The two Convairliners acquired by Martinair - one 340 and one 440 - were both later converted to have Dart turboprops as Convair 600s.

Gleaming Convair 240 RP-C7 at Baguio in May 1978.

One of Ethiopian Air Lines’s three twin-engined Convair 240s being loaded at Dire Dawa with khat, a herbal stimulant popular in north-east Africa, before a flight to Djibouti circa 1960. The first two EAL Convairs were acquired direct from the manufacturer in December 1950; the other came from Sabena in 1956.

By the end of the 1950s National’s domestic route network extended as far north as Boston, where Convair 340 N8413H (c/n 115) is seen here awaiting its next flight. The CV-340 entered National service in 1953 as part of the company’s ongoing modernisation programme, and most had been withdrawn from service and sold by the beginning of the 1960s.

Lake Central Airlines DC-3 N14967, with a company Convair 340 in the background, in December 1963. Lake Central struggled through the 1950s, but was rewarded with a huge route expansion in 1961, after which it acquired Convairliners.

Another item of interest photographed along the way was the Cameroonian Presidential Convair 440 TJ-AAD (c/n 440-439), which still retained its Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp piston engines. It was acquired by the Cameroonian government in September 1963 and later saw service with Belgian airline Delta Air Transport as OO-VGJ from 1974 and American Airlines Inter-Island as N44829. It remains on the "active" list in 2018 as XA-TFZ with Mexican airline Aero Cedros.

Former TRI-9 CV-440 N999TZ 'Tina' in a congested storage area wearing full Air Cambodge trim.

View of the Thai Am ramp at Bangkok post fall, revealing a couple of escapees, left former CAS CV-440 N102KA, centre former Air Cambodge DC-7B N774R, and right, one who never made it, the Croix Rouge Internationale Carvair LN-NAA which ended its days at the airfield.

Convair 440 12+02 of the Luftwaffe FBS, based at Koln/Wahn, June 1970.

C-131A 52-5804 of the 322nd TAW used for aeromedical evacuation from Rhein Main, West Germany, at Lakenheath in September 1972.

US Coast Guard HC-131A 5782 based at Miami, and visiting Key West in September 1978.

Another Reyes Convair aircraft was C-131B CP-2026, photographed in apparently airworthy condition at La Paz in late 2012. This machine was formerly 53-7797 with the Arizona National Guard.

Stylised Texas flag on C-131B 53-7811 of the 111th FIS/Texas ANG based at Ellington AFB, visiting Tyndall, October 1980.

JC-131B 53-7797 of Air Force Special Weapons Command Center, based at Kirtland AFB, to support nuclear weapons testing.

Immaculate C-131D 54-2809 flown by the 101st FIS, Massachusetts ANG, from Otis ANG at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, June 1982.

North Dakota ANG C-131D 54-2819 of the 178th US stationed at Fargo, visiting Norton AFB. The unit's motif ‘Happy Hooligans' is displayed on the tail. Note the extended nose housing a conventional radar, a retrofit.

C-131F 141009 of NAF Mildenhall landing at home base in the late 1970s.

US Naval Facility Mildenhall VC-131F 141021 at Heathrow Airport in March 1968. Note the 30 flags on the nose - countries visited since being based in the UK from January 1959.

VC-131G 145962 of NAS Sigonella was stationed at the Sicilian base from October 1981 until June 1986 when it was retired.

R4Y-1, построенный на основе CV-440, являлся базовым транспортным самолетом ВМС США в серии двухмоторных машин "Convair". В составе ВМС также летало небольшое количество T-29B, полученных от ВВС.

VIP-configured VC-131H 55-0299 of the 1st Composite Wing based at Andrews AFB, at Pope AFB, October 1973.

Noted at McClellan Field in Sacramento, California, on May 9, 2011 was Convair C-131B Samaritan N131CR (ex 53-7819) of Airborne Resources of Midlothian, Texas. In addition to its long nose and fuselage top antennas, the aircraft wears a Lockheed Martin 'Skunk Works' motif on the tail. It previously had the words 'Airborne Imaging' on the forward fuselage (the operating arm of Airborne Resources), although the word 'Imaging' has since been painted out. The aircraft had been at McClellan for around a month prior to being photographed, reportedly undertaking aerial survey work. It has been deployed overseas several times, including to Honduras in early 2007.

Expandable tire program. C-131 landing with expandable/deflatable tires.

The Convair NC-131H TIFS, owned by the USAF, has been used in a variety of aircraft programmes since 1969, typically to assess large aircraft handling qualities. It is at present configured as an Avionics Systems Test Training Aircraft, used for radar and FLIR testing at the USAF Test Pilot School.

Convair NC-131H Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) N793VS (ex 53-7793) was delivered to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on November 7, 2008. Up to that point, it was the oldest active aircraft on charge with the US Air Force, although it was operated by the civilian Calspan organisation from Niagara Falls International Airport, New York, on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory. The TIFS is a highly modified C-131B Samaritan, equipped with a second cockpit under the original, large side-force generators on the wings, and various other modifications for its role simulating the flight characteristics of other large aircraft types. It was used to evaluate new flight technologies in some 2,500 research flights.

One of a small number repainted in Vietnam-style camouflage: CT-29A 49-1912 of the 118th TPS, Connecticut ANG, at Bradley Field, visiting Pope AFB in October 1973.

Two of Air Tahoma’s small fleet of Convairs are currently operating out of Pittsburgh International Airport on overnight freight flights, including T-29B N150PA (c/n 278, ex N38SA) seen here on April 3, 2002. The aircraft still wears its old American Eagle colours from its days at San Juan, Puerto Rico. The other aircraft currently in use at Pittsburgh is Convair 580 N584E (c/n 24, ex C-FAUF).

Convair T-29B c/n 329 in its current location in a busy town square in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on October 18, 2012. Local enthusiasts see the city as a future home for a Bolivian air museum; perhaps this Convair has booked its place in a Metropolitan Museum. Ouch!

Well-known type in unusual markings is this Convair 240 piston-engined transport of Air Korea (HL-25) is in service on the Seoul-Tokyo run.

Convair 240-19 ET-T-20 (c/n 168) was one of three examples of the type operated by EAL, and was the second to be delivered, on December 28, 1950; its stablemate, ET-T-21, was delivered on the 8th of the same month. The Convairs were given names by EAL, ET-T-20 becoming Eagle of Ethiopia and ET-T-21 Eagle Haile Selassie I. The third Convair, ET-T-22, which arrived in July 1956, was named The Spiritual Power.

Looking decidedly cutting-edge among the predominantly pre-war-vintage propliners then operating in East Africa, Ethiopian Air Lines’ colourful Convair 240 ET-T-20, named Eagle of Ethiopia, awaits its next departure from Nairobi on what the airline dubbed “The Wonderland Route”, connecting the various parts of East Africa and the Middle East.

The CV-240

Convair-Liner 240.

Bahamian inter-island operator Flamingo Airlines was established in March 1971 and used a mixed fleet of aircraft, including Convair 240 N17417 (c/n 108), seen here at Miami in February 1973, shortly before the airline was merged with Out Island Airways to become Bahamasair, although this aircraft did not join the Bahamasair fleet.

Mohawk Airlines bested its local service compatriots in the equipment race by being the first of the LSCs to introduce pressurised aircraft in the form of Convair 240s. Here N1014C, acquired from Swissair in 1956, is prepared for another flight.

Taken over by Allegheny in 1972, Mohawk Airlines of Utica-Rome, New York, had started its schedules with DC-3s and then purchased Convair CV-240s (N6632C illus.) before buying a large fleet of BAC One-Elevens, which eventually went to Allegheny

Orient Skyliner Convair 240-7 AP-AEH, entered service in June 1949. The airliner merged with Pakistan International in 1955. AP-AEH crashed on take-off at New Delhi on May 15, 1958.

Named John Forrest in honour of the Australian explorer, Convair 240 VH-TAQ (c/n 64) was the first of five to be delivered to Trans-Australia Airlines. Fitted with extra fuel tanks, it was flown by TAA’s chief pilot, John Chapman, on a route through Europe and the Middle East to Melbourne, where it arrived on September 7, 1948.

An imposing view of Trans-Australia Airlines Convair 240 VH-TAQ, which became the first of the type to visit Europe when it arrived at LAP on August 28, 1948, on its delivery flight from San Diego to its new owners in Australia.

Convair-Liner одним из первых получил встроенные пассажирские трапы, плюс возможность установки нижней двери в хвостовой части (у CV-240 на фотографии).

ARCO's Convair 600 CX-BJL, with a CV-240 behind, at Laguna de Los Palos, Colonia.

Convair-Liner из "Ethiopian Airlines" оснащались ускорителями JATO, помогавшими взлетать в условиях жары и высокогорья. На фотографии - Convair-Liner стартует из аэропорта Аддис-Абебы, расположенного на высоте 2347 м над уровнем моря.

Один из шести Model 240-14, закупленных китайской "Central Air Transport Corporation" незадолго до победы коммунистов на материковой части Китая. После прихода компартии к власти пять самолетов перелетели в Гонконг.

Первый увеличенный CV-340, N3401, испытали в октябре 1951 года. На фотографии хорошо видны особенности Convair-Liner: узкое крыло большого удлинения и тщательно закапотированные моторы.

The CV-340 model

Другую новинку - дверь перед крылом (на CV-340 из "Braniff", фотография внизу) не раз копировали.

Lufthansa Convair 340 D-ACAD at Heathrow on April 15, 1955, after its proving flight from Hamburg.

The colourful Convair 340. HZ-ABA (c /n. 222), of Saudi Arabian Airlines, has passed through Blackbushe en route to Tollerton for overhaul.

Convair 340 OH-LRC awaits its next flight at Bromma, Stockholm, shortly after the type’s introduction into Aero O/Y service in 1953. Note the CV-340’s "aspirated cooling" system, comprising a pair of “thrust-augmenter” tubes on the rear of each engine nacelle; this would be much modified on the improved CV-440 Metropolitan.

A typical line-up on the ramp during a busy day at Helsinki-Vantaa in 1956; nearest the camera is CV-440 OH-LRD, beyond which may be seen the fin of Finnair CV-340 OH-LRA (still in the airline’s older predominantly bare-metal scheme), with Scandinavian Airline System Douglas DC-4 LN-IAE at the far end. The introduction of the CV-440 heralded a smart new white, blue and bare-metal colour scheme for Finnair.

Delivered in April 1956, CV-440 OH-LRD was followed into Finnair service by OH-LRE and ’LRF the following year, with ’LRG joining the fleet in April 1961. The airline’s CV-340s were upgraded to Metropolitan standard.

The first Finnair CV-440 Metropolitan, OH-LRD, dubbed “Finnliner”, at Helsinki-Vantaa in April 1956. Although the company had begun trading as Finnair, the company’s original name, Aero O/Y, was still carried prominently on the fins of its aircraft.

A development span of nearly nine years separates the current CV-440 Metropolitan (photo) and Convair's original experimental post-war air liner, the Model 110, from which the Convair-Liner series sprang. Only the shape of the wing and tail assembly of the CV-440 gives a clue to its parentage.

Convair 440 Metropolitan.

First report of a Convair 440 Metropolitan in Europe comes from D. F. Gilpin, who took this photograph.

Convair 440 Metropolitan N4407 of Mohawk Airlines at JFK Airport, New York, in 1965. Unusually for a local airline, Mohawk acquired its 440s factory-fresh from the manufacturer when it bought examples that had been built “on spec” for other airlines.

A Convair CV-440 Metropolitan is registered N440EL and is the second Napier-owned "Eland Convair" which is currently undergoing transformation to Eland N.El.6s.

The Convair 440, HB-IMU, used for charter work by the Swiss carrier Air-Sea Service; nose colours are orange and blue on white

A daily occurrence at Pochentong as some fortunate passengers envelop an Air Cambodge Convair. The haste to board is very evident.

The owner of this executive Convair CV-440 Metropolitan must surely be either a TV mogul or a candy king. The stripes are black and white, with wing and tail assembly trim in blue. Our New York correspondent, F. G. Freeman, Jnr., of Flushing, New York, took this photograph.

Convair 440 Metropolitans of many nationalities now grace the tarmac at British airports, among the latest being EC-AMR to 'MV of the Spanish airline Iberia.

Spanish Air Force Convair 440 T.14-3 '911-03' was formerly with the national airline Iberia.

Среди военных покупателей 440 Metropolitan были ВВС Австралии (на фото; два самолета) и Германии (два), ВВС Италии (один) и ВВС и ВМС США (C-131D/E и R4Y-2, соответственно).

METROPOLITAN in strange guise is A96-313 - one of the two V.I.P. Convair 440s now operated by the R.A.A.F.

Only Convair T-29A resident in Europe is based at Sculthorpe, attached to the 47th Operations Squadron, U.S.A.F. The T-29A is a direct Convair 240 conversion with four dorsal astrodomes and built-in steps as shown in this photo of 49-1941-A (c/n. 20a). The suffix "A" indicates "last three" serial duplication .

Early production T-29B 51-5118 wearing 'buzz-number' 'TP-118' on the forward fuselage in May 1949. Note also the number '249' behind the cockpit and below the rudder - this was the aircraft's construction number.

Convair T-29B.

A U.S.A.F. T-29B

View of the impressively-modified one-off NT-29B 51-5132 bedecked with radomes and additional aerials. What do readers know of the test programme that this machine was involved in?

A U.S.A.F. T-29D

One of its military variants, the C-131B.

CONVAIR C-131D. First V.I.P. version of the Convair C-131 Samaritan to visit the U.K. is th is U.S. 3rd Air Force C-131D (55-291) command ship used by a "2-star" general. This C-131D is similar to the U.S. Navy's R4Y-1Z (Z = V.I.P.) and is basically similar to the airframe of the Eland-Convairliner (Model 340-D2). Thirty-three C-131Ds are being delivered to the USAF and MATS.

These Convair C-131Fs - 141026 and 141023 "JK" - belong to Fleet Tactical Support Squadron 1 (VR-1). Note the large freight door

A 1960 photo showing the Royal Hellenic Air Force base commander greeting a US Navy admiral and adjutant as they step off a C-131 that’s just arrived from NAF Naples.

Rarely illustrated is the R4Y-1, the U.S. Navy cargo-transport version of the U.S.A.F. C-131 Samaritan, the latest version of which is the RC-131G. Unlike the M.A.T.S. C-131s, the U.S. Navy's R4Y-1s have the white top decking extending to below the windows.

Convair R4Y-1 personnel-cargo-hospital transport capable of carrying twenty-seven stretcher cases or forty-four seats.

Как и Model 240, 340-й получил военные заказы: 36 48-местных транспортных C-131B, 33 44-местных C-131D и VC-131D для ВВС США, а также 37 транспортных/грузовых/санитарных R4Y-1 (на снимке) для ВМС США.

NC-131H Total In-Flight Simulator, operated by Calspan on behalf of the USAF and other agencies

The Convair NC-131H Total In-Flight Simulator incorporates a sophisticated computerised flight control system that embraces the conventional ailerons, rudder and elevators as well as the side-force generators (vertical surfaces at mid-span) and direct-lift flaps.

Ranks of Grumman E-1 Tracers alternate with S-2 Trackers, sheltering under their AEW Radomes and folded wings. In the background stand twin-engined Convair C-131 Samaritans and Boeing KC-97s.

Характерной деталью всех поршневых самолетов "Convair" были реактивные выхлопные патрубки, которые улучшали охлаждение моторов и давали небольшой прирост тяги. На фотографии капот двигателя откинут.

The revised exhaust outlet of the CV-440’s Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engine nacelle, in which the original twin tubes fitted to the CV-240 and 340 were enclosed in an attempt to palliate the high noise levels experienced in the cabins of the earlier models.

Cockpit line drawing is of the CV-440.

The opulent interior of Convair 240 N396CG, formerly used by Hollywood actor Cary Grant as his personal transport.

A drawing of the Consolidated Vultee Model 240 40-passenger Airliner.

Convair Metropolitan 440