Chase Aircraft
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| Industry | Aircraft manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired by Kaiser-Frazer |
| Successor | Stroukoff Aircraft |
| Founded | 1943 |
| Founder | Michael Stroukoff |
| Defunct | 1954 |
| Headquarters | Trenton, New Jersey, United States |
| Products | YC-122, C-123 |
The Chase Aircraft Company, founded in 1943, was an aircraft manufacturer of the United States of America, primarily constructing 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.
Founded in New York, New York in 1943 with Michael Stroukoff, a Russian emigré, as president and chief designer, 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. Development of improved, enlarged versions of the aircraft continued over the next two years, with the company moving to Trenton, New Jersey in 1946, before the XCG-14 was superseded by the XG-18, an even larger and heavier aircraft that was the world's first all-metal transport glider.
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. 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. One YC-122, however, would later be modified into the Hiller X-18, an experimental tiltwing VTOL aircraft.
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