The Convair Restaurant, Erie Airport, Colorado, 1980 & 1981

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The Convair Restaurant, Erie Airport, Colorado, 1980 & 1981

Edited by David Barth January 2016. Photos were taken by David Barth.

Convair 880 Restaurant, Erie Airport,
Colorado, 1980.

During the 1970s, a club charter airline, Ports of Call, based at Stapleton International Airport, flew its members to vacation locations using Convair 880 jet airliners. These planes were contemporaries of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 aircraft that first served airlines in the early 1960s. By the late 1970s, Ports of Call was upgrading to newer aircraft and disposing of the older models. This aircraft was purchased by an investor who wanted an aviation-oriented restaurant at the Erie, Colorado airport.

Because the runway at the Erie Airport was too short, too narrow, and not strong enough to accomodate the landing of a Convair 880 passenger jet, the plane had to be moved by truck along roads and highways from Stapleton to Erie. The wings were cut off to equal the width of the horizontal stabilizer, and the fuselage was placed on a long truck. A route was selected that would accomodate the high vertical tail. It is unknown if and stop lights and overhead wires had to be temporarily removed during the plane's transit.

Once the plane had been delivered to the Erie site, it was lifted from the truck onto prepared stanchions and secured. The wings were reattached to the fuselage, eletrical power was supplied to the airframe for interior lights and facilities such as cooking units. An elevator was installed so that customers would not have to climb a long flight of stairs.

The plane's Ports of Call livery was maintained which saved money on the cost of repainting it.

Convair 880 Restaurant, Erie Airport,
Colorado, 1980.

Convair 880 Restaurant, Erie Airport,
Colorado, 1980.

Convair 880 Restaurant, Erie Airport,
Colorado, early in 1981.

This picture, taken in early morning 1981, looking to the north, shows the wings attached to the Convair 880 (center) and by now, the restaurant is in operation or about to open. The automobile parking lot is to the right of the restaurant and the airplane parking is to the left. It appears that there are three cars in the auto lot and one plane in the aircraft tie-down area to the left.

The dark, asphalt area to the far left is for t-hangars which had not been built at the time this picture was taken, but it appears that one wall had been erected on the near end. The north-south and east-west runways can be seen at the upper right and top of the picture. Runway 9-27 runs across the top of the picture.

This airport was designed to have homes around the runways for aviation enthusiasts to live on the airport and have the convenience of keeping their airplane(s) on their own property. The roads to the houses provided the dual use for cars and aircraft.

Convair 880 Restaurant, Erie Airport, Colorado, 1984.