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YC-125 Raider
YC-125 Raider
General information
Type	Transport aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Northrop Corporation
Primary user	United States Air Force
Number built	23
History
Manufactured	1949–1950
Introduction date	1950
First flight	1 August 1949
Retired	1955

The Northrop YC-125 Raider is a 1940s American three-engined STOL utility transport built by Northrop Corporation, Hawthorne, California.

Design and development

Northrop's first postwar civil design was a three-engined STOL passenger and cargo transport named the Northrop N-23 Pioneer, which was intended to replace the Ford Trimotors of the Central American airline Transportes Aéreos Centro Americanos (TACA). The Pioneer could carry 36 passengers or cargo, with a cargo door and a "chin" hatch allowing the loading of 36 ft (11 m) lengths of pipes or timber into the aircraft's cabin. It first flew on 21 December 1946. The aircraft had good performance, resulting in an order of 40 aircraft from TACA, but political manoeuvring from Pan-Am after the shipping company Waterman Steamship Corporation purchased a major stake in TACA led to TACA losing rights to operate to or from the United States, which in turn caused TACA to cancel its order for the Pioneer. Despite extensive sales tours, no further orders were obtained.^[1] The Pioneer was lost in a fatal crash on 19 February 1948 when it lost a new tailfin design in flight.^[2]

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 1,200 hp (890 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 feet (150 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.

Operational history

Deliveries of the YC-125 to the USAF began in 1950. These aircraft did not serve long as they were underpowered and they were soon sent to Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas and relegated to be ground instructional trainers until retired in 1955 and declared surplus.

Most of the surplus aircraft were purchased by Frank Ambrose and sold to bush operators in South and Central America.^[3]

Variants

N-23 Pioneer: Prototype three-engined STOL transport, one built.
N-32 Raider: Company designation of military version of the N-23.
YC-125A Raider: N-32 with seats for thirty troops, 13 built.
YC-125B Raider: Arctic rescue version of the N-32 with twenty stretchers and provision for a ski undercarriage. Ten built (serials 48-618/627).
CL-3: Proposed Canadair licensed produced variant from 1949, with 3 x Canadian Pratt & Whitney R-1820 engines. Was redesignated CL-12 in the same year. Project was dropped sometime around early 1950.^{[citation needed]}
N-74: Another proposed Canadair variant. Improvements including the replacement of the three engines with two Allison T56 turboprops were studied. Project abandoned in the early 1950s.^[4]

Operators

United States: United States Air Force

Surviving aircraft

48-626 – YC-125B in storage at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.^[5]
48-636 – YC-125A on static display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.^[6]

Specifications (YC-125B)

Data from National Museum of the US Air Force YC-125B Factsheet^[7] & American Military Transport Aircraft Since 1925^[8]

General characteristics

Crew: 4
Capacity: 36 troops or 10,000 lb (4.54 t) cargo
Length: 67 ft 1 in (20.45 m)
Wingspan: 86 ft 6 in (26.37 m)
Height: 23 ft 1 in (7.04 m)
Max takeoff weight: 41,900 lb (19,006 kg)
Powerplant: 3 × Wright R-1820-99 Cyclone 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 1,200 hp (890 kW) each
Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed propellers

Performance

Maximum speed: 207 mph (333 km/h, 180 kn)
Cruise speed: 171 mph (275 km/h, 149 kn)
Range: 1,856 mi (2,987 km, 1,613 nmi)
Service ceiling: 12,200 ft (3,700 m)

References

Notes

^ Stern 2004, p. 41.
^ Associated Press, "Test Pilot Dies; Crew Bails Out", San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Friday 20 February 1948, Volume LIV, Number 149, page 1.
^ "Northrop YC-125 Raider." Archived 2012-09-01 at the Wayback Machine Pima Air and Space Museum. Retrieved: 12 September 2012.
^ Chong, Anthony (2016-06-15). Flying Wings & Radical Things: Northrop's Secret Aerospace Projects & Concepts 1939-1994. Specialty Press. pp. 80, 81. ISBN 978-1-58007-229-8.
^ "1951 Northrop YC-125B". National Museum of the United States Air Force. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
^ "Northrop YC-125 Raider". Pima Air & Space Museum. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
^ "NORTHROP YC-125B RAIDER". NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE US AIR FORCE™. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
^ Johnson 2013, p. 203.

Bibliography

Andrade, John M. U.S Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Leicestershire, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1979. ISBN 0-904597-22-9.
Johnson, E. R. (2013). American Military Transport Aircraft Since 1925. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6269-8.
Stern, Dave (December 2004). "Northrop's Rugged Raider". Aeroplane. Vol. 32, no. 12. pp. 40–43. ISSN 0143-7240.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1986.