Among the many post-war aircraft that were developed in the late 1940s and 1950s, one of the more interesting and lesser-known examples is the Convair L-13. Tasked with creating a multi-purpose liaison aircraft with STOL capability, the designers strongly prioritized function over form. The result was an aircraft that visually seems to have been cobbled together by Dr. Frankenstein’s aerodynamicist cousin, yet met its challenging design goals nicely.
The L-13 was initially developed by Stinson, and the first two prototypes were constructed in their Michigan facility. When Stinson’s parent company, Consolidated-Vultee, sold the Stinson division to Piper in 1948, the L-13 was retained and ultimately marketed and built as a Convair. Roughly 300 examples were built between 1946 and 1947.
