Did anyone work on the YC-15 program at McDonnell-Douglas?

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 01:09:54 -0500

I have a question about the YC-15. Did they ever fly in pairs together in the vicinity of Long Beach area?

Situation: I was a 10th grader running with my High School cross country team sometime in late 1978 or early 1979. We were running in the vicinity of the Los Alamitos race track. There were still unploughed fields that had not converted over to industrial. We had a clear view.

While on my run, I saw what I think were two YC-15s flying side-by-side. They must have been flying low and maybe doing touching goes at the Los Alamitos Armed forces reserve centre airfield?

My father worked for McDonnell-Douglas at that time as a gate guard and General armed Security. My father put 11 years of his life there for McDonnell-Douglas.

Just wondering if anyone Who was working for them and later Boeing knows about this?

In 1982, I was able to see a mockup C-17. I think it was a mockup of the cargo Bay. This was at a McDonnell Douglas open house.

Ironically, in 2009, I was medivaced by KC-135 and later C-17 from Khandar Afghanistan, to Longstuhl and eventually to McChord AFB with a broken ankle I suffered while downrange in Afghanistan. I had surgery at Fort Lewis at Madigan Army Medical Center.

It was interesting to see that the C-17 had a roll-in kitchen module and they made us cookies on our way across the Atlantic.

Response by TSgt David L. made Jan 4 at 2021 1:32 AM

TSgt David L. — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 01:32:24 -0500

Interesting looking jet. Never heard of it before. I also had to be medivac'd to Landstuhl and then to Lackland AFB. No cookies on that flight that I remember. Pretty drugged up though.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jan 4 at 2021 4:56 AM

LTC Stephen F. — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 04:56:16 -0500

Thank you my friend LTC Private RallyPoint Member for posting a great image of a USAF McDonnell Douglas YC-15.
I checked the website https://www.flightglobal.com/mdc-revives-yc-15-for-a-technology-test-role/568.article
No mention of any flights there and the program was terminated in 1977.
"Other technology trials planned for the resurrected YC-15 include:
- active-core-exhaust (ACE) control - a programme to control the flow field around the engine exhaust nozzle, which would help direct the flow closer to the flaps. MDC hopes that the flow control may also help reduce acoustic and thermal effects. The YC-15 is fitted with Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15As, but MDC is negotiating with CFM International and International Aero Engines to re-engine the aircraft. MDC says that the ACE control is related to work performed with NASA on the propulsion-controlled-aircraft system; - advanced inerting - the C-17 has an inert-gas generator system to "inert" the fuel tanks, if hit by ground fire. The YC-15 would be used to test a "more advanced and reliable" system;
- enhanced defensive system - the testing of "off-the-shelf", and "more exotic" self-defence systems for application on the C-17; open-architecture avionics - MDC is studying an "off-the-shelf" open-architecture flightdeck for the YC-15, to allow it to "plug and play" with different options. "Whether we go to a full common cockpit is yet to be determined, but one of the options being studied by the USAF is a common cockpit for all its transports," says Winzell. MDC is considering using the second stored YC-15 as an avionics testbed.
Two YC-15s were built in the mid-1970s for the USAF's Advanced Medium STOL Transport programme, which was dropped in late 1977."

FYI CPT Jack Durish CSM Charles Hayden SFC Private RallyPoint Member Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Col Carl Whicker Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj Marty Hogan TSgt Joe C. SMSgt David A Asbury SMSgt Lawrence McCarter MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi

568.article

Response by MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. made Jan 4 at 2021 6:18 AM

MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 06:18:24 -0500

I was hospitalized at 2d Gen.Hosp. in Landstuhl in Jan. 1985 with blood clots and a staph infection in my right calf. I was a tank company CO in D/2-34th AR based out of Ft. Carson on REFORGER '85. The doctor at Landstuhl did not think I had blood clots and only treated me for the infection--with IV antibiotics for five days--befpre discharging me in a wet cast and on crutches to rejoin my unit in the redeployment assembly area in Holland. I was on a train that stopped in Frankfurt and the 4th ID (M) division surgeon met me, took one look at my leg and hauled me off to the 93d Evac. Hosp. there. Turns out I DID have blood clots. They were so bad that they didn't want me getting up for fear I'd get a pulmonary embolism and they were fearful of gangrene and wanted to take my leg below the knee. I refused the amputation and still have my leg--albeit with a knee replacement in 2011. I wound up spending two weeks at 93d Evac before being medevaced back to Ft. Carson, where I resumed my company command.

Postscript: My son's wife is slated to take command of the Med. Battalion at Landstuhl next summer. She's presently the G3 to the Army Surgeon General in the Pentagon.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 4 at 2021 11:32 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 23:32:56 -0500

LTC Stephen F. TSgt David L. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. @