Airplane on Runway

(Original Caption) The Convair 240 is here being readied for its first test flight at San Diego, California. The first flight of the air-conditioned, 40 passenger airliner using jet exhaust propulsion for increased cruising speeds, lasted one hour, and 54 minutes. Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation test pilots expressed satisfaction with the plane's operation. The Convair 240 is the first commercial plane to utilize Convair's jet exhaust propulsion principle by which normally-wasted engine exhaust gases are harnessed to provide extra speed.