Science: A Bright New COIN

If the A11 is aimed at the future, the brand new twin-engined plane rolled out on the test runway at Convair’s San Diego plant last week looked like a relic of the past. The tiny (34 ft. long) Charger seemed to be a stubby cousin of World War II’s P-38 Lightning.

But then the Charger’s job is no more modern than its look; the turboprop plane is a jungle fighter, a volunteer for the brush-fire wars of today’s world. It can strafe a target at 50 m.p.h., yet escape from danger at eight times that speed. It can airlift a ton of cargo or a fully armed squad of paratroopers, take off from a bumpy jungle airfield less than 500 ft. long, land on a strip only 100 ft. in length. For all its old-fashioned air, though, from its twin-boom fuselage to its lofty, boxlike tail, the Charger is as radically new as the A11.

By using flaps that are twice normal size and by turning them almost 90° for takeoff or landing, the Charger gets what amounts to superlift. More lift is provided by the large (9 ft. in diameter) counterrotating propellers that force air back against the flaps.

The Charger may well be one of the most practical warplanes ever built. Its tail is high enough (13.7 ft.) and wide enough (20 ft.) to permit cargo trucks to back against the rear of its short fuselage. Jumping paratroopers have no clearance problem. On the ground, the plane can navigate through muck and mud by use of a steerable nosewheel, and it can be fitted out with pontoons for a water landing.

Though fully a year ahead of its competitors, Convair lost out to North American last August in the Pentagon sweepstakes for a counterinsurgency (COIN) aircraft, but the company chose to put the finishing touches (at a cost of $2,000,000) on the plane anyway. And the military was plainly impressed by the Charger—its promised performance, low $250,000 price tag and immediate availability. But even if the Defense Department never orders a single plane, Convair sees a civilian market for the plane as a bush carrier and fire fighter. Whatever comes of it, its debut marks a return to the days of invention and daring when an aircraft maker put his own stamp on an aircraft design without the backing of a Government contract, then went out and drummed up buyers.