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 to produce the C-123 transport for the United States Air Force collapsed amid scandal, and the company closed in 1953. A successor company, Stroukoff Aircraft , continued experimental work for several years before closing in 1959.
16-580: Founded in New York, New York , in 1943 with Michael Stroukoff , a Russian émigré , as president and chief designer, Chase's first aircraft design was the XCG-14 assault glider , produced for the U.S. Army Air Forces and first flying in January 1945. Development of improved, enlarged versions of the aircraft continued over the next two years, with the company moving to Trenton, New Jersey , in 1946, before
32-573: The Vietnam War . Kaiser-Frazer, meanwhile, had bought out the remaining 51% of Chase Aircraft's shares, intending to operate the company as a wholly owned subsidiary of Willys Motors ; the sale closed on September 2, 1953, after the cancellation of the Air Force's contracts. Without the C-123 contract, the new acquisition was no longer considered an asset by Kaiser-Frazer; and it announced that
48-693: The XG-20 for Chase Aircraft , the largest glider ever built in the United States. Modified into the C-123 Provider , the aircraft had won a contract for production from the United States Air Force , 49% of Chase being acquired by Kaiser-Frazier to produce the aircraft at the latter company's Willow Run facility. However, a scandal involving Kaiser resulted in the C-123 contract being cancelled; with Kaiser having bought out
64-459: The Air Force had reconsidered its requirement for small transports, and decided not to proceed with full production of the design. One YC-122, however, would later be modified into the Hiller X-18 , an experimental tiltwing VTOL aircraft. Meanwhile, a third, still larger, assault glider had been designed by Stroukoff, the XG-20 , the largest glider ever built in the United States and also
80-539: The C-119 and the C-123 in June 1953, despite the Air Force having already spent $ 30 million on preparation for production of the C-123, with another $ 40 million having been earmarked for use by Chase Aircraft directly for production of parts. The C-123 contract was put out for re-bid, with Fairchild proving to be the winning contractor; under Fairchild's name, the C-123 went on to see a large production run and extensive service in
96-683: The XCG-14 was superseded by the XG-18 , an even larger and heavier aircraft that was the world's first all-metal transport glider. By 1949, the United States Air Force had determined that the glider was no longer a viable weapon on the battlefield, and the XG-18 was modified, being fitted with a pair of radial engines . Redesignated as the YC-122 Avitruc , three prototype and one pre-production aircraft were produced, and despite favorable evaluations,
112-549: The YC-123D was fitted with the twin piston engines of the normal C-123 family, and was equipped with a boundary layer control (BLC) system. The BLC diverted air from the engines to blow over the wing, increasing lift and reducing the aircraft's takeoff and landing distances. The following year, Stroukoff modified a C-123B into the YC-123E, fitted with Stroukoff's own Pantobase landing gear system. The Pantobase system allowed
128-598: The aircraft to land on any reasonably flat surface - land, water, or snow - and proved remarkably successful in testing. Following its successful trials, the YC-123E was further developed into the YC-134 . Designated MS-8-1 by the company, the YC-134 featured both boundary layer control and the Pantobase landing gear; in addition, the aircraft was fitted with more powerful engines, tailplane endplates, additional wheels for
144-702: The company would be closed down on January 31, 1954. Stroukoff, however, acquired the buildings and remaining assets of Chase, starting his own aircraft company, Stroukoff Aircraft , to conduct further work on experimental versions of the C-123. New York, New York Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 553683072 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:47:57 GMT Stroukoff Aircraft Stroukoff Aircraft
160-423: The company, concerns having been raised over subcontracting work Kaiser-Frazer was performing for Fairchild Aircraft . Kaiser had been awarded an earlier contract as a second source for construction of Fairchild's C-119 , and the aircraft produced by Kaiser were proving to be significantly more expensive than those produced by Fairchild. The result of the hearings was the cancellation of Kaiser's contracts for both
176-665: The last combat glider to be constructed for the U.S. military. By the time the XG-20 was ready for flight testing, gliders had been determined to be obsolete as weapons of war, and so the two aircraft were taken aside for modification. The first prototype XG-20 was fitted with twin radial engines of a larger, more powerful type than those fitted to the YC-122, and was redesignated the XC-123 . The second prototype XG-20, following public display in early 1950 at Pope AFB during Exercise Swarmer ,
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#1732772877351192-460: The main landing gear, and an improved fuel system. Intended for Arctic use, the YC-134's test flight program proved successful. However, its increase in performance over that of the C-123 was considered inadequate; in addition, there was simply no need for an additional piston-engined transport by that time, and the proposed production contract was cancelled. With the failure to gain any contracts for production of its designs, Stroukoff dissolved
208-533: The remainder of Chase and dissolving the company, Stroukoff acquired the company's facilities at the Trenton airport, and established his own company to continue development of the C-123 design. Stroukoff's first advanced variant of the C-123 design was the YC-123D, modified from the XC-123A prototype - itself a modified XCG-20 - which had been the first jet transport to fly in the United States. Flying in 1954,
224-403: Was an American manufacturer of experimental military transport aircraft , established in 1954 by Michael Stroukoff . Successor to Chase Aircraft , the company specialised in developing advanced variants of the C-123 Provider ; however, none of the company's designs attracted a production order, and the company folded in 1959. During the late 1940s, Ukrainian émigré Michael Stroukoff designed
240-555: Was purchased by Kaiser-Frazer , who received a contract for 300 C-123B aircraft to be constructed at Kaiser's Willow Run factory in Ann Arbor, Michigan . Chase became an engineering shop for the company, with Stroukoff remaining with the facility as its chief engineer. However, even as the first eight aircraft were under construction by Kaiser, the United States Senate was conducting a series of hearings regarding
256-719: Was taken aside for a more radical transformation, being fitted with two twin bomber engine pods containing J47 turbojets , and flying in early 1951 as the XC-123A , the United States' first jet-powered transport aircraft. While the XC-123A proved too uneconomical for production, the XC-123 had greatly impressed the Air Force, which issued an order for five pre-production aircraft, designated C-123B. The prospect of large follow-up orders, however, raised an issue of capacity, as Chase's factory lacked sufficient space to construct large numbers of aircraft. Therefore, in 1951, 49 percent of Chase
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