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Stroukoff Aircraft 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.

Stroukoff Aircraft Company

Industry	Aircraft manufacture
Founded	1954
Founder	Michael Stroukoff
Defunct	1959
Fate	Dissolved
Headquarters	Trenton, New Jersey , United States of America
Products	YC-134

Founding

During the late 1940s, Ukrainian émigré Michael Stroukoff designed the XG-20 for Chase Aircraft, the largest glider ever built in the United States.[1] Modified into the C-123 Provider,[2] 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.[3] However, a scandal involving Kaiser resulted in the C-123 contract being cancelled;[4] with Kaiser having bought out the remainder of Chase and dissolving the company,[3][5] Stroukoff acquired the company's facilities at the Trenton airport, and established his own company to continue development of the C-123 design.[3]

YC-123D and E

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[6] - which had been the first jet transport to fly in the United States.[7] Flying in 1954, 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.[1] The BLC diverted air from the engines to blow over the wing, increasing lift and reducing the aircraft's takeoff and landing distances.[1]

The following year, Stroukoff modified a C-123B into the YC-123E, fitted with Stroukoff's own Pantobase landing gear system.[3] The Pantobase system allowed the aircraft to land on any reasonably flat surface - land, water, or snow[1] - and proved remarkably successful in testing.[8]

YC-134

Following its successful trials, the YC-123E was further developed into the YC-134.[3] Designated MS-8-1 by the company,[9] the YC-134 featured both boundary layer control and the Pantobase landing gear;[10] in addition, the aircraft was fitted with more powerful engines, tailplane endplates, additional wheels for the main landing gear, and an improved fuel system.[11]

Intended for Arctic use,[12] the YC-134's test flight program proved successful.[9] 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.[3] With the failure to gain any contracts for production of its designs, Stroukoff dissolved the company in 1959.[3][lower-alpha 1]

References

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Media related to Stroukoff aircraft at Wikimedia Commons

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