“What If” Lockheed L-206-3
There was an interest in “pack planes” in the late 1940s and early 1950s – transport aircraft with minimalist fuselages that could be affixed to detachable cargo pods. Fairchild had of course investigated the concept with the XC-120 derivative of its C-119 Flying Boxcar, but Lockheed was also interested in this class of aircraft, and looked at a version of the L-206 tactical transport, the basic model of which was to mature as the C-130 Hercules. Several years earlier, the company had investigated a similar derivative of the Constitution transport.

Lockheed L-206-3 profile
Rockwell NA-382: A V/STOL Hercules proposal