Convair Advanced Designs: Secret Projects from San Diego 1923-1962

[Vahe Demirjian]

The book Convair Advanced Designs: Secret Projects from San Diego 1923-1962 is a very concise overview of bomber and seaplane designs conceived by Convair's San Diego in the 1923 to 1962 interval. The PBY, PB2Y, B-24, B-32, B-36, PB4Y, and R3Y are the most well-known Convair bomber and large seaplane designs conceived in the Convair design offices in San Diego, but Convair also churned a whammy of prototype-only and unbuilt seaplane and bomber designs, namely the PB3Y (Models 30 and 34), R2Y, passenger flying boat designs, carrier-based strategic bomber designs for the OS-106 and OS-111 competitions won by North American and the Douglas El Segundo division respectively, a minelaying flying boat for the OS-125 contest won by Martin, a flying submarine, nuclear-powered seaplanes, the P5Y patrol flying boat, and the P6Y ASW flying boat. Although Robert Bradley passed away two years ago, his book is complete with artwork and detailed diagrams for each of the Convair bomber and seaplane designs conceived in San Diego, and by illuminating details of Convair's losing designs for the OS-106, OS-111, and OS-125 competitions, it is obvious from the book that the AJ/A-2 Savage, P6M Seamaster, and A3D/A-3 Skywarrior did not exist in their own right but instead resulted from a process of decision-making by the Navy regarding which designs for a competition should be chosen for fabrication and testing. The entry of this book regarding the Consolidated PB3Y is quite extensive because the initial Consolidated designs for a PB2Y replacement which bore the company designation Model 30 were informally known as "PB3Y" even though the US Navy was initially not yet fully committed to a PB2Y replacement program, and the final design which did receive the official XPB3Y designation was conceived in 1941 with the internal designation Model 34. The end of the bomber chapter of this book offers new insight into Convair San Diego's bomber activities after the end of the World War II because by 1949, Convair's San Diego division wound down bomber development as the company's Forth Worth plant in Fort Worth, Texas became the lone Convair plant tasked with production of heavy bombers (e.g. B-36, B-58).