{"id":8419262,"date":"2026-08-01T10:09:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/convair-990-coronado-fastest-jetliner\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T10:16:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:16:49","slug":"convair-990-coronado-fastest-jetliner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/fr\/convair-990-coronado-fastest-jetliner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fastest Jetliner Ever Built &mdash; and a Sales Flop"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><p>In the early 1960s, two American giants owned the jet age: Boeing&rsquo;s 707 and the Douglas DC-8. Convair, a division of General Dynamics, decided it could not out-size them &mdash; so it tried to out-run them.<\/p><p>The result was the Convair 990 Coronado: a sleek four-engine jet with strange bulges on its wings and a single, audacious promise. It would be the fastest airliner in the sky. And it was &mdash; in cruise it ran markedly quicker than any 707 or DC-8, the fastest subsonic jet airliner ever built.<\/p><p>Almost nobody bought it. Just 37 were made before Convair pulled the plug, handing its parent company one of the biggest corporate losses in American business history. This is the story of a jet that won the race and lost the war.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 24px;margin:24px 0;border-radius:8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:18px;color:#222\">Informations cl\u00e9s<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px\"><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Taper<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Four-engine narrow-body jet airliner (a stretched Convair 880)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Fabricant<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Convair, a division of General Dynamics<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Premier vol<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">24 January 1961<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Moteurs<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Four General Electric CJ805-23 aft-fan turbofans<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Vitesse<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Cruised at about Mach 0.84 &mdash; 25 to 35 mph faster than a 707 or DC-8<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Signature<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Four anti-shock &ldquo;speed capsules&rdquo; on the wings to delay transonic drag<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Construit<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Just 37<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Vie apr\u00e8s la mort<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">NASA flew two as &ldquo;Galileo&rdquo; research aircraft<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Convair&rsquo;s Gamble to Beat Boeing<\/h2><p>Convair&rsquo;s first jet, the 880, was fast but too small &mdash; airlines wanted seats, not speed records. American Airlines came back with a challenge: stretch it, and build a jet that could cross the United States nonstop against the wind. Convair lengthened the 880 and aimed for a machine that cruised closer to the speed of sound than anything else carrying passengers.<\/p>\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1020262050  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:ZsPY.c90e\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/convair-990-anti-shock-bodies-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Swissair Convair 990 in flight\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Swissair Convair 990 in flight &mdash; the anti-shock bodies are visible on the wings. San Diego Air &amp; Space Museum Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Speed Bumps That Made It Fast<\/h2><p>The 990&rsquo;s signature is the row of four fairings on the trailing edge of the wing &mdash; anti-shock bodies, sometimes called &ldquo;speed capsules.&rdquo; Shaped on the transonic area-rule principle, they smoothed the airflow to raise the speed at which drag rises sharply near Mach 1. The larger inboard pods doubled as fuel tanks. Paired with rear-fan turbofans derived from a supersonic fighter&rsquo;s engine, the Coronado was built to loiter close to Mach 0.9.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CHw3nRjj5xc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;font-style:italic;text-align:center;margin-top:-12px\">The story of the world&rsquo;s fastest subsonic airliner.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The inside story of the Convair 990, the fastest subsonic airliner in the world.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>John T. Kutney Sr.<\/strong> &mdash; Convair 990 design engineer (AIAA, 2007)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Broken Promises and Reluctant Airlines<\/h2><p>The physics did not fully cooperate. In everyday service the early 990 fell short of the speed guaranteed to American Airlines, because the anti-shock bodies produced more drag than predicted. A crash redesign eventually recovered the lost performance, but the jet never reliably delivered the coast-to-coast nonstop it was sold on. Swissair bought a handful and flew them hard to South America, Africa and the Far East.<\/p>\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=368506917  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:2jh3.c90f\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/convair-990-nasa-galileo-ii-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"NASA Convair 990 Galileo II over the Golden Gate\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">NASA&rsquo;s Convair 990 &ldquo;Galileo II&rdquo; research aircraft over the Golden Gate Bridge. NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why the Coronado Flopped<\/h2><p>Speed cost fuel. The 990 was too thirsty, too small in the cabin, and too late: Boeing&rsquo;s later models captured its niche. Only 37 were built. The combined 880 and 990 programme handed General Dynamics one of the largest corporate losses in American history to that point, and Convair never built another airliner.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IbSsRjt1QBY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;font-style:italic;text-align:center;margin-top:-12px\">Why the fastest airliner was also a failure.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Convair 990 hits Mach .97 during speed test flight.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Aviation Week<\/strong> &mdash; 7 August 1961<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Galileo Afterlife<\/h2><p>Retired Coronados found second lives with charter carriers, and NASA turned two into flying laboratories named &ldquo;Galileo&rdquo; and &ldquo;Galileo II,&rdquo; using them for atmospheric and astronomy research into the 1980s. One Swissair example survives in a museum in Lucerne.<\/p><p>The Coronado remains aviation&rsquo;s classic beautiful failure &mdash; an engineer&rsquo;s jet that was faster than it needed to be, in an era that just wanted cheaper seats.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q5Neog6j6uU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;font-style:italic;text-align:center;margin-top:-12px\">The jet that was, in one telling, too fast to survive.<\/p><p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#666;font-style:italic;margin-top:20px\">Sources: Wikipedia (Convair 990 Coronado); Aviation Week (1961); John T. Kutney Sr., AIAA (2007); NASA \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Articles similaires<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-soviet-airliner-that-flew-on-hydrogen-in-1988\/\">The Soviet Airliner That Flew on Hydrogen \u2014 In 1988<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/mitsubishi-spacejet-9-billion-failure\/\">The $9 Billion Jet That Never Flew a Passenger<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/douglas-dc-8-first-airliner-broke-sound-barrier-1961\/\">Le seul avion de ligne \u00e0 avoir franchi le mur du son<\/a><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Convair 990 Coronado was the fastest subsonic jetliner ever, yet only 37 sold. Inside the speed bumps, the loss, and NASA&rsquo;s Galileo afterlife.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":8418896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8419262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Convair 990 Coronado: Fastest Jetliner, Biggest Flop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Convair 990 Coronado was the fastest subsonic jetliner ever, yet only 37 sold. 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