L2VMA and LARA (Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft) designs

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Oops, sorry ! Should have worn my glasses and remembered, that the Mohawk is Model 134. :-[
 
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Colonel KP Rice (USMC, retired) was involved in the development of the OV-10 Bronco, he has his own website and posted some of his experiences concerning that development.
http://www.volanteaircraft.com/ov-10.htm
To cover the low end, WWII performance, I asked for a plane that could dive bomb like a Stuka or an SBD, maneuver like an SNJ/AT-6, and was as fast and strong as a Corsair. To be able to operate with supported troops, I asked for a small, easily supported and relatively inexpensive airplane, able to land and take off near a typical Battalion CP. For this requirement we came up with a wingspan limited to 20ft and a landing gear tread of 6.5ft for operating from roads, short take off and landing for small fields, and a backup seaplane capability. We aimed at the use of ground ordnance and communications to save weight, size and logistics without compromising (and possibly improving) close-in effectiveness. I also asked for ordnance near the centerline for accuracy, the best possible visibility, a seat for an observer and a small bomb bay for tactical flexibility.

I got these requirements from various sources. The dive bombing was based on my experience with the utility of this tactic and the notable results that had been achieved by aircraft like the Stuka and SBD. The AT-6 maneuverability was based on observation of Air Force airborne forward controllers (FACs) flying this type in Korea. My experience with the Corsair had impressed me with the value of its speed and strength for survivability against ground fire, and its ability to go fast or slow as the situation required, had been very effective. The P-38 had demonstrated the advantage of centerline guns for accuracy. Visibility and a back seat were needed for target acquisition and situational awareness. The bomb bay derived from the experiences of a Marine TBF torpedo bomber squadron during the Okinawa campaign (they flew almost three times as much as the fighter-bombers because their bomb-bays were in demand for so many "special" missions). The use of ground type ordnance was based on the fact that these weapons were tailored to their targets and should provide the maximum effect for their weight and logistic cost.

This was asking for a lot and, as experience ultimately showed, was essentially impossible in a normal "system" airplane. We were not designing a normal system airplane, however, and as we made our trade-offs we gave up a lot of what was standard because it wasn't absolutely required for the mission. This included things like ejection seats; aviation type navigation and communication equipment; and especially the single engine performance, fuel and equipment requirements associated with airways instrument flight.

The design we came up with was definitely not "normal," but it could hopefully do tactically useful jobs that nothing else could do. To be able to operate near the supported troops it was small, with a wingspan of only 20ft and a tread of 6.5ft. to allow operations from dirt roads where even helicopters were restricted. It could take off and land over a 50ft. obstacle in only 500ft. and was to use ground ordnance and communications. The additional flexibility of water-based operations with retractable floats was also considered feasible. It had two turbo-prop engines in a twin boom configuration which allowed both internal and external ordnance carriage near the centerline. Weight empty was 330lbs; for STOL operations the weight was 5800lbs. and for runway operations the weight went up to 6600lbs. For "low end" performance top speed at sea level was between 265kts and 285kts depending on the load, and the stall speed was around 40kts. It had two seats, good air-to-air and air-to-ground visibility and a canopy that could be opened in flight for better visibility at night. It also featured 400lbs of armor and could pull up to 10 "G." It had taken a long six months, but we thought that the design was feasible, and that if built, could support revolutionary advances in CAS.

http://www.volanteaircraft.com/l2vma.htm The colonel's views on the what and why of CAS-aircraft.
The OV-10 is a trifle big to be mentioned in this topic, but the colonel's experiences fit right in. He has some insights to offer on CAS.

The second picture is a size comparison of the initial design with an A-1 Skyraider. It is quite small, although it would probably have been considerably more powerful than mole's 500hp limit.

<edit January 26, 2011> I changed the picture titles, because the original titles suggested the pictures represented preliminary NAA OV-10 designs.</edit>
 

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Hi All -

On EPay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-DESK-MODEL-US-ARMY-CONVAIR-MODEL-48-CHARGER-/280620640300?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41564b282c

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 

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I am looking for the biplane projected version of the Bronco, while the Search tool does not find it. Has someone a scan of it?
EDIT: I found in my files the push-pull low wing version (unknown source) but not the biplane anymore:
 

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Dear Boys and Girls, here is a drawing with a caption in French of a light utility transport version of the OV-10A Bronco which I assume remained a "project"......

The drawing comes from the 15th January 1966 issue of Aviation Magazine International......

Terry (Caravellarella)
 
Tophe said:
I am looking for the biplane projected version of the Bronco, while the Search tool does not find it. Has someone a scan of it?
EDIT: I found in my files the push-pull low wing version (EDIT: Flying Review International,page 91, October 1965) but not the biplane anymore:


Tophe, I found the biplane projected version of the Bronco on page 89 in the magazine Flying Review International, October 1965.
Here a screenshot and a text quotation.
Picture caption:
Top of page. two of the configurations studied by North American during development of the OV-10A: a tandem wing pusher and a biplane
with fixed landing gear. [...]
Text:
[...]North American had been studying the COIN concept, in conjunction with the Navy and Marine programme, since 1962. Between 30 and 40 different designs were investigated by a design team headed by Maurice E King, expatriate Englishman who had worked on the Avro Arrow in Canada before joining North American's Columbus Division in 1959. Among the designs studied, some of them illustrate this article, were a twin-boom monoplane with side-by-side seating, a biplane with fixed landing gear, a tandem wing monoplane, a three-quarters scale T-28, a small aircraft reminiscent of the pre-War midget racers and a twin-boom pusher with two engines driving one propeller. By the time the first official specification became available in September, 1963, North American had eliminated most of these configurations and work was based on an aircraft with a single fuselage, a single tail unif with high tailplane, and a fuselage-mounted landing gear. This last mentioned proved unacceptable in meeting the high vertical velocity requirement, so the gear was moved to the engine nacelles. The latter then became so long that the aircraft developed three fuselages and three fins. It was then an easy step to crop the centre fuselage and eliminate the central fin, 10 produce the basic configuration of the OV-10A as now flying. Wind tunnel tests established that the tailplane should be mounted high, above the propeller slipstream. Later evolution of the design brought the observer's cockpit ahead of the propeller arcs and enlarged the size of the cargo compartment. North American is now engaged in the flight testing of the OV-10A prototypes, but the future of the COIN is still not clear. Present operations by the US forces in Vietnam will certainly influence the official attitude towards this type of aircraft and its high utility in a variety of roles makes production probable, though not necessarily for the specific duties for which the type was first evolved.
Source: "The Concept of COIN" by published in the magazine Flying Review International, October 1965.
 

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fightingirish said:
Among the designs studied, some of them illustrate this article, were a twin-boom monoplane with side-by-side seating, a biplane with fixed landing gear, a tandem wing monoplane, a three-quarters scale T-28, a small aircraft reminiscent of the pre-War midget racers and a twin-boom pusher with two engines driving one propeller.

Isn't this reminiscent of the as-yet unidentified Locust, somehow?
 
Thanks a lot, FightingIrish. I am almost sure that was the one I saw. Biplane and COIN, but not exactly Bronco (not twin-boom).
Thanks again! :)
 
Those 2 concepts look like cartoons to me! I'm curious about the 3/4 scale T-28 tho.
 
Hi boys,
searching the previous posts about the LARA/COIN requirement (one of my favourite matters, for various and complex reasons) I found that some pictures I Have were never enclosed.
Two of them are particularly intriguing as I cannot say if are pure fiction or some real projetcs. The pictures are clipping (without any note about the subject) from two different advertisings; i think from an aircraft engine manifacturer and published on 'Aviation Week' circa 1967.
One other is the full scale mock-up of the Martin entry (rarely seen and still without known designation, I think).
The last is a cutaway drawing of the transport version of North American Na-300 (NA-301?).
Hoping you enjoy all


Nico
 

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The unidentified design (and especially in the painting) looks a lot like Beechcraft's PD-183 proposal for the COIN program.
 

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Nico,

I think we have a thread devoted to the Martin LARA entry.

ciao
 
Among the latest videos posted by the San Diego Air & Space Museum on YouTube this week is a film entitled "35 Years with Convair 1942-1977." The film features a miserable audio transfer and color footage of several Convair aircraft/programs (B-24, B-36, L-13, CV-240, T-29, XF-92A, F-102, F-106, XP-5Y, R3Y Tradewind, YC-131C, XFY1 Pogo, YB-60, XF2Y-1 Sea Dart, MX-774, Atlas Missile, Atlas-Agena, Agena, Centaur, Terrier Missile, Tartar Missile, Redeye MANPADS, CV-340, CV-440, CV-880, CV-990), and for purposes of this thread, a 30-second sequence featuring the Convair Model 48 Charger. The video below should start at the Charger sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr_B3I0QPEQ#t=11m50s
 
Hi All,
I found some other nice pics of the Convair Model 48 Charger prototype
Nico
 

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Greetings All -

A rather nice photo of the Convair Model 48 Charger with potential "luggage" for the thread.

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 

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Posted at the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive's page at YouTube, "A Bird In Hand," a Convair promotional film about the Convair Model 48 Charger (10 minutes in length). There is a really nice detail examination of the aircraft at the 4 minute mark as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3liOIGmUvQ
 
The first aircraft on this page is some kind of tandem wing ground support aircraft. Flight of fantasy? Anyone have more info?

...during the Korean War using aircraft to provide 'close air-support' for fighting forces on the ground was further developed. Of course the gung-ho guys at 'Mechanix Illustrated' thought up some helpful, and weird, suggestions

http://atomic-annhilation.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html
 
In the promotional film posted by Boxman, from 1:36 min to 1:55 the windtunnel model
is shownm which lead to the charger. It seem to has a higher set wing and different nose
and cockpit. Is there a 3-view of this layout somewhere ?
 
Greetings All -

Some OV-10 artwork that was mixed in with the donation of a stash of Ercoupe photos. Note it has the original short wing and the fuselage and tailbooms have a bit more curve/shape than the final product.

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 

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A wonderful period film about a fascinating aircraft, thanks very much for sharing. For those that don't know it, NAVAL FIGHTERS NUMBER THIRTY-NINE: CONVAIR MODEL 48 COIN CHARGER is a great book about this plane and the LARA competition.

Boxman said:
Posted at the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive's page at YouTube, "A Bird In Hand," a Convair promotional film about the Convair Model 48 Charger (10 minutes in length). There is a really nice detail examination of the aircraft at the 4 minute mark as well.
 
Mole said:
For those that don't know it, NAVAL FIGHTERS NUMBER THIRTY-NINE: CONVAIR MODEL 48 COIN CHARGER is a great book about this plane and the LARA competition.

I agree. THE definitive book on the subject. Packed with photos and artwork. Definitely must have for anyone seriously interested in COIN/LARA aircraft, Convair and/or Army aviation (despite the fact that its being part of the "Naval Fighters" series is a bit of a stretch...).

Naval-Fighters-Number-Thirty-Nine-Convair-Model-48-Charger-Coin-Aircraft-Steve-Ginter-Howie-9780942612394.jpg
 
I suspect it's in the "Naval Fighters" series because the proponent that really pushed for the concept (LARA) was the Marines, and it would cost too much to block out a new cover template "Naval Aircraft".
 
The Beechcraft PD-183 as it appeared in a 1964 Garrett Airesearch ad:
 

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Shown before in #131 and #135, but I thought a little bit larger pictures of the NA-300 pre-projects
could be interesting nevertheless. BTW, ikt's mentioned, that those are part of about 40 (!) pre-projects.
So, there's still a lot to discover ! ;)
 

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fightingirish said:
[...]
Picture of the Lockheed CL-760 in colour or recoloured.
Source: Ares Blog - COIN Then and Now - LARA vs LAAR - by Graham Warwick (9/22/2009)
Larger picture at Code One Magazine:
http://www.codeonemagazine.com/images/media/2013_Spotlight_Web_CL760_PC026_026_1267828237_4880.jpg
The 1964 US tri-service (Navy-Air Force-Army) Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft, or LARA, competition came about as a response to a Marine Corps requirement for an aircraft specifically designed for counterinsurgency, or COIN, operations. Nine competitors responded to the request for proposal. The Lockheed CL-760 design, shown here as a full-scale mockup, featured a crew of two in tandem and could carry eight fully-armed infantry soldiers in the fuselage. The main landing gear would have retracted into fuselage blisters, which also held four 7.62 mm guns. A variety of weapons and pods could have been carried on underwing weapons racks. The Navy, as lead procurement agency, chose the North American Rockwell design, which entered production as the OV-10 Bronco.
Source: http://www.codeonemagazine.com/gallery_slideshow.html?item_id=2733
 
Nice to see that one at that size, the Lockheed entry was definitely the most attractive of the group though access to the rear troop compartment did not look that easy.
 
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