Aeroplane Monthly 1976-10
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A.Schoeni - Tilt-wing transport
An XC-142A with Stuart Madison at the controls, hovering over the Vought runway before a roadside audience.
25925 making a Stol take-off from the USS Bennington in 1966.
Although 25921 was the No 1 aircraft, it was not the first to fly, this honour falling to the second machine. No 1 crashed on May 10, 1967, killing its crew.
Another dummy rescue, showing the capacious fuselage and rear loading doors to advantage.
25925 touching down in a Stol landing aboard the USS Bennington. Lt Rich USN, and Maj Larsen USMC, made 44 take-offs and landings during these trials, both in the Stol and Vtol mode, proving the aircraft’s carrier potential.
A view of the first aircraft during transition, showing horizontal tail propeller.
The first flight of an XC-142A, made by 25922 on September 29, 1964.
25924 in the blue and white livery applied for the 1967 Paris Air Show.
25921 over swampy terrain at Mountain Creek Lake prior to a Stol landing at the Vought plant.
25924, with its wing at 35°, unloads four 1,000lb pallets over the runway at the Naval Aerospace Recovery Facility, El Centro, California.
25924 earlier in its life, dropping a cargo container over the El Centro parachute test range. John Omvig was the pilot.
With its self-made dust storm in train, the No 1 XC-142A makes a Stol landing on a concrete runway. Note the extensive trailing edge flappery and leading edge slots.
The third XC-142A, 25923, hovers nose to nose with another in front of the Vought control tower, Dallas. This aircraft was damaged in a hard landing at Edwards AFB on January 3, 1966.
Hovering nearly vertically, an XC-142A "rescues” a dummy from a lake near the Vought factory at Dallas, prior to making live rescues to test the aircraft’s capabilities in the air/sea rescue role.
An engineer in Vought's low-speed wind tunnel contemplates a model which suffered wing failure during test.