
****************
Due to the location of the cockpit in the Carvair the captain was killed, the co-pilot seriously injured, the flight engineer and stewardess had minor injuries, but the 14 passengers in the cabin behind the car deck escaped with nothing more than bruises!
Channel Air Bridge Carvair in better shape probably at Southend 1962
www.aahs-online.org/BackIssues/Imagev47n2_11.htm
BUA Carvair about 1962
www.photovault.com/Link/Technology/Aviation_Cargo/show.asp?tg=TACVolume01/TACV01P13_06.0361
BUA Carvair showing scissor lift about 1962
www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/farmer/120/carvair.html#
BUAF Carvair demonstrating scissor lift loading about 1962
www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0061b.shtml
BUAF Carvair demonstrating ramp from scissor lift unloading about 1962
www.historyofaircargo.com/i-Loading-cars-into-a-British-Air-Ferries-.html
BUAF (untitled) Carvair at Rotterdam 1964
1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Damen/3943.htm
Aer Lingus Carvair at Bristol 1965;
www.answers.com/topic/aviation-traders-carvair
Aer Lingus Carvair side view colour painting about 1965
avia.russian.ee/air/england/at_carvair.html
Aviaco Carvair in Spain about 1965
www.photovault.com/Link/Technology/Aviation_Cargo/show.asp?tg=TACVolume01/TACV01P13_05B.0361
www.photovault.com/Link/Technology/Aviation_Cargo/show.asp?tg=TACVolume01/TACV01P13_05.0361
Interocean Airways Carvair at Luxembourg about 1965
www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/image_bank/dig_image.cfm?Lang=e&id=KM670
BUA Carvair at Lydd 1965
www.apda61.dsl.pipex.com/Av2/Carvair.JPG
Cie Air Transport Carvair at Le Bourget 1968
www.airliners.net/open.file/0915093/M/
Various photos of Ansett ANA Carvairs around Australia 1968-71
www.ernmphotography.com/Pages/Aviation/Aircraft/Civil/Carvair/Carvair.html
Eastern Provincial Airways Carvair crash at Twin Falls (Labrador) 1968
aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19680928-0&vnr=1&kind=C
Eastern Provincial Airways Carvair at Churchill Falls (Newfoundland) 1969
1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Trempe/2467.htm
British Air Ferries (BAF) Carvair at Southend 1971;
www.airliners.net/open.file/1008712/M/
Transporta Aeriens Reunis Carvair landing at Southend 1972
www.airliners.net/open.file/0919671/M/
BAF Carvair landing at Southend 1972
www.airliners.net/open.file/0962042/M/
BAF Carvair 'Fat Albert' night flight from Turin 1972
www.fly-net.org/aeromedia/lb587.html
BAF Carvair showing crew entrance ladder at Turin 1972
www.fly-net.org/aeromedia/lb416.html
BAF and BAF cargo Carvair livery changes mostly at Ostende 1969 to 1977
www.al-airliners.be/b-c/baf/baf.htm
Nationwide Air Carvair at Christchurch NZ 1977
www.flickr.com/photos/flissphil/12110847/in/set-565180/
BAF Cargo Carvair at Southend about 1978
www.airliners.net/open.file/1047370/M/
BAF Cargo artwork and photo for repainters also about 1978
www.classic-airlines.com/carvair.html
www.cofe.ru/avia/A/photos_avia_A-114.htm
BAF Carvair starts up at Guernsey bound for Bournemouth late 1979
www.eavb.co.uk/air/carv.html
Aero Union Carvair at Chico Municipal (California) 1982
www.airliners.net/open.file/0996383/M/
Carvair parked at Tucson 1985
members.aol.com/airnikon/doug32.jpg
Hawaii Pacific Air Carvair about 1998
www.aerofiles.com/carvair.html
Hawkair Carvair at Terrace B.C. 1999
www.ruudleeuw.com/cgaah.htm
Fat Annie at Opa Locka 1999
www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=461674
Pheobus Apollo Aviation Carvair at Johannesburg (Germiston) 2005
www.airliners.net/open.file/0974907/M/
Pheobus Apollo Aviation Carvair in flight probably near Jo'burg 2005
images.africanpilot.co.za/PhotoDetail.php?PhotoId=185
Ex Hawkair Carvair Cockpit with all modifications incorporated by 2005
www.ruudleeuw.com/temp-carvair-stu.htm
Gator Global Flying Services 'Fat Annie' at Rantoul National Aviation Center (Illinois) 2005
www.airliners.net/open.file/0994220/M/
Fat Annie crew training at Detroit (Willow Run) 2005
www.airliners.net/open.file/0989072/M/
