|
|
Founded by John M. Conroy, who had been responsible for development of the outsize Pregnant Guppy and its successor for Aero Spacelines Inc., the Conroy Aircraft Corporation intended to specialise in the development and conversion of existing aircraft. Its work has included the Conroy/Douglas Turbo Three, a convertion of the remarkable DC-3 to turboprop powerplant. This involved the installation of two 1193kW Rolls-Royce RDa.6 Dart Mk 510 turbo-props in new nacelles, each driving a Rotol four-blade propeller. The initial Turbo Three conversion was flown for the first time on 13 May 1969.
Work on the DC-3 was followed by a new large-capacity conversion of a Canadair CL-44 long-range freighter. To achieve this the upper half of the standard fuselage was removed, being replaced by a new pressurised structure
that provided a maximum internal height of 4.24m, almost doubling the volume of the cargo compartment. Designated Conroy/Canadair
CL-44-0, the original conversion was flown for the first time on 26 November 1969 and since October 1982 has been operated by HeavyLift Cargo Airlines from their base at Stansted.
| Robert Stickler, thestick5(@)yahoo.com, 10.08.2008 I flew this aircraft when it was leased to TransMeridian Airlines out of Stansted in the early 70's. I was a furloughed pilot for Flying Tigers at the time. It flew quite well with the enlarged fuselage. The actual speeds of the original CL-44 were about the same. Biggest problem was trying to stay warm. it seems the heating system was a little inadequate for the size of the cargo section.. great times flying with those Englishmen. Party party... there was a web site for transmeridian. www.cl44.org. not sure its still up... | | George Warner, ftwarner(@)ccountry.net, 19.07.2008 Bob Kirby and I have written a book detailing our 4 year experience working with Jack Conroy. We built the thing. Bob was the Director of Research and Development, and I was the Purchasing Agent....beginning to end. | | Aero-Fox, 20.03.2008 It has turboprops. Jets with external props out on the end. They're widely used in large aircraft in which speed is not paramount. | | nathan, holly.kazanzidis(@)hotmail.com, 22.07.2007 why does the airplane have propellers insted of jet engines????? |
|
Do you have any comments about this aircraft ?
|
| |
