Convair Model 15 Dart
By 1955 American Airlines were once again knocking on Lockheed’s front door with a new proposal. This time a much larger aircraft was required with a range of 2000 miles and the capacity to carry at least 75 passengers. What American was really saying was, ‘Give us an airplane with these specifications and we’ll buy it!’
This certainly aroused the interest of several manufacturers including Convair. Indeed, the potential of the Allison/Convair-Liner turboprop marriage kept Convair engineers thinking of how they could further profit from the aircraft's basic design. Designers at the Convair plant submitted a proposed turboprop aircraft designated the
Model 15, and on January 18, 1955, the company released detail specifications.
Based on the American Airlines needs, the aircraft was a four-engine, pressurized, 60-passenger airliner that was to have an overall length of 95 feet, a cruising speed of 330 m.p.h. and a range of 750 miles. Based loosely on the popular Convair 340 type and with a beefed up maximum take-off weight of 67,900 lbs the Model 15 would have been in direct competition with the Viscount 800 series. Despite its name "Dart" (a company leitmotiv already used for the XF-92A, F-102A and F2Y fighters), the Model 15 would have been equipped with either the Rolls-Royce Dart, the Napier Eland or the Allison 501 engine.
In the end American chose the Lockheed proposal and the Convair Model 15 project was shelved. Convair management's attention was held by its all-jet 880 and 990 designs, and further turboprop development was assigned to Canadair, a subsidiary of Convair's parent company General Dynamics.
Main source:
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The Aussie Airliners website
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