Freddie Laker's idea to convert surplus examples of the Douglas DC-4 and its military counterpart the C-54 Skymaster to carry cars was a relatively inexpensive solution to develop a successor to the rapidly aging and increasingly inadequate Bristol 170 Freighter, the car ferry airlines' mainstay since the late 1940s.[1]
The Bristol Freighter's main drawback was its limited car payload: even the "long-nosed" Mark 32 was able to accommodate only three cars, in addition to 20 passengers. This made carrying cars by air a very risky business: if a booked car did not arrive for the flight, the one-third cut in payload made the flight unprofitable. This was made worse by the increasing average length of British cars during the 1950s: the average UK car in 1959 was 25 centimetres (9.8in) longer than in 1950. The extreme seasonality of the car ferry business furthermore resulted in poor aircraft utilization outside peak periods. Moreover, repeated takeoffs and landings on short cross-Channel flights, in turbulent air at lower altitudes with tight turnarounds of as little as 20 minutes, made the aircraft prone to structural fatigue problems, necessitating rigorous and costly modification programmes, further increasing the type's operating costs on low-yield routes.[1]
When the major airlines replaced their obsolete piston airliners with new Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8jets on their prestige long-haul routes, the unit price of second-hand DC-4s dropped to as little as £50,000 (equivalent to £1.5 million today). The conversion of each of these airframes into car-passenger carriers cost about £80,000 (£2.4 million today). This was easily affordable by smaller airlines, such as the car ferry companies. Freddie Laker's cardboard model of a converted DC-4 featuring a door in the nose and a flight deck raised above the fuselage had shown that its payload was superior to the Bristol Freighter/Superfreighter. The aircraft conversion was designed to accommodate five average-sized British cars plus 25 passengers in the DC-4's longer and wider fuselage. British Air Ferries (BAF), for example, operated its Carvairs in a flexible configuration, either accommodating five cars and 22 passengers or two-three cars and 55 passengers, changeable from one configuration to the other in about 40 minutes.[2] In addition, the DC-4's lack of pressurisation was suitable for low-altitude cross-Channel flights, making the proposed structural conversion straightforward. The result was a new aircraft christened Carvair (derived from car-via-air).[3]
A publicity photo of a vintage 1897 Daimler car being loaded via scissor-lift onto a Carvair, 1966
Initially, it was thought that second-hand, pressurised Douglas DC-6 and Douglas DC-7 airframes could be converted into larger, "second generation" Carvairs within 15 years of the original DC-4-based Carvair's entry into service.[4]
The conversion of the original DC-4 entailed replacing the forward fuselage with one 8feet 8inches (2.64m) longer, with a flight deck raised into a bulbous "hump" like the later Boeing 747 jet, to allow a sideways-hinged nose door. It also required more powerful wheel brakes and an enlarged tail, often thought to be a Douglas DC-7 unit, but actually a completely new design.[citation needed] The engines, four Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasps, were unchanged.
The prototype conversion first flew on 21 June 1961. Twenty-one Carvairs were produced in the UK, with production of aircraft 1, 11 and 21 at Southend Airport and the others at Stansted Airport. The final three aircraft were delivered to Australia's Ansett-ANA, which supplied its own DC-4s to ATL for conversion, unlike the previous 18 aircraft that were purchased by ATL and either sold on or transferred to associate company British United Air Ferries (BUAF). One of the two aircraft still flying in June 2007 was an ex-Ansett airframe. A second Ansett aircraft was abandoned at Phnom Penh in 1975. The first flight of the last conversion, number 21, for Ansett, was on 12 July 1968.
Basic price for a Carvair newly converted from a C-54 airframe (two of the three Ansett airframes supplied were of the DC-4 variant) in 1960 was £150,000, equivalent to £4.4 million today.[5]
Operational history
Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair, British United (BUA), 1967
The Carvair was used by Aer Lingus, BUA/BUAF and BAF among others, and was used in Congo-Kinshasa during 1962–1963, under contract to the United Nations. Aircraft for Aer Lingus were quickly convertible between 55 seats, and 22 seats with five cars. Some aircraft were pure freighters with only nine seats. One aircraft had 55 high-density seats and room for three cars. BAF was the last operator in Europe of the aircraft, keeping them flying into the 1970s.
9J-PAA (the 21st and final Carvair built) is in South Africa with Phoebus Apollo Aviation. Formerly registered in Zambia, the aircraft is currently on display at Rand Airport, where it sits near other uncommon aircraft such as the Boeing 747SP. Although removed from the Zambian register, the owner planned to return it to the skies for air shows.[citation needed]
N89FA "Miss 1944" (the 9th Carvair) is based in Gainesville, Texas at KGLE Gainesville Municipal Airport. The aircraft is still complete as of April 2024, and has been seen receiving periodic maintenance, but there is no specific evidence that she has flown in recent years. In 2005 this aircraft appeared at the World Free Fall Convention, Rantoul, Illinois, where it took over 100 skydivers into the air in one flight.[20][21][22]
Specifications
Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66[23]
Eglin, Roger & Ritchie, Berry (1980). Fly me, I'm Freddie. London, UK: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN0-297-77746-7.
Dean, W. P. & O'Callaghan, M. (2008). The ATL-98 Carvair: A Comprehensive History of the Aircraft and All 21 Airframes. Jefferson, N.C., USA: McFarland & Co. ISBN978-0-7864-3670-5. (2nd printing)
Doyle, Paul A. (2000). 'Air Bridge 2' (the design, development and service use of the ATL98 Carvair conversions and their effect on the civilian vehicle air ferry era). Hertfordshire, UK: Forward Airfield Research Publishing. ISBN09525-624-72.
Airliner World – Britain's Carferry Airlines, January 2004. Avenel, New Jersey, USA: Key Publishing. (Airliner World online)
Taylor, John W. R. (1965). Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company.
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