{{Short description|American aircraft manufacturer}} {{About|the aircraft manufacturer|support aircraft used during flight testing in general|Chase plane}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox company | name = Chase Aircraft Company | logo = Chase Aircraft Company Logo.png | logo_size = | fate = Acquired by Kaiser-Frazer | successor = Stroukoff Aircraft | founded = 1943 | founder = Michael Stroukoff | defunct = 1954 | hq_location_city = Trenton, New Jersey | hq_location_country = United States | industry = Aircraft manufacturing | products = YC-122, C-123 }}
The '''Chase Aircraft Company''', founded in 1943, was an American aircraft manufacturer, primarily constructing assault gliders and military transport aircraft. Lacking space for expansion, the company was purchased by Henry J. Kaiser in 1951. Plans to produce the C-123 transport for the United States Air Force collapsed amid scandal, and the company closed in 1953. A successor company, Stroukoff Aircraft, continued experimental work for several years before closing in 1959.
==Early products== Founded in New York, New York, in 1943 with Michael Stroukoff, a Russian émigré, as president and chief designer,<ref name="G87">Gunston 1987, p.146.</ref> Chase's first aircraft design was the XCG-14 assault glider, produced for the U.S. Army Air Forces and first flying in January 1945.<ref name="Jane">Bridgman 1951, p. 214c</ref> Development of improved, enlarged versions of the aircraft continued over the next two years, with the company moving to Trenton, New Jersey, in 1946,<ref>Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences, 1948. ''Aeronautical Engineering Review'', Volume 7, p.9</ref> before the XCG-14 was superseded by the XG-18, an even larger and heavier aircraft<ref name="AAHS">Mitchell 1992, p.164.</ref> that was the world's first all-metal transport glider.<ref name="WAIF">''World Aircraft Information Files, File 891 Sheet 26''. London: Bright Star Publishing.</ref>
thumb|right|Chase YC-122 By 1949, the United States Air Force had determined that the glider was no longer a viable weapon on the battlefield, and the XG-18 was modified, being fitted with a pair of radial engines.<ref name="WAIF"/> Redesignated as the YC-122 Avitruc, three prototype and one pre-production aircraft were produced, and despite favorable evaluations, the Air Force had reconsidered its requirement for small transports, and decided not to proceed with full production of the design.<ref name="WAIF"/> One YC-122, however, would later be modified into the Hiller X-18, an experimental tiltwing VTOL aircraft.<ref>Kuhn 1960, p.259.</ref>
==XG-20 and the first jet transport== Meanwhile, a third, still larger, assault glider had been designed by Stroukoff, the XG-20, the largest glider ever built in the United States and also the last combat glider to be constructed for the U.S. military.<ref name="BS">Sergievsky et al. 1998, p.128</ref> By the time the XG-20 was ready for flight testing, gliders had been determined to be obsolete as weapons of war, and so the two aircraft were taken aside for modification. The first prototype XG-20 was fitted with twin radial engines of a larger, more powerful type than those fitted to the YC-122, and was redesignated the XC-123.<ref name="And">Andrade 1979, p. 87.</ref>
The second prototype XG-20, following public display in early 1950 at Pope AFB during Exercise Swarmer,<ref>Shrader 1953, p.136.</ref> was taken aside for a more radical transformation, being fitted with two twin bomber engine pods containing J47 turbojets, and flying in early 1951 as the XC-123A, the United States' first jet-powered transport aircraft.<ref name="DP">Pattillo 2000, pp.165-166.</ref>
==Kaiser and the pricing scandal== [[File:Hkaiser.jpg|thumb|left|Henry J. Kaiser]] While the XC-123A proved too uneconomical for production,<ref name="AAHS"/> the XC-123 had greatly impressed the Air Force, which issued an order for five pre-production aircraft, designated C-123B.<ref name="G87"/> The prospect of large follow-up orders, however, raised an issue of capacity, as Chase's factory lacked sufficient space to construct large numbers of aircraft.<ref name="DP"/> Therefore, in 1951, 49 percent of Chase was purchased by Kaiser-Frazer,<ref name="DP"/> who received a contract for 300 C-123B aircraft to be constructed at Kaiser's Willow Run factory in Ann Arbor, Michigan.<ref name="DP"/> Chase became an engineering shop for the company, with Stroukoff remaining with the facility as its chief engineer.<ref name="DP"/>
However, even as the first eight aircraft were under construction by Kaiser, the United States Senate was conducting a series of hearings regarding the company, concerns having been raised over subcontracting work Kaiser-Frazer was performing for Fairchild Aircraft.<ref name="Life">''Life'' July 6, 1953, p.22</ref> Kaiser had been awarded an earlier contract as a second source for construction of Fairchild's C-119, and the aircraft produced by Kaiser were proving to be significantly more expensive than those produced by Fairchild.<ref name="Life"/>{{#tag:ref|The C-119s constructed by Kaiser-Frazer cost $1.2 million to build, while those built on Fairchild's production line only cost $260,000.<ref name="Life"/>|group=N}}
The result of the hearings was the cancellation of Kaiser's contracts for both the C-119 and the C-123 in June 1953,<ref name="Life"/> despite the Air Force having already spent $30 million on preparation for production of the C-123, with another $40 million having been earmarked for use by Chase Aircraft directly for production of parts.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080307231407/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,822863,00.html "Aviation: The Ax for Willow Run"]. ''Time''. July 6, 1953.</ref> The C-123 contract was put out for re-bid, with Fairchild proving to be the winning contractor;<ref>Gunston 1977, p. 164.</ref> under Fairchild's name, the C-123 went on to see a large production run and extensive service in the Vietnam War.<ref>Adcock 1992, pp.8-21</ref> {{clear}}
==Dissolution== Kaiser-Frazer, meanwhile, had bought out the remaining 51% of Chase Aircraft's shares, intending to operate the company as a wholly owned subsidiary of Willys Motors;<ref name="DP"/> the sale closed on September 2, 1953, after the cancellation of the Air Force's contracts.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Pp5TAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Chase+Aircraft%22 Ward's automotive yearbook], Volume 16 (1954), p.121.</ref>
Without the C-123 contract, the new acquisition was no longer considered an asset by Kaiser-Frazer; and it announced that the company would be closed down on January 31, 1954.<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=zXkPAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Chase+Aircraft%22+Willys Kaiser To Close Chase Plant In New Jersey]". ''American Aviation'', Volume 17 (1953), p.15.</ref> Stroukoff, however, acquired the buildings and remaining assets of Chase, starting his own aircraft company, Stroukoff Aircraft, to conduct further work on experimental versions of the C-123.<ref name="DP"/>
==References== {{Portal|Aviation}} ;Notes {{reflist|group=N}} ;Citations {{reflist|2}} ;Bibliography {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Adcock |first1=Al |title=C-123 Provider In Action |series=Aircraft |volume=124 |year=1992 |publisher=Squadron/Signal Publications |location=Carrollton, TX |isbn=978-0-89747-276-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Andrade |first1=John |title=U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909 |year=1979 |publisher=Midland Counties Publications |location=Leicester, UK |isbn=0-904597-22-9}} * {{cite book |last1=Bridgman |first1=Leonard |author-link=Leonard Bridgman |title=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1951–52 |year=1951 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd. |location=London }} * {{cite book |last1=Bridgman |first1=Leonard |title=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1958–59 |year=1958 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd. |location=London }} * {{cite magazine |author=The Editors |date=July 6, 1953 |title=Kaiser Cancellation: Henry J's 'boxcars' cost too much for Air Force |magazine=Life |volume=35 |issue=1 |publisher=Time Inc. |accessdate=2010-11-29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DEgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22}} * {{cite book |last1=Gunston |first1=Bill |title=The Encyclopedia of World Air Power |year=1980 |publisher=Crescent Books |location=New York |isbn=0-517-53754-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo00guns }} * {{cite book |last1=Gunston |first1=Bill |title=The Encyclopedia of World Air Power |year=1987 |publisher=Crescent Books |location=New York| isbn=978-0-517-49969-6|edition=Revised }} * {{cite journal |last=Kuhn |first=Gary S. |year=1960 |title=New Lives of the Chase YC-122 |journal=AAHS Journal |volume=5 |publisher=American Aviation Historical Society |location=Santa Ana, CA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1XcPAAAAIAAJ&q=X-18 |accessdate=2010-11-29}} * {{cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=Kent A. |year=1992 |title=The C-123 Provider |journal=AAHS Journal |volume=37 |publisher=American Aviation Historical Society |location=Santa Ana, CA}} * {{cite book |last1=Pattillo |first1=Donald M. |title=Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shwtKbTbEuEC&pg=PA165 | accessdate=2010-11-26 |year=2000 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor, MI |isbn=978-0-472-08671-9}} * {{cite book |last1=Sergievsky |first1=Boris |author2=Allan Forsyth |author3=Adam Hochschild |title=Airplanes, Women, and Song: Memoirs of a Fighter Ace, Test Pilot, and Adventurer |year=1998 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |location=Syracuse, NY |isbn=978-0-8156-0545-4}} * {{cite book |last1=Shrader |first1=Welman Austin |title=Fifty years of flight: a Chronicle of the Aviation Industry in America, 1903-1953 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHA0AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Exercise+Swarmer%22+CG-20 |accessdate=2010-11-27 |year=1953 |publisher=Eaton Manufacturing Company |location=Cleveland, OH |asin=B0006ATK3C }} {{refend}}
==External links== {{commons category|Chase Aircraft}}
{{Chase aircraft}}
Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Category:Defunct companies based in New York City Category:United States military scandals Category:American companies established in 1943 Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1943 Category:Companies based in Trenton, New Jersey Category:American companies disestablished in 1954