The Air Ferry - Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair (Reworked)

[@drstevenrey]

It doesn't matters if it was a great success or not. It will forever be remembered for it's short stint in the 1963 Goldfinger movie. Glorious beyond measure. As a car guy, I wonder what happened to the lift vehicles to load the cars. Now that would be a screamer at any old car show.

[@rEdf196]

As a teenager I saw a very bulbous looking vintage 4 engine piston prop liner in flight over Honolulu Hawaii in December 1980. It looked like a mini 747 front end. I never saw another plane like it again until I discovered the DC4 modified Carvair from the internet. I am sure this was the plane I saw back then.

[@edwardburek1717]

20:15 The star of the film "Goldfinger" - and Sean Connery in a DB5.

[@ccooper8785]

I had no idea that Freddie Laker was involved in aviation for such a long period of time. What a visionary guy !

[@barriegibson6411]

Having spent my childhood living in New Romney, late 50s early 60s, I have fond memories of watching the Bristol freighters and the Carvairs taking off from Lydd airport. My recollection was watching up to five cars going on and off of the Bristol freighter and seven with the Carvair, however maybe my memories were playing tricks with me, those same memories also suggest that I occasionally saw both aircraft flying with only the power of one engine, not so remarkable with the twin engined Bristol freighter, but more noteworthy that the Carvair had three engines shut down, perhaps my memories were once again misleading me.

[@sarkybugger5009]

I remember Dad stopping at Lydd airport, on the way to Camber Sands, to let us watch the cars drive on to a plane. To a young lad of seven or eight, it was amazing. They actually flew! This would have been late 60s.

[@peterflitcroft9756]

Nice video. I remember seeing one at an airport in Georgia, USA in 1994 when I was doing pilot training over there.

[@the_cheese]

I remember one of the Carvairs in BAF livery at Anchorage International Airport in the early 1980s, alongside the ex-USAF Fairchild C119 Flying Boxcars, Curtiss C46 Commandos, and Douglas DC-3s, -4s and -6s flying cargo ops in Alaska. Great update to your previous work, Ruairidh!

[@jeandominique-b8x]

Great vid of an amazing aircraft. I remember when I was young watching Carvairs taking off at Ostend Airport from the runway threshold, and being literally blown off my feet by the sheer power of the four Pratts running at full throttle! Those were the days... Thanks for posting this very interesting document. JMD, Brussels

[@nickwalter9630]

I remember when I was very young, my dad taking me in the car on one of these....flying from Ostend.

[@elcheapo5302]

I've seen the one in Texas in person several times. I knew what it was and it was quite a sight to actually see it up close. Very cool.

[@fishman501]

Glad to see a video about such an unusual aircraft, that list of cargo at the end was so varied and odd at times, from toilets to racehorses to sports teams to a 3 ton whale

[@gregorylenton8200]

AS an aviation enthusiast..think this was favouite show of yours enjoyed every moment...THANKS

[@Stan_o7]

Such a awesome aircraft. 😍

[@chrisrand5185]

I remember spending time in the viewing area of Southend airport watching the Carvairs come and go. Even remember one occasion when one landed with an engine fire (quickly extinguished).

[@BillyNoMates1974]

finally someone covers this weird and quirky aircraft. thanks for the video.

[@warringtonminge4167]

Back in the 50s/early 60s I distinctly remember as a young kid, after a fairly uninspiring overnight in a scruffy Southend hotel, flying Southend to Basel on (specifically) Bristol Freighters so watching this was a no brainer. As a young kid with a Dad recently in military service I had to be firmly corrected every time I said we flew in a Bristol Fighter.

[@anthonywarrener1881]

Thank you for this excellent video !

[@quailking8265]

I do wish there were airlines who carry passenger's cars nowerdays

[@scofab]

fascinating once again, thank you and regards.

[@stuartburgess2409]

I remember seeing the one at Lydd as we lived not too far away at Dymchurch , also remember seeing many larger type aircraft at Lympne in the late 60's.

[@chrisgironde6669]

Remember some of these planes flying out of Lydd in Kent

[@drstevenrey]

The hump: There were a lot of other aircraft with this feature in the 40's to 80's. After all, if you want to load thru, what else can you do. Even the C-5 Galaxy is built this way as are the Antonovs and the Ilyushin 76. Since the 747 was originally designed as a military freighter, yeah, what else but a hump. Even if it is not a pronounced hump, even the Beverly has the cockpit upstairs.

[@vernongoodey5096]

1972 our School holiday was to Belgium and Netherlands and we flew in a ATL98 Southend to Ostend. The first time a school trip had been allowed to fly we were told requiring special insurance. As we were from Wokingham it was a bloody long coach trip to the airport I remember

[@verdunluck1578]

I remember in 1979 being in Bangui, in what was then the Central African Empire, where there was a Carvair parked next to a DC4. There was no avgas available in Bangui and it was very unlikely that there would be in the immediate future. An engineer with a jerry can and a funnel was draining fuel, five gallons at a time, from the Carvair which he was carrying across the apron to the DC4, climbing a ladder to get on top of the wing and pouring it into the DC4. As each journey took some time I often wondered if fuel was evaporating faster than he could pour it in The story was that when there was enough fuel in the DC4 to fly to Doula with a lot of cash, buy as many more jerry cans as they could, fill them with Avgas and bring it back to Bangui to be poured into the Carvair which could then escape to a more normal country. I wonder if it is still there.

[@nickaxe771]

I remember the Aer Lingus ones into Liverpool when I was a kid in the 60. Shame it wasn't more successful.

[@aldenconsolver3428]

a useful compact size super guppy, good idea

[@ianreynolds9733]

When they flew over my parents house back in the 1960’s they used to distort the black and white television picture! 😂

[@lesliegprice6652]

Used to see them from the train as we passed Southend Airport 😮 early sixties 🌈

[@sammysouth8372]

How come the example that worked out of Fairbanks Alaska was not mentioned?

[@QALibrary]

I surprised car and bike race teams didn’t own or leased these aircraft to get to and from races

[@arthuralford]

Two reasons: first, the cost would be prohibitive. Second, the trailers used by racing teams are mobile workshops as well as transporters

[@Sciolist]

Car and bike racing teams even successful one's were mostly shoestring affair in those days.

[@ahahaha3505]

13:08 The plane of Theseus!

[@willi19671]

That must be the dad of all 747 ???

[@AwesomeAngryBiker]

Give it a few days and the comments section will be full of people bragging about themselves and where they flew, what they flew etc 🙄🙄🙄

[@theoccupier1652]

The Carvair is one of those abortions that just looks right in all aspects ... a great looking Frankenstien

[@ColinRussell-o4l]

Great video - thanks! A 3-ton whale...???😄😄

[@davidantill6949]

What was that vent fo halfway up the nose bulb on the port side. There appears to be a stain spreading aft from it

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

How on earth could this idea have made any money?

[@markotrieste]

Remember, it was before the Oil Crisis.

[@ahahaha3505]

​@@markotriesteAnd roll-on roll-off ferries. Back then, vehicles had to be loaded and unloaded one at a time by crane.

[@drstevenrey]

Freddie Laker. He was an interesting guy. But for every single good idea, as the ATl-98, he had a slew of bad ideas, like the 'Accountant'.

[@Dbodell8000]

Looks like a miniature 747.

[@drstevenrey]

It would not work today. People are too stupid to drive backward out of the aircraft. They would all crash off the ramp. Fail Army would be there 24/7.

[@nicks4934]

So many technically advanced projects in the uk were made to pander to the middle classes. Brabazon Comet Britannia flying boat VC 10 Led by posh donkeys 😢

[@stewartellinson8846]

Blue pullman..... It's a reflection of the class basis of British society and also (for the Comet, Brabazon & SARO Princess) of the belief during the war that the Empire, and its associated air routes would endure. As such, those aircraft were like for like replacements for the Short "G" class and the pre war A-W Argosy

[@nickwoods9147]

Well my Dad took us on these Bristol freighters and he was no millionaire.He also spent 5 years being shot at and living in a tent serving in three theatres of war starting off as an nco and ending as an officer.He owed nothing to miserable socialists.

[@stewartellinson8846]

@@nickwoods9147 on another comment I show that the cost of a return ticket for a car and three people was three times the average weekly wage in 1960. In 2024 terms, that's just over £2000. Your father was clearly well off. You appear to have inherited an ugly chip on your shoulder.

[@londo776]

Fuck the AI voice I only lasted three minutes Think it would have been quite an interesting video but I couldn't stick it

[@android584]

Holy shit, Ruaridh's been an AI the whole time!

[@mikewindsor5759]

If an English accent offends you that much, turn off the sound and read the subtitles. The information can then be conveyed in whatever accent your mind chooses to associate with the text. Information absorbed, offence avoided - Job done!

[@drstevenrey]

I never understood the economic calculation of this operation. How can this ever be profitable. Or was it just idiotically expensive.

[@stewartellinson8846]

Very expensive. Bear in mind that overseas holiday were relatively elite things and driving was only recently becoming more mass - market. Fundementally, if you could afford to holiday with your car on the continent, there's a good chance that this was viable for you. Ro-ro ferries were a relatively recent innovation and it was only in the mid sixties that prices started to drop enough to allow the develpment of a mass market. Over on the Benjamin Britten archive, there's an image of a silver city airways ticket that shows that, in 1959, it cost £43 return for a car and 3 passengers (they were the composer Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and the artist Mary Potter). With an average weekly wage of £14, this was three weeks wages for most people just for the transport! Needless to say, it was very exclusive at the outset.