Convair Model 48 Charger

[3] The Model 48 was a twin-boom monoplane, constructed mainly from aluminium, with fiberglass nose, rear fuselage and wingtips, with a retractable nosewheel undercarriage.Its wings were of relatively short (27 ft 6 in/8.38 m) span, which meant that most of the wing was in the slipstream of the propellers, increasing the effectiveness of the full-span trailing-edge slotted flaps and leading edge slats inboard of the engines, which together acted to deflect the slipstream, giving a form of vectored thrust, in order to reduce takeoff and landing distances.The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force favored the Charger, however, and protested against the U.S. Navy's decision, and Convair continued construction of their prototype, which made its maiden flight on 25 November 1964.[10] The Charger was awarded a 100-hour joint service flight test contract where the prototype would be flown by representatives of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force.If orders followed, it was planned to build the production aircraft with a deeper and longer fuselage allowing full dual controls to be fitted.
Frontal view of the Convair Model 48 Charger.
Convairlight attackobservation aircraftcounter-insurgency (COIN) aircrafttwin-boom aircraftturbopropNorth American Rockwell OV-10 BroncoUnited States Marine Corpsclose air supportGeneral Dynamicscounter-insurgency aircraftforward air controlmonoplanealuminiumfiberglassPratt & Whitney Canada PT6propellersslipstreamleading edge slatsvectored thrustaileronsspoilerstailplanemachine gunshardpointsNorth American AviationOV-10 BroncoPratt & Whitney Canada T74-CP-8/10List of military aircraft of the United StatesFlight InternationalTaylor, John W. R.VulteeC-131 / R4Y / T-29KingfishNB-36HRB-57FF-111BF-111CF-111KEF-111AAFTI/F-111AF-16XLX-62 VISTAModel 100Model 1600