C-76 ✪ Caravan
Medium Transport Aircraft
Curtiss-Wright
The C-76 Caravan (brand designation CW-27) is a solid wood military transport aircraft designed to cope with the expected shortage of light alloys in wartime production. However, both the prototype and production samples did not pass several critical flight and static tests, and after the production of aluminum in the United States was sufficient for wartime requirements, the order for the C-76 was canceled and its production was discontinued.
The first flight of the YC-76 prototype took place on May 3, 1943, showing very modest results: a cruising speed of 160 miles per hour (260 km / h), a service ceiling of 22 600 feet (6900 m), a flight range of only 750 miles ( 1210 km) with a payload of up to 8000 pounds (3600 kg) Structurally, the aircraft was an all-wood high-wing aircraft with a front landing gear. The power plant consisted of two Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 Twin Wasp radial piston engines with a capacity of 1200 hp (895 kW) each. During the year, 25 aircraft were produced at two factories of the company. Eleven pre-production YC-76-CKs were produced at the Looseville plant and were numbered 42-86918 / 42-86928. The same plant produced nine YC-76A-1-CK test aircraft (numbers 42-86929 / 42-86937). Only five aircraft were officially delivered to the Air Force - they were manufactured at the St. Louis plant C-76-CS (numbers 42-86913 / 42-86917).
The War Department canceled its orders for the C-76 on August 3, 1943, five C-76s were soon withdrawn from the transport regiments and reclassified as ZC-76. The entire C-76 project cost the US government $ 400 million and several months wasted on its production.
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