page_title: Boeing YC-14
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: Boeing YC-14 / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the two Boeing YC 14s ever built. Now at Davis Monthan Air Force Base.
context_page_description: The Boeing YC-14 is a twinjet short take-off and landing tactical military transport aircraft. It was Boeing's entrant into the United States Air Force's Advanced Medium STOL Transport competition, which aimed to replace the Lockheed C-130 Hercules as the USAF's standard STOL tactical transport. Although both the YC-14 and the competing McDonnell Douglas YC-15 were successful, neither aircraft entered production. The AMST project was ended in 1979 and replaced by the C-X program.
context_section_description: The first Boeing YC-14 (serial number 72-1873) flew on 9 August 1976. Two aircraft were built, the second being s/n 72-1874. The competing YC-15 had started flights almost a year earlier. Head-to-head flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base started in early November 1976. During flight testing, the YC-14 was flown at speeds as low as 59 kn (68 mph; 109 km/h) and as high as Mach 0.78 at 38,000 feet (11,600 m). However, it was found that the YC-14's drag was 11% higher than originally predicted. Modifications developed in wind tunnel testing, comprising the addition of vortex generators to the upper aft portion of the nacelles, deletion of the nozzle door actuator fairing, alterations to the aft end of the landing gear pods and the addition of aft fuselage strakes, reduced this drag increment to 7%. The YC-14 also demonstrated the capability to carry the 109,200-pound (49,500 kg) M60 Patton main battle tank, something that was not demonstrated with the YC-15.
  At the completion of testing in the late summer of 1977, the YC-14 prototypes were returned to Boeing. The prototypes were not scrapped; one is stored at AMARC, located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the other is on display at the nearby Pima Air & Space Museum.
  By this point, the seeds of the AMST program's demise had already been sown. In March 1976, the Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. David C. Jones, asked the Air Force Systems Command to see if it would be possible to use a single model of the AMST for both strategic and tactical airlift roles, or alternatively, if it would be possible to develop conventional derivatives of the AMST for the strategic airlift role. This led to a series of studies that basically stated that such a modification was not easy, and would require major changes to either design to produce a much larger aircraft.
  Both the YC-14 and YC-15 met or exceeded the AMST specifications under most conditions. However, the increasing importance of the strategic vs. tactical mission eventually led to the end of the AMST program in December 1979. Then, in November 1979, the C-X Task Force formed to develop the required strategic aircraft with tactical capability. The C-X program selected a proposal for an enlarged and upgraded YC-15 that was later developed into C-17 Globemaster III.
  Upper surface blowing remains a fairly rare concept in use, and has been seen only on a few other aircraft, such as the Antonov An-72.
caption: The second YC-14 stored at Davis Monthan Air Force Base
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