Convair Charger: The Plane That Beat the Bronco (But Never Stood a Chance)

Video from the channel Buffalo Airpark about Convair, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 5:09. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video tells the story of the Convair Model 48 Charger, a small 1960s counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft that competed with the North American OV-10 Bronco. It was the last complete aircraft built by Convair.

In the early 1960s, the U.S. armed forces were looking for a rugged aircraft able to operate from short runways and in difficult conditions. Convair had been studying COIN aircraft for years. When the Navy launched the competition in 1963, it produced a prototype in 40 weeks, which first flew in November 1964. By then the Navy had already chosen the OV-10. Even so, the services ordered 100 hours of joint testing. On 19 October 1965, on its flight 196, the only prototype crashed; the official report attributed it to pilot error while shutting down an engine, and the program was canceled.

The wing, with a 27-foot span (about 8.2 m), later extended to 30 feet, lay almost entirely within the propwash of its two turboprops. This "blown wing," with slotted flaps and slats, allowed it to take off or land in under 500 feet while clearing a 50-foot obstacle, better than the Bronco. It could use roads and be fitted with floats, and its modular fuselage could carry cargo, fuel, or six paratroopers. It was armed with four 7.62 mm machine guns and five hardpoints for 2,000 pounds of ordnance. Its dependence on propwash made the loss of an engine at low speed dangerous.