LTV XC-142

The Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142 was an experimental tiltwing transport built to test whether vertical and short takeoff aircraft could serve the American armed forces. It came out of the Tri-Service Assault Transport Program that the Army, Navy and Air Force agreed in 1961 under the Navy's Bureau of Naval Weapons. A team of Vought, Ryan and Hiller won the design contest, and a contract for five prototypes was signed in early 1962. It first flew conventionally on 29 September 1964, and on 11 January 1965 it completed its first transition, taking off vertically, changing to forward flight and landing vertically. Four General Electric T64 turboshaft engines on a common driveshaft drove four propellers, and the wing tilted to the vertical for hovering. Five aircraft flew 420 hours in 488 flights with 39 pilots, but driveshaft problems, a crash that killed three and the withdrawal of the services one by one ended the program, and only one aircraft survives.