Michael Stroukoff was born on January 29, 1883 in Ekaterinoslav
(presently known as Dnepropetrovsk) in the Ukraine. He graduated from
the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1908, served in WW I, finally
ranking as a captain and earning the Order of Saint George (Fourth
Class) for bravery. He emigrated to the USA in 1933and was initially
involved in the construction business.
Michael Stroukoff became the president and chief engineer of the
Chase Aircraft Company, founded in February 1943 in New York, New
York. On February 28, 1944, the USAAF awarded Chase a contract for
two wooden Model MS-1 gliders, the 16-seat XCG-14 (44-90989), which
made its first flight on January 4, 1945, and the 24-seat XCG-14A
(44-90990) which made its first flight on October 16, 1945. Neither
went into production.
In late 1946, the company moved to Mercer County Airport in Ewing
Township, New Jersey. The performance of the two XCG-14s led to a new
contract signed on January 3, 1947 for a larger XCG-18A-CA all-metal
glider; this contract was later amended to include a second prototype
(46-506). The first of these 32-seat gliders took to the air in
December, 1947. One feature of these gliders was an upswept rear
fuselage; this feature was eventually developed into an
hydraulically-operated loading ramp a shape that remains as a
characteristic of most military transports to this day. In the 1948
revision of type symbols, “CG” was eliminated and replaced
by the letter “G” and these two aircraft became XG-18As.
A second contract was signed on March 5, 1948 for five YG-18A-CA
service test gliders (47-640 to 47-644) and two XG-20-CA gliders
(47-786 and 47-787). The XG-20-CA could accommodate 60-troops and was
the largest glider ever built in the U.S.
During the test and evaluation period for these aircraft, USAF
opinion shifted from gliders to powered assault aircraft. As a result
of this change, Chase installed two Pratt & Whitney 14-cylinder,
two row, air-cooled R-2000 radial engines on the second service test
YG-18A (47-641), which was redesignated YC-122-CA, and it made its
first powered flight in November 1948. On August 12, 1949, the USAF
ordered nine YC-122C-CAs (49-2879 to 49-2887) equipped with Wright
9-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled, 1,425 hp R-1820 radial engines.
Most of these aircraft served with the 16th Troop Carrier Squadron,
Assault, Light (Troop Carrier Squadron, Assault, Fixed Wing from
November 1954), 316th Troop Carrier Group, Eighteenth Air Force,
Tactical Air Command, from 1951 to 1955. This squadron was based at
Sewart AFB, Smyrna, Tennessee from 1951 to November 1954 and Ardmore
AFB, Ardmore, Oklahoma from November 1954 to July 1955.
Chase also modified the XG-20-CA gliders to meet the new USAF
requirement. Chase installed two Pratt & Whitney 18-cylinder,
twin-row, air cooled R-2800 radial engines on the first XG-20-CA
(47-786); this aircraft was redesignated XC-123-CA and made its first
flight on October 14, 1949. The second prototype (47-787) was
equipped with four General Electric J-47-11 turbojets, was
redesignated XC-123A-CA and made its first flight on April 21, 1951.
The USAF was impressed with the radial engine prototype and on
February 17, 1953, a contract was signed for five C-123Bs (52-1627 to
52-1631). Chase did not have the production capability and work force
to build these aircraft so in May 1953, Henry J. Kaiser, owner of the
Kaiser Manufacturing Company of Willow Run, Michigan, bought 49
percent of Chase Aircraft stock. The five C-123Bs were produced at
Willow Run under the Chase name as C-123B-CNs.
In December 1950, the USAF had requested that the Fairchild Engine
and Airplane Corporation of Hagerstown, Maryland, the manufacturer of
the C-119 Flying Boxcar, enter into an agreement with Kaiser to build
C-119Fs at the Willow Run facility. This had been accomplished and
Kaiser intended to open a second production line to build the
C-123Bs. However, there was a Congressional investigation in 1953 to
determine why Fairchild Aircraft was able to build the C-119 for
$380,000 each versus the $1.3 million Kaiser was charging. As a
result of these investigations, the USAF cancelled Kaiser’s
C-119F and C-123 contracts on June 24, 1953. The Air Force still
wanted the C-123 and invited Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft, Lockheed
Aircraft, North American Aviation, The Glenn L. Martin Company and
Willys Motors (a subsidiary of Kaiser) to submit bids for the
construction of the aircraft. Fairchild was not invited to bid but at
the eleventh hour, they received permission to offer a fixed-cost bid
which they did and won the contract to build 293 C-123Bs.
After the loss of the C-119 and C-123 contracts, Kaiser purchased the
remaining stock of Chase and Michael Stroukoff formed Stroukoff
Aircraft with most of the original work force (engineering,
production and support), facilities and tooling at Mercer County
Airport, New Jersey. Stroukoff produced four specialized versions of
the C-123, which were used to explore short takeoff and landing
(STOL) technology, although none of these aircraft went into production:
- The YC-123D (53-8068) was similar to the C-123B but employed a
boundary-layer control system consisting of suction
slots in the wing upper surfaces for additional lift and
short take off and landing (STOL) performance.
- YC-123E (55-4031) was equipped with features known as the
"Pantobase" system consisting of revised fuselage
undersurfaces and underwing floats for operation from
water, ice and snow.
- YC-134 (52-627) equipped with boundary-layer control and the
installation of Wright 18-cylinder, twin row, air cooled
R-3350-89A turbo-compound radial engines driving
four-bladed propellers.
- YC-134A was the YC-134 equipped with the “Pantobase” system.
Despite sound financing, Stroukoff Aircraft never recovered from the
C-123 contract loss and finally closed its doors completely in 1958.
All of its future developmental data was destroyed and is lost.
Michael Stroukoff died on January 5, 1974, in Princeton, New York.