In the late 1960s, the American company Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company Inc. (CAMCO) was interested in means of aerial advertising. A requirement was identified for an 18-letter message to be displayed by means of electric lights, which would be easily readable at a range of 2–3 miles (3–5 km). The use of blimps (non-rigid airships) was not considered economical, while a fixed wing aircraft carrying such a message would be much longer than any ever built.[1]
CAMCO decided that a long rigid triangular framework of aluminium tubing would be used to carry the display lighting, and that it would be carried between separate sets of wings and fuselages at the front and rear of the framework. The aircraft's crew would consist of two; one in each of the fuselages, with the aircraft normally flown from the forward fuselage and the display electronics controlled from the rear. Each fuselage would have a set of monoplane wings, which were all-moving so that they could be used as control surfaces, while the aircraft was to be powered by two engines carried on pylons above the front fuselage and its wings. Production aircraft were planned to be amphibious, although the prototype would not be.[1] [2]
CAMCO chose Slingsby Aircraft of Kirbymoorside, England to build the new aircraft, called the V-Liner, in 1968. A prototype was expected to fly in late 1969, while it was hoped to build 42 in four years, with several hundred built over a longer period. V-Liners would be available only for lease from CAMCO, not for sale. Variants would be the "CV2 Video Liner", "CV3 Vector" and "CV4 Victory Liner".[2]
Work began on construction of the first prototype, but the Slingsby factory was wrecked by a fire on 18 November 1968, and the partly built prototype was badly damaged.[3] The fire forced Slingsby into receivership, and although the company was rescued by Vickers Limited and resumed glider production, work on the V-Liner was abandoned.[4]