Convair CV-240

The Convair CV-240 was an American twin-engined, pressurized piston airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, conceived to replace the Douglas DC-3 for American Airlines. Its predecessor, the unpressurised Model 110 with 30 seats, first flew in July 1946, and American's changed requirements led to the longer, thinner Model 240 carrying 40 passengers, which first flew on 16 March 1947. Nearly a dozen civil variants and several military versions followed, including the lengthened CV-340 and the CV-440 Metropolitan and later turboprop conversions such as the CV-580 and CV-600. Some Convairliners were still flying in the twenty-first century. This entry covers the family under its first production designation.