11 Aug 1950

On This Day in History /
1950: Air Force detachable fuselage transport XC-120, built by Fairchild, completed its maiden flight. The Fairchild XC-120 Packplane was an American experimental modular aircraft first flown in 1950. It was developed from the company’s C-119 Flying Boxcar and was unique in the unconventional use of removable cargo pods that were attached below the fuselage, instead of possessing an internal cargo compartment.
All four landing gear units, in matching “nose” and “main” sets, could be raised and lowered to allow cargo to be preloaded into the pods; it was claimed that such an arrangement would speed up loading and unloading cargo.