Imagine, for a moment, that you are a young engineer in the early 1960s, fresh out of college and looking for your first job. Luck smiles upon you, and you’re offered a job at Convair, manufacturer of a wide variety of aircraft from interceptors to fighters to airliners. As you report for your first day of work with visions of the magnificent XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber streaking through your head, you are informed that you’ll instead be assigned to an odd little turboprop with a top speed of 277 knots.
After coming to terms with the lowly assignment, some closer investigation would have likely cheered you up. The aircraft would be called the Model 48 Charger, which would be Convair’s entry into a competition against eight other manufacturers. Each would create a clean-sheet aircraft proposal to fulfill a contract in which the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and Navy would ultimately be involved.
