The forgotten Charger
Back in 1959, the Marines wanted a small fixed-wing aircraft for observation and close-in-air support that could be operated from forward locations as the Devils moved inland should Naval air not be an option. This led to the Light Light Marine Attack Aircraft (L2VMA) program which nine companies competed in.
One of the entrants, was the Convair Model 48 Charger, a neat twin-boom aluminum and fiberglass aircraft powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6* (which are still around and super popular today). It could be amphibious with the addition of a pair of floats, carried four 7.62 mm machine guns in pods on the side of the fuselage and up to a ton of bombs, rockets and gun pods, on hard points.
Neat as it was, it lost out to the North American NA-300, which was adopted as the OV-10 Bronco and is still flying with the Philippines and in very limited use by the U.S. military over Syria and Iraq.
Heck, maybe Gen Dyn, who owns all the old Charger stuff now, should dust off the plans and reboot the line with some modern ISO tweaks.
*As a side note, both of the light combat aircraft the Air Force has been looking at for missions to bridge the gap between drone and F-16/F-35s as sort-of replacements for the A-10, the Embraer A-29 Super Tucano and Beech AT-6 Texan II, both run a single PT6 engine, though a much updated one. Because the more things change…