Military aircraft quiz
 

Was asked this and failed miserably…..

Without aid of reference (sorry Google warriors) can you name the only military aircraft where variants of it were intended to be flown as a glider, using piston engines, turboprop engines and jet engines. Not all at the same time, but sometimes as a mix.
The key word is intended as I’m not sure the glider version ever went aloft, but it was built.

Fairchild C-123 Provider.

C-47!? Although I'm pretty sure no jet version were ever proposed :p

I'll vote for the C-123 as well.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ae96702b8f.jpg
Chase XG-20 glider, which was converted to the XC-123A prototype.

Hamilcar?

I instinctively thought of the Me321.

There were certainly glider, prop and RATO versions. Though turboprop I doubt!

I also immediately thought of the C-123...

Armstrong - Whitworth AW 52

I go for the Chase XCG-18a Glider, that became the YC-122B with piston engines, the fuselage of one was then used in the construction of the Hiller X-18 Tilt-wing VTOL turbo-prop with a jet engine for pitch control.

Sandringham, the XC-123 also flew with four J47s and the C-132T was a project to re-engine Thai aircraft with Allison T-56s which didn't go beyond a prototype conversion.

Hello West Coast. Another C-123 capability discovered quite some time ago in Thailand. Chiang Mai is a joint civil/Thai AF base in North Thailand. Doing a UH-60 marketing tour, we were there to provide a demonstration flight to a member of the Royal Family who was a pilot. Following the flight, the base commander invited us to lunch at their O-Club auxiliary site right at the field. They had taken one of their C-123’s, completely redid the exterior to looking like new, then turned the cabin into the neatest air conditioned cafe. Another thing well done by the 123.

Because of its glider origins, all fuel for the piston engines is contained in nacelle extensions rather than in tanks within the wing structure.

It was not uncommon for one C-123 to "jump start" a second 123 that had Starter problems on a Piston Engine by providing sufficient prop wash to windmill the recalcitrant engine to do the equivalent of an In-Flight wind milling start up.

Short field takeoffs at times would result in liftoffs and initial climb below Vmc airspeed.

I spent many an hour flying helicopters with a former Air America Pilot who flew both helicopters and airplanes for that "Airline".....including the 123.

Not uncommon for C130s to buddy start another 130 either.

Somewhat inconvenient for whoever got stuck fueling the ship.

And how was it fuelled? Gas? Electric? Wood? Coal? ;)

I'd forgotten that the later C-123s also had a pair of J85s fitted.

(Not sure I've ever seen a C-123 flying; convinced I saw one heading into Northolt back in the 1970s while I was playing cricket at school - definitely not a Pembroke - but recently Chevvron made the very plausible suggestion that it was probably a Trader off a nearby carrier.)

Frequently used to get C123s (we referred to them as either 'Providers' or 'Avitrucs') in/out of Bovingdon in the '50s and early '60s.

Avitruc was the manufacturer's name for the aircraft, wisely ignored by the DoD, who designated it as the Provider in military service.

Yah - and two Providers played starring roles in the film Air America, including as a hiding place for a Turbo Porter under attack. ;)

(Don't ask me why the Turbo Porter occasionally produces piston-engine sounds - It's Hollywood).

I once saw a C130 with only three functional engines having its fourth one being unsuccessfully “bump started” by very fast taxying up and down the runway. It subsequently took off on three. Rather than stay at the departure airfield, it was finally declared unserviceable at Nassau.