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1951 Northrop YC-125B

Note:  This aircraft was offered for exchange as part of NMUSAF Solicitation 19-002 (Closed).

1951 Northrop YC-125B (S/N 48626 / C/N 2510) Aircraft Project, owned by the National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF) and determined excess to collection needs.  Aircraft has three Wright R-1820-99 engines and is not airworthy or suitable for flight purposes.  Original data plate is present and no maintenance log books are available for the aircraft and engines.

The Northrop YC-125 was a military version of the Northrop N-23 Pioneer commercial cargo aircraft.  The YC-125 series was intended to satisfy two types of missions for the Air Force:  troop and equipment transport to forward combat areas and Arctic rescue.  The YC-125 was designed to operate from rough, short airfields and to be easily maintained.

Thirteen YC-125As were ordered in 1948 to test the aircraft's ability to haul troops and cargo.  Ten additional aircraft were ordered, slightly modified as YC-125Bs, to test their capabilities in the Arctic rescue role.  The first flight of the YC-125A occurred on Aug. 1, 1949, and deliveries to the USAF began in 1950.  Following service tests, the YC-125s were sent to Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, to be used as ground maintenance trainers.  They were declared surplus in 1955.

The aircraft is painted to represent the YC-125B used for cold weather testing and based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in 1950.

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