This aircraft is the first prototype of the McDonnell Douglas YC-15 with serial 72-1875. McDonnell Douglas YC-15 was a four-engine short take-off and landing (STOL) tactical transport. It was McDonnell Douglas’ entrant into the United States Air Force’s Advanced Medium STOL Transport (AMST) competition to replace the Lockheed C-130 Hercules as the USAF’s standard STOL tactical transport. In the end, neither the YC-15 nor the Boeing YC-14 was ordered into production, although the YC-15’s basic design would be used to form the successful C-17 Globemaster III.
picture Tom Warnock