The McDonnell Douglas YC-15 was a four-engine short take-off and landing (STOL) tactical transport. It was McDonnell Douglas' entrant into the United States Air Force's Advanced Medium STOL Transport (AMST) competition to replace the Lockheed C-130 Hercules as the USAF's standard STOL tactical transport. In the end, neither the YC-15 nor the Boeing YC-14 was ordered into production, although the YC-15's basic design would be used to form the succ...
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The McDonnell Douglas YC-15 was a four-engine short take-off and landing (STOL) tactical transport. It was McDonnell Douglas' entrant into the United States Air Force's Advanced Medium STOL Transport (AMST) competition to replace the Lockheed C-130 Hercules as the USAF's standard STOL tactical transport. In the end, neither the YC-15 nor the Boeing YC-14 was ordered into production, although the YC-15's basic design would be used to form the successful C-17 Globemaster III.
In 1968 the USAF started work on a series of prototype proposals, which would lead to both the AMST project and the Light Weight Fighter. The official RFP was issued in January 1972, asking for operations into a 2,000 feet (610 m) semi-prepared field with a 27,000 lb (12,000 kg) payload and a 400 nmi (740 km) mission radius. For comparison, the C-130 of that era required about 4,000 ft (1,200 m) for this load. Proposals were submitted by Bell, Boeing, Fairchild, McDonnell Douglas and the Lockheed/North American...
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