The Scopophiliac’s Guide to Aircraft Manufacturers Part 2: Convair aircraft ranked by beauty
The “airmail gaze” invokes the sexual politics of the gaze and suggests a sexualised way of looking that empowers AvGeeks and objectifies aeroplanes. In the airmail gaze, the aircraft is visually positioned as an “object” of aerosexual desire. Within this outlook, aircraft types may be reduced to being ranked on desirability alone with no appreciation of their flying qualities or historical importance. To understand the airmail gaze we must first embrace it. So let’s judge aircraft manufacturers through the utterly disgraceful metric of which produced the highest percentage of beautiful aircraft types.
28. Model 111 Score: 27
(1940s)
27. XC-99 44 (1947)
26. Stinson 108 50 (1944)
25. Model 106 Skycoach
57 (1946)
24. Model 110
58 (1946)
23. CV-240
58 (1947)
22. CV-340 58 (1951)
21. CV-440 Metropolitan 58 (1955)
20. CV-600
58 (1965)
19. CV-640 58 (1965)
18. R3Y Tradewind (1954)
60
17. Vultee XA-41
61 (1944)
16. C-131 Samaritan
62 (1949)
15. Model 116
63 (1946)
14. Convair XF-92
63 (1948)
13. Model 118
64 (1947)
12. Consolidated Vultee XP-81
61 (1945)
11. XB-46 68 (1947)
10. Convair Model 48 Charger
9. Convair 880 75 (1959)
8. Convair F2Y Sea Dart 77 (1953)
7. F-102 Delta Dagger
79 (1953)
6. YB-60 83 (1952)
5. XFY Pogo
83 (1954)
4. 990 Coronado – Fastest subsonic airliner
84 (1961)
3. B-36 Peacemaker/NB-36H 86 (1946)
2. B-58 Hustler
90 (1956)
- F-106 Delta Dart, 93 (1956)
AVERAGE 66%
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Pogo and Sea Dart beat the XB-46?
And the YB-60 beats all three?
Has anyone seen the reviewers guide dog?
Also, why is the CV-240 & the C-131 both when they are 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝘼𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙩, with a different designation, and the C-131 comes higher than the CV-240?
This is a mockery! How does the monstrous, wart-strewn B-36 with its tacked-on jets rate at 86, while the clean, gentle NC-99 at a mere 44? How does the nose job and Navy livery of the Samaritian add four points over the CV-240 family score? Madness, I demand satisfaction!