General Dynamics Convair Division

Does anyone know when General Dynamics dropped the Convair Division designation from their aviation products and just became General Dynamics?

My dear Triton,


I think in June 1974.

hesham said:

My dear Triton,


I think in June 1974.

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Please hesham, only assert such things if you have a document to back it up. Otherwise it's only guesswork.

I'm attaching as an example a document showing the F-16N proposal that was posterior to the date you suggest and clearly carries the Convair name...

General Dynamics renamed the various Convair operations over time and eventually sold them all off but from initial acquisition Convair headquartered at San Diego had been called General Dynamics Convair Division. The operation of Air Force Plant 4 at Fort Worth was hived off from Convair (San Diego) control and became General Dynamics Fort Worth Division. In 1985 the space program of General Dynamics Convair Division was split off into General Dynamics Space Systems Division also General Dynamics Convair Aerostructures Division and General Dynamics Missile Systems Division were formed from Convair Division.

In 1992 General Dynamics Missile Systems Division was sold to Hughes, in 1993 General Dynamics Fort Worth Division was sold to Lockheed and in 1994 both General Dynamics Convair Aerostructures Division was sold to McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics Space Systems Division sold to Martin Marietta. What was left of General Dynamics Convair Division was closed in 1996.

Lockheed Martin bought the Convair Division of GD Fort Worth - right? That's where they're building the F-35s - right? -SP

Steve Pace said:

Lockheed Martin bought the Convair Division of GD Fort Worth - right? That's where they're building the F-35s - right? -SP

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Lockheed (not Lockheed Martin which was formed later) brought GDFW (General Dynamics Forth Worth Division) and other GD operations involved in the F-16 program from General Dynamics. When GD brought Convair back in 1953-54 the operation of Air Force Plant 4 (the Forth Worth factory is still owned by USAF) was Convair Forth Worth Division. GD renamed it General Dynamics Forth Worth Division and separated it from the rest of Convair which became General Dynamics Convair Division.

Thank you for the history, Abraham. I had always wondered why the name Convair disappeared or died out.

The brief timeline is:

1943: Avco merges Consolidated and Vultee holdings to form Convair
1946: Electric Boat buys Canadair (formerly Vickers Canada)
1947: Avco sells controlling interest in Convair to Atlas Corporation
1952: EB holding company changes name to General Dynamics
1953: GD buys majority control of Convair from Atlas, creates Convair Division in San Diego and GD Fort Worth at Plant 4
1959: Henry Crown (largest shareholder) merges GD with Materials Service Corp.
1961: GD reorganizes, drops Convair name from aerospace products
1967: GD sells General Atomic Division to Gulf
1976: GD sells Canadair to Canadian government

The rest is as Abe speaketh.

Thank you, George. I believe that this history becomes even more important considering that the aviation assets of General Dynamics were sold to McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed Martin. As the United States aerospace sector continues to consolidate, it becomes increasing difficult to properly attribute a company to a design. There's discussion that the LRS-B program will make Northrop Grumman a target of acquisition with much speculation that the likely suitor will be Boeing.