| Stroukoff Aircraft Company | |
| Fate: | Dissolved |
| Foundation: | 1954 |
| Founder: | Michael Stroukoff |
| Defunct: | 1959 |
| Location City: | Trenton, New Jersey |
| Location Country: | United States of America |
| Industry: | Aircraft manufacture |
| Products: | YC-134 |
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.
During the late 1940s, Ukrainian émigré Michael Stroukoff designed the XG-20 for Chase Aircraft, the largest glider ever built in the United States. Modified into the C-123 Provider,[1] 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;[2] with Kaiser having bought out the remainder of Chase and dissolving the company,[3] 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[4] - which had been the first jet transport to fly in the United States.[5] 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. The BLC diverted air from the engines to blow over the wing, increasing lift and reducing the aircraft's takeoff and landing distances.[6]
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 the aircraft to land on any reasonably flat surface - land, water, or snow[6] - and proved remarkably successful in testing.[7]
Following its successful trials, the YC-123E was further developed into the YC-134. Designated MS-8-1 by the company,[8] the YC-134 featured both boundary layer control and the Pantobase landing gear;[9] in addition, the aircraft was fitted with more powerful engines, tailplane endplates, additional wheels for the main landing gear, and an improved fuel system.[10]
Intended for Arctic use,[11] the YC-134's test flight program proved successful.[8] 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 the company in 1959.[12]