On this day in 1960, Delta Air Lines’ Superintendant of Flight Operations, Captain Thomas Prioleau Ball, Jr., made the delivery flight of Delta’s first Convair 880 jet airliner, Ship 902, named Delta Queen, from San Diego, California, to Miami, Florida. The plane set a new United States National Record for Speed Over a Commercial Airline Route with an average speed of slightly more than 641 mph cutting 27 minutes off the time of an Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-8B over the same route the previous month.
The Convair 880 was so-named because its designed top speed was 880 feet per second (600 mph) faster than the Boeing 707 or Douglas DC-8. It was the fastest airliner until the Concord. The Convair Division of General Dynamics built 65 Convair 880 airliners at San Diego between 1959 and 1962. Delta Air Lines retired its last one in January 1974. Its improved version, the 990 also faced a similar short career. Though impressive performers, both airliners were considered a failure in part due to construction delays, limited seating, and high fuel consumption. The shorter hops within Europe proved more fitting for its design.
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