02/28/2023. Remarks by
Johan Visschedijk: "To meet the USAF UCX (experimental utility transport) requirement for a replacement of the venerable Beech C-45, a team led by Engineering Manager Ralph Harmon began in April 1957 the preliminary design of a small turbojet-powered transport. Undertaken by McDonnell as a private venture, this aircraft resembled a scaled-down Boeing 707 or Douglas DC-8 as it had a swept wing with four Fairchild J83 turbojets mounted in individual nacelles attached to the wing by pylons.
Its mockup was inspected on October 30/31, 1957, but completion was delayed until January 1959 by the need to find a substitute power plant as development of the J83 was abandoned. Accordingly, it was decided that the prototype would be powered by four 2,980 lb (1,352 kg) thrust Westinghouse 134-WE-22s whilst the proposed production aircraft would have 2,900 lb (1,315 kg) thrust Pratt & Whitney JT12A-3s.
McDonnell 119 (N119M) (
Johan Visschedijk Collection)
Registered as N119M, the Model 119 was first flown at St.Louis by G.J. Mills and F.H. Rogers on February 11, 1959. Flight trials were generally satisfactory but, as the engines were mounted close to the ground, foreign object ingestion presented a problem. Partly because of this, the USAF preferred the Lockheed C-140 Jetstar. Undaunted, McDonnell decided to convert its Model 119 prototype into an executive jet to carry ten passengers in luxury or up to 29 passengers in a more spartan cabin.
Redesignated Model 220 and, for demonstration purposes, retaining the Westinghouse engine installation of the military prototype, the aircraft was offered in its proposed production form with either four 2,900 lb (1,315 kg) thrust Pratt & Whitney JT12A-3s or four 4,000 lb (1,814 kg) thrust General Electric CF-700-1 turbofans. The Model 220 received its Provisional
TC on October 17, 1960, and its Provisional
CofA on December 13, 1960.
Unfortunately, without the benefit of joint production of a military version, the McDonnell 220 was substantially more expensive than the Jetstar and the North American Sabreliner, and no customers could be found. Being operated for several years as a company transport, the sole Model 220 was sold in 1965 to the Flight Safety Foundation of New York, New York, and operated at their base in Arizona.
Subsequently the aircraft was reregistered (still as N220N) to a number of companies in Albuquerque, new Mexico: Westernair of Albuquerque (1969), Distribute Aire (1969), First Southwest (1972), and Albuquerque National Bank (1973-1975). In 1975 it was reregistered to Richard A. Archer of Prescott, Washington.
McDonnell 220 (N4AZ) (
Bob Cieslak Collection)
By October 30, 1985, the aircraft was reregistered as N4AZ to Grecoair of El Paso, Texas, and the aircraft was transferred to El Paso. Reportedly the aircraft is still there, and officially the aircraft was to be used for non-flying research purposes such as crash survival tests. The aircraft is still on the register, although ownership has been changed a number of times. The current owner is Floatron of Phoenix, Arizona, since January 28, 2022."
