Britain's first post-war cargo aircraft was the Bristol Freighter, and it was this aircraft which, in 1948 inaugurated car carrying transportation across the English Channel. However, it was obvious that a larger, longer range aircraft was required, and Aviation Traders Ltd, a company founded by Sir Freddie Laker, felt that the best way to produce this larger aircraft was by converting an existing one. DC4s were readily available, relatively cheap, and spares were easy to come by, so it was decided that this would be the source of the aircraft which came to be known as the Carvair (car-via-air). Technical assistance with the conversion was provided by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation.
The new aircraft could accomodate up to five (European sized) cars and 22 passengers, although an alternative all-passenger version was also proposed, seating 65 passengers. This really would have been the Mark One Jumbo!
First flown on 21st June 1961, twenty-one aircraft were eventually converted; surprisingly, the conversion had superior performance characteristics to its parent aircraft. Only a few remain in May 2000, and one of these, the Custom Air Services Carvair, is available from the Flying Colours website (see LINKS). An add-on to this aircraft is also included below
CLICK on the image to download the file.
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Aer Lingus operated three Carvairs in the 1960s. This one was owned from
April 1964 until February 1968 when it was sold toEastern Provincial
Airways of Canada. In 1973 it returned to British Air Ferries who operated
it for a year before passing it on to a Scandinavian operator. It was last
heard of derelict at Bangkok.
The pale green colour used for the lettering on this model is not an FS pallette
colour. I've never had problems, and none of the hundreds of people who have
downloaded it have complained to me, but if you need it changed, e-mail me
and I'll modify it.
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Yes, you're quite right, Bahamasair never operated the Carvair - but think
of the fun on the streets of Nassau if they had! In the Bahamas they
drive on the left (like Britain) but, since most of the cars are left-hand
drive, they also sometimes overtake on the left! At least, I think
thats why they overtake on the left.....
Actually, the Carvair could have been useful to Bahamasair even as a plain
old cargo airliner, but I just like the colour scheme, and since I often
fly from Nassau to Miami, its nice to have a familiar aircraft to use for
the journey! The registration stands for a fairly well known, and quite
appropriate Bahamian phrase,'Big Bahama Mama'. At one time this was plastered
across the nose, but now the aircraft is named after a bridge, like all the
other Channel Air Bridge aircraft.(Paradise Island Bridge is the bridge you
see on your right when you're on finals for Paradise Island Airports runway
09).
ATL98 Carvair G-APNH
'Menai Bridge' British United Air Ferries
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British United Air Ferries was formed when the vehicle ferry divisions of
Silver City Airways and Channel Air Bridge amalgamated in 1963.
The new company operated car-ferry services between England and the European
Continent, particularly Ostend. The aircraft were named after bridges -
'Chelsea Bridge', 'Pont D'Avignon', 'Golden Gate Bridge',
and as in this case - 'Menai Bridge'.
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Not a whole plane - just the nose -art!. This file adds 'Fat Annie - Miss 1944' nose art to David Henderson's Custom Air Services Carvair - just like the real thing! You need to have David's plane already (CARVMP.ZIP) which you can get from his Flying Colours website (see links). This site is well worth a visit anyway, because it has lots of great planes from South Eastern USA. I can particularly recommend the Prinair Heron and the PBA Martin 404. He also has recently added Atlanta Hartsfield (in the 'Seventies) scenery, and although I haven't got it yet, I'm sure it will be good.
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Quite a few Carvairs spent time in the Southern Hemisphere. This aircraft
was one of three operated by the Australian domestic airline Ansett between
November 1965 and January 1974. The aircraft actually started life as a DC4
of the Norwegian airline DNL and was also operated by SAS, JAL and
Korean Air Lines before being converted to a Carvair.
ATL98 Carvair
VH-INM Ansett (1960's colours)
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Another Antipodean Carvair! VH-INM started life with the USAAF before becoming 'Clipper Kit Carson' with Pan American.It eventually ended up with Ansett (as a DC4) and was converted to a Carvair in 1968.They disposed of it in1975, and after spending some time in Indonesia, it ended its days in New Zealand. Some day you may see it on this site as ZK-NWB of Nationwide Air!
Whatever panel you decide to use on your DC6, the same one can be used on the Carvair.
I use DC4 sound that came with a commercially purchased aircraft, but the Classic Airliners site can give you a good DC4 sound (DC4SOUND.ZIP).