Boeing YC-14

Boeing YC-14
Country	USA
Role	Tactical airlifter
First flight	9 August 1976
Built	2

The Boeing YC-14 is a twinjet short take-off and landing (STOL) tactical military transport aircraft. It was Boeing’s entrant into the United States Air Force’s Advanced Medium STOL Transport (AMST) competition, which aimed to replace the Lockheed C-130 Hercules as the USAF’s standard STOL tactical transport

Source: Boeing YC-14 on Wiki

Boeing YC-14 Walk Around
Photographers	Vladimir Yakubov
Localisation	Pima Air and Space Museum, Tuscon, AZ
Photos	152

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A Vision of the Future (That Almost Was)

The Boeing YC-14 was an experimental short takeoff and landing (STOL) tactical transport built for the USAF’s Advanced Medium STOL Transport (AMST) program in the 1970s. Designed to replace the C-130 Hercules, it featured a radical look dominated by two massive engines perched on top of the wings. While it shattered performance expectations—landing at speeds as low as 59 knots—it never entered production due to shifting military priorities. However, its “supercritical” wing design and digital flight systems became the DNA for the modern C-17 Globemaster III.

Attribute	Standard Specification (Boeing YC-14)
Role	Tactical STOL Transport (Prototype)
Crew	3 (Pilot, Co-pilot, Flight Engineer)
Capacity	150 Troops or 36,700 kg (81,000 lbs) of Cargo
Powerplant	2 × General Electric CF6-50D turbofans
Thrust	51,000 lbf (227 kN) per engine
STOL Takeoff Run	Approx. 300 meters (1,000 ft)
Cruising Speed	723 km/h (449 mph / 390 knots)
Service Ceiling	13,716 meters (45,000 ft)

The Magic of “Upper Surface Blowing”

The Coanda Effect: The YC-14’s most famous feature was Upper Surface Blowing (USB). By placing the engines above and forward of the wing, the exhaust was forced to flow over the top of the wing and “stick” to the giant curved flaps when they were lowered. This effectively “bent” the thrust downward, creating massive amounts of extra lift.
FOD Protection: Mounting engines on top of the wings wasn’t just for lift; it protected them from Foreign Object Damage (FOD), allowing the plane to operate safely from unpaved, gravel, or dirt runways where a low-slung engine would suck up debris.
Supercritical Wing: The YC-14 was one of the first large aircraft to use a supercritical wing profile, which allowed it to fly closer to the speed of sound without the massive drag penalty usually associated with straight-wing cargo planes.
Stability at Low Speeds: To keep the plane controllable at 60 mph, Boeing used a sophisticated digital flight control system—a precursor to modern “fly-by-wire” technology.

The AMST Competition & Legacy

The Rivalry: The YC-14 competed head-to-head with the McDonnell Douglas YC-15. While the YC-15 used a more “conventional” four-engine setup with blown flaps, the YC-14 was considered the more technologically daring of the two.
Heavy Lifter: In tests, the YC-14 proved it could carry the 109,200 lb M60 Patton tank, a feat the C-130 of the time couldn’t dream of.
The Boneyard: Only two were ever built. One currently rests at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Arizona, while the second is in long-term storage at the Davis-Monthan “Boneyard.”