Convair

Becoming the fourth largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States when Consolidated merged with Vultee in 1943, Convair quickly built a reputation for designing and building some of the largest and most powerful aircraft in the world. From the XA-41 ground-attack aircraft in 1944 through to the Cv660 airliner in 1967, Convair pushed the boundaries with every project they undertook, some were inevitably more successful than others but all would make their mark in aviation history. Some of those successes included the enormous intercontinental B-36 Peacemaker, the world's largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft, and the Cv240 family of small airliners that continued to evolve up to the turn of the twenty-first century. The novelty of the turboprop-powered Tradewind flying-boat, the glamour of the F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart and the brutish power and futuristic appearance of the B-58 Hustler are all trademark Convair machines.