Northrop YC-125 Raider

[Cirrus N210MS]

This is a weird Looking Airplane :salute:


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Northrop_YC-125B_Raider_USAF.jpg/800px-Northrop_YC-125B_Raider_USAF.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Northrop_YC-125_Raider_JATO.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tO_KHwg9FSI/THZ_scJNq5I/AAAAAAAAAuI/YWsnuPwOOt4/s1600/c125-1.jpg
http://photovalet.com/data/comps/MYF/MYFV07P03_14.1700.jpg

Northrop's first postwar civil design was a three-engined STOL passenger and cargo transport named the Northrop N-23 Pioneer. The Pioneer could carry 36 passengers or five tons of cargo and first flew on 21 December 1946. The aircraft had a good performance, but there was little interest due to the availability of cheap war surplus aircraft. The Pioneer was lost in a fatal crash in 1947. In 1948 the United States Air Force expressed interest in an aircraft of the same configuration and placed an order with Northrop for 23 aircraft, 13 troop transports designated the C-125A Raider and 10 for Arctic rescue work designated the C-125B. With the company designation N-32 Raider the first aircraft flew on 1 August 1949.

The aircraft was powered by three 1200 hp (895 kW) Wright R-1820-99 Cyclone radial engines. The aircraft could also be fitted with JATO rockets that enabled it to take off in less than 500 ft (152 m). The 13 troop transporters were designated YC-125A in-service and the Arctic rescue version the YC-125B.

The Canadian company Canadair considered building the N-23 under licence but did not proceed.

[PeteHam]

Despite it's weird shape I like it.

I'm also hoping we might be able to tempt one of our talented 'Poly Ninjas' to consider a version for FS2004 ...... please :wavey:

Pete.

[stansdds]

Pretty ugly looking in my book.

[aircav1970]

My Grandfather worked for Jack Northrup during that time period as a model maker in the aerodynamics shop in Hawthorne,Ca. When he passed away in 1977 my Dad and I went to help clean out his garage and found a steamer trunk with a load of original blueprints,drawings and numerous wooden models of early Northrup experimental birds most notable the YB-35 wing and the P-61 Black Widow.My father has kept all of these and at this point I'm unsure where he has them stored.I am hoping that when the time comes,I will inherit them as, iirc,there was some pretty cool stuff in that trunk!

[Crusader]

It looks like the one sitting outside the Air Force Museum in Dayton . It is strange looking but I'm sure served it's purpose .

I sure would have like to have flown in the real thing or have a FS2004 or FSX version . The flight dynamics must have been unusual . Thanks for posting . I've seen this rare old bird along with many others sitting outside the Museum in my many visits over the years . Fortunate to live only approx. 1 hr , 40 mins away .

Rich

[glh]

My Grandfather worked for Jack Northrup during that time period as a model maker in the aerodynamics shop in Hawthorne,Ca. When he passed away in 1977 my Dad and I went to help clean out his garage and found a steamer trunk with a load of original blueprints,drawings and numerous wooden models of early Northrup experimental birds most notable the YB-35 wing and the P-61 Black Widow.My father has kept all of these and at this point I'm unsure where he has them stored.I am hoping that when the time comes,I will inherit them as, iirc,there was some pretty cool stuff in that trunk!

I hope you will consider donating them to a national museum.

[magoo]

If you took a Twin Pioneer, exposed it to radiation, then locked it up in a small dark hanger, force-feeding it a non-stop high protein body-building diet and steroids.....you'd get this. Certainly the growth of the third engine on it's nose could be blamed on the radiation exposure.

I shudder to think what the fuel consumption would have been.

[glh]

If you took a Twin Pioneer, exposed it to radiation, then locked it up in a small dark hanger, force-feeding it a non-stop high protein body-building diet and steroids.....you'd get this. Certainly the growth of the third engine on it's nose could be blamed on the radiation exposure.

I shudder to think what the fuel consumption would have been.

Yes but AvGas was probably about 15-25 CENTS per gallon back then.

[hawkeye52]

Didn't Milton Shupe say he was considering this bird for a future project? :ques:

- H52

[glh]

Didn't Milton Shupe say he was considering this bird for a future project? :ques:

- H52

I believe that I read that he turned the project over to some person named "Hawkeye52" -- but nice try.