Editing Convair (section)

== History ==
=== Origins ===
Consolidated produced important aircraft in the early years of [[World War II]], especially the [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24 Liberator]] heavy bomber and the [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|PBY Catalina]] seaplane for the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. armed forces]] and their allies. Approximately 18,500 B-24s were produced by Consolidated and a number of major contractors across a number of versions; it holds records as the world's most-produced bomber, heavy bomber, multi-engine aircraft, and American military aircraft in history. The Catalina remained in production through May 1945, and more than 4,000 were built. 

What was soon called "Convair" (first unofficially, and then officially), was created in 1943 by the merger of the [[Consolidated Aircraft]] Company and the [[Vultee Aircraft]] Company. This merger produced a large [[aircraft manufacturer|airplane company]], ranked fourth among United States corporations by value of wartime production contracts, higher than the giants [[Douglas Aircraft]], [[Boeing]], and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]].<ref>Peck, Merton J. and [[Frederic M. Scherer|Scherer, Frederic M.]] ''The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis'' (1962) Harvard Business School p. 619</ref> Convair always had most of its research, design, and manufacturing operations in [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]] in [[Southern California]], though surrounding counties participated as well, mostly as contractors to Convair.

=== Jet Age, Cold War, and Space Age ===
In March 1953, all of the Convair company was bought by the [[General Dynamics|General Dynamics Corporation]], a conglomerate of military and high-technology companies, and it became officially the '''Convair Division''' within General Dynamics.<ref name=cent>{{cite web|url=http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/generaldynamics/Aero35.htm|title=General Dynamics Corporation|publisher=U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission|access-date=2006-03-31|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112045623/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/generaldynamics/Aero35.htm|archive-date=2008-11-12}}</ref>

After the beginning of the [[Jet Age]]{{cn|date=July 2022|reason=linked article only mentions civil airliners}} of military fighters and bombers, Convair was a pioneer of the delta-winged aircraft design, along with the French [[Dassault Aviation|Dassault]] aircraft company, which designed and built the [[Dassault Mirage|Mirage fighter plane]]s.

One of Convair's most famous products was the ten-engined [[Convair B-36]] strategic bomber, burning four [[turbojets]] and turning six pusher propellers driven by [[Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major]] radial piston engines. The [[Convair B-36 Peacemaker|Convair B-36]] was the largest landbased piston engined bomber in the world. The [[Atlas missile]], the [[Convair F-102 Delta Dagger|F-102 Delta Dagger]] and [[Convair F-106 Delta Dart|F-106 Delta Dart]] delta-winged interceptors, and the delta-winged [[Convair B-58 Hustler|B-58 Hustler]] supersonic intercontinental nuclear bomber were all Convair products. For a period of time in the 1960s, Convair manufactured its own line of jet commercial airliners, the [[Convair 880]] and [[Convair 990 Coronado]], but this did not turn out to be profitable. However, Convair found that it was profitable to be an aviation subcontractor and manufacture large subsections of airliners — such as fuselages — for the larger airliner companies, [[McDonnell Douglas]], [[Boeing]], and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]]. 

In the 1950s, Convair shifted money and effort to its missile and rocket projects, producing the [[RIM-2 Terrier|Terrier missile]] ship-launched surface-to-air system for the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] during the 1960s and 1970s. Convair's [[Atlas (rocket family)|Atlas rocket]], originally proposed in 1945 with a unique pressurized cylinder airframe, was revived in the 1950s as an [[ICBM]] for the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] using [[V-2]] technology motors in response to the [[Soviet]] missile threat.<ref> see [[Karel Bossart]]</ref>  It was first launched in 1957 but its use as an ICBM was soon replaced in 1962 by the room-temperature liquid-fueled [[LGM-25C Titan II|Titan II missile]], and later by the solid-fueled [[LGM-30 Minuteman|Minuteman missile]]. The Atlas rocket transitioned into a civilian launch vehicle and was used for the first orbital crewed U.S. space flights during [[Project Mercury]] in 1962 and 1963.

The [[Atlas (rocket family)|Atlas rocket]] became a very reliable booster for launching of satellites and continued to evolve, remaining in use into the 21st century, when combined with the [[Centaur (rocket)|Centaur]] upper stage to form the [[Atlas-Centaur]] [[launch vehicle]] for launching geosynchronous [[communication satellite]]s and [[space probe]]s. The Centaur rocket was also designed, developed, and produced by Convair, and it was the first widely used outer space rocket to use the all-[[cryogenic]] fuel-oxidizer combination of [[liquid hydrogen]] and [[liquid oxygen]]. The use of this liquid hydrogen – liquid oxygen combination in the Centaur was an important direct precursor to the use of the same fuel-oxidizer combination in the Saturn [[S-II]] second stage and the Saturn [[S-IVB]] third stage of the gigantic [[Saturn V]] Moon rocket of the [[Apollo program]]. The S-IVB had earlier also been used as the second stage of the smaller [[Saturn IB]] rocket, such as the one used to launch [[Apollo 7]]. The Centaur upper stage was first designed and developed for launching the [[Surveyor program|Surveyor]] lunar landers, beginning in 1966, to augment the [[Delta-v|delta-V]] of the Atlas rockets and give them enough payload capability to deliver the required mass of the Surveyors to the [[Moon]].

More than 100 Convair-produced Atlas-Centaur rockets (including those with their successor designations) were used to successfully launch over 100 satellites, and among their many other outer-space missions, they launched the [[Pioneer 10]] and [[Pioneer 11]] space probes, the first two to be launched on trajectories that carried them out of the [[Solar System]].

In addition to aircraft, missiles, and space vehicles, Convair developed the large [[Charactron]] vacuum tubes, a form of [[cathode-ray tube]] (CRT) computer display with a shaped mask to form characters,<ref>{{cite web|title=Charactron Tube|publisher=Computing at Chilton, of Atlas Computer Laboratory, Chilton, Oxfordshire|date=2006-08-05|url=http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/technology/sc4020/p002.htm|access-date=2006-10-22|archive-date=18 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618112821/http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/technology/sc4020/p002.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and to give an example of a minor product, the [[CORDIC]] algorithms, which is widely used today to calculate [[trigonometric function]]s in [[calculator]]s, [[field-programmable gate array]]s, and other small electronic systems.

=== Dissolution ===
General Dynamics announced the sale of the Missile Systems Division segment of Convair to [[Hughes Aircraft Company]] in May 1992<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-12-mn-1628-story.html |title=Archives |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=12 May 1992 |access-date=16 April 2020 |archive-date=11 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211171845/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-05-12/news/mn-1628_1_general-dynamics-pomona |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Space Systems Division segment to [[Martin Marietta]] in 1994.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/uniontrib/20070611/news_1n11atlas.html |title=The San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, California & National News |access-date=3 July 2018 |archive-date=3 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703220843/http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/uniontrib/20070611/news_1n11atlas.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 1994, General Dynamics and [[McDonnell Douglas]] mutually agreed to terminate Convair's contract to provide fuselages for the 300-seat [[McDonnell Douglas MD-11|MD-11]] airliner.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-02-fi-11075-story.html |title=Archives |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=2 July 1994 |access-date=16 April 2020 |archive-date=19 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119040344/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-07-02/business/fi-11075_1_san-diego |url-status=live }}</ref> Manufacturing responsibility was to be transferred to McDonnell Douglas, which said it would not preserve the operation in San Diego. General Dynamics had tried for two years to sell the Aircraft structures segment of Convair unit, but the effort ultimately failed.

The termination of the contract meant the end of the Convair Division and of General Dynamics' presence in San Diego, as well as the city's long aircraft-building tradition. The defense contractor once employed 18,000 people there, but after selling its divisions, that number is now zero. General Dynamics closed its complex in [[Kearny Mesa, San Diego|Kearny Mesa]], demolishing the facility between 1994 and 1996. Homes and offices now occupy the site. The [[San Diego International Airport|Lindbergh Field]] plant that produced B-24s during [[World War II]] was also demolished and the consolidated rental car facility now occupies this space.

The [[Fort Worth, Texas]] factory, constructed to build the B-24s, and its associated engineering locations and laboratories — all previously used to make hundreds of Consolidated B-24s, [[General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark]] fighter-bombers and [[General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon]]s, along with dozens of smaller projects — were sold, along with all intellectual property and the legal rights to the products designed and built within, to the [[Lockheed Corporation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1992/12/10/lockheed-to-acquire-jet-division-general-dynamics-selling-f-16-program/ |title=Lockheed Buys General Dynamics &#124; Lockheed to acquire jet division General Dynamics selling F-16 program - tribunedigital-baltimoresun |date=10 December 1992 |access-date=3 July 2018 |archive-date=3 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703220941/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-12-10/business/1992345131_1_military-aircraft-general-dynamics-aircraft-division |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1996, General Dynamics deactivated all of the remaining legal entities of the Convair Division.