The Chase XC-123A was an experimental

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

developed by

Chase Aircraft The Chase Aircraft Company, founded in 1943, was an American aircraft manufacturer, primarily constructing assault gliders and military transport aircraft. Lacking space for expansion, the company was purchased by Henry J. Kaiser in 1951. Plans t ...

. The first jet-powered transport built for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, it was intended for use as a high-speed transport for high-priority cargo and personnel. The XC-123A was determined to have insufficient advantages over existing types in service, and did not go into production. The sole prototype was converted into the piston-powered Stroukoff YC-123D to evaluate

boundary layer control Boundary layer control refers to methods of controlling the behaviour of fluid flow boundary layers. It may be desirable to reduce flow separation on fast vehicles to reduce the size of the wake (streamlining), which may reduce drag. Boundary l ...

systems.

Design and development

In the late 1940s, Chase Aircraft had developed the XG-20, the largest

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

ever built in the United States.Sergievsky et al. 1998, p.128 By the time it was ready for operations, however, U.S. military doctrine had been altered to remove the requirement for the use of transport gliders in combat.Mitchell 1992, p.164. However, the XG-20's aircraft had been designed to allow for the easy installation of power plants, and Chase modified the two prototypes into powered aircraft, one becoming the XC-123, with twin piston engines. The second XG-20, however, was taken in hand for a more radical reconfiguration, being fitted with two twin-jet engine pods, of the type used by the

Convair B-36 The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest win ...

and

Boeing B-47 The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...

bombers, to become the XC-123A. As there was no provision for housing fuel in the former glider's wings, fuel tanks were installed underneath the cabin floor.

Operational history

Dubbed "Avitruc" by its manufacturer, the XC-123A conducted its maiden flight on April 21, 1951, becoming the first jet-powered transport aircraft to successfully fly in the United States. It was considered "excellent" in flight trials, with the aircraft showing few vices, and demonstrating reasonably good short-field capability. Despite this, even as the XC-123 proved successful, the XC-123A failed to win sufficient favor in flight testing to receive a production order. Although the aircraft's short-field performance was good, on rough, unimproved fields the low-slung jet pods would suck

debris Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can refer to ...

into the intakes, damaging the engines. In addition, the aircraft's design was mismatched to its engines, resulting in the XC-123A being incapable of providing sufficient cargo capacity compared to the amount of fuel its jet engines required. As a result, the XC-123A project was abandoned without additional aircraft being built. Following the conclusion of trials, the XC-123A was converted to be powered by two

Pratt & Whitney R-2800 The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp is an American twin-row, 18-cylinder, air-cooled radial aircraft engine with a displacement of , and is part of the long-lived Wasp family of engines. The R-2800 saw widespread use in many importan ...

radial engines, and was used for

trials as the Stroukoff YC-123D, receiving serial number 53–8068.Baugher 2010aBaugher 2010b

Specifications (XC-123A)

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chase XC-123A C-123A Jet Avitruc 1940s United States military transport aircraft Quadjets High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1951