Fairchild HC-123B Provider

Decals for building the following aircraft are included:
1) Fairchild HC-123B Provider (4348), United States Coast Guard (USCG), Honolulu, Hawaii, 1960.
2) Fairchild HC-123B Provider (55-4505), United States Coast Guard (USCG), Naples, Italy, 1967.

During the Second World War, transport aircraft played an important role in transporting cargo and personnel directly to the theatre of operations. Most of them had a certain volume of cargo space, but could not carry cargo efficiently due to the limited number of side hatches through which equipment had to be loaded and unloaded quickly. Only one aircraft offered a solution that could even transport light armour: the German Messerschmitt Me323 Gigant. This Gigant had folding doors in the nose, which made loading and unloading at the airfield considerably easier, but only a small number were built. The Allies had nothing comparable, but in the ranks of the British and American air forces there were large gliders with folding noses or rear fuselages. During the disembarkation of the armies in Normandy, they proved to be quite effective weapons despite their practical limitations. One of the contractors that supplied the US Army with gliders was Chase Aircraft, run by former Russian émigré Michael Stroukoff.
In 1947, Chase offered the military a new development - an offensive glider, the CG-20. It was all metal, and its landing gear retracted during flight and moved forward on landing, something that had never been done before with gliders. The design was very successful and Michael Stroukoff decided to redevelop the CG-20 as a motorised glider. After the installation of R-2800-CB-15 engines, the design was renamed XC-123. The most notable aspect of the design was the hatch and ramp at the rear of the fuselage, which allowed the fuselage to be loaded quickly and easily with large cargoes. The tests were very successful and Chase soon received a preliminary order for a series of aircraft. However, the company was soon bought out by its owners, and continuing to operate in the aircraft industry was not profitable for the new owners, so the contract with Chase was cancelled. The aircraft's history could have ended, but the Air Force recognised the potential of the aircraft and transferred the project documents to Fairchild, which had supplied the military with light transport aircraft during the war.
In general, the design of the XC-123 was so well executed that no major changes were required; however, Fairchild engineers did notice a small degree of instability during testing. This problem was solved by increasing the area of the vertical stabiliser and slightly changing its shape. Fairchild soon received an order from the German Air Force for 302 aircraft with the designation C-123B. The first production aircraft flew in September 1954.
In mid-1955, the first aircraft entered service with the Luftwaffe and was officially named "Provider". Outside the Air Force, the Coast Guard took an interest in the aircraft and soon received its own version, the HC-123B. The Federal Aviation Administration, which controlled air traffic in remote regions of the country such as Alaska, also received the C-123, as the aircraft performed very well under extreme conditions.
In early 1958, the U.S. Coast Guard also took an interest in the C-123 and purchased six aircraft for patrol flights in coastal areas. An AN/APN-158 search radar was installed in the nose of the aircraft. This was slightly larger than the available space, so the shape of the nose fairing was changed for this purpose. The aircraft, now designated HC-123B, was immediately given a characteristic "pug nose", which quickly earned it the nickname "Thunder Pig". HC-123Bs were not only used for coastal patrol, but often also for delivering cargo to remote areas of Alaska or Hawaii. Some aircraft were stationed for a time at the U.S. Air Force base in Naples, Italy.
From the beginning, Coast Guard leadership viewed the HC-123B as a transitional type, so there was no question of a large-scale procurement of this aircraft. With the advent of the more modern HC-130, they were gradually withdrawn from service. At least one of these aircraft was handed over to the Thai government. It remained in service until the mid-1980s.